Welcome to a meditation to help us connect to our essence,
Our truest self,
That pure place that's the same in all of us.
So come into a comfortable seat and if you'd like to you may close your eyes or soften the eyes and find a still point to fix your gaze on.
Take a moment here and now just to feel yourself seated against whatever's beneath you.
If you're seated create a long tall spine,
Relax your shoulders and face muscles.
Lying down is appropriate too.
Just get comfortable.
Begin to notice your physical body.
Begin to notice how it feels and whatever sensations you can become aware of.
Perhaps where your seat is against a cushion or your back is supported.
Whatever the body is touching against.
Notice if there's body part touching body part anywhere like the top and bottom lip perhaps the top and bottom eyelids if they're closed.
Maybe the hands resting on your lap or thighs.
Maybe your arms resting against your sides.
As we tune into physical sensations we bring ourselves into this present moment.
You see the body can't be in the past or future.
It's always in the now.
Begin to notice any subtle or physical sensations perhaps the air against your skin.
The little hairs on your skin detecting the temperature of the air.
Are there any internal sensations that you can detect maybe the beating of your heart?
Begin to notice your breath.
Where in your body do you feel it?
Is it in the chest,
The abdomen?
Do you feel the air passing in and out of your nose?
We'll just move ever so slightly inward.
We begin with the physical body our outermost projection of self.
How people view us in the physical world.
Then we tune into the breath.
The energy that gives us life and animates us.
So as you notice the breath passing in and out of the nose or mouth just begin to deepen it and feel it as it comes in.
Releasing it out feel it as it helps you to empty and soften.
Have the inhales be smoother and longer.
And the exhales helping you to soften and relax and let go of any tension that you're holding on to.
Allow the breath to flow in this manner smoothly,
Richly,
A little more deeply than normal so that you can really attune your awareness to the energy of the breath.
The sensations of the breath.
Notice how it ebbs and flows.
It enlivens you and relaxes you.
And now simply allow your body to breathe for you without trying to lengthen or deepen it.
And we'll move deeper still inward to the next layer of self known as the mind.
What thoughts arise.
We can't try to stop our minds from thinking.
That would be like trying to stop the heart from beating.
But just as we can slow down the heart rate we can slow down the stream of thoughts.
So notice that fluctuation of thought.
They'll move in and they'll move out just like clouds drifting across the sky dissipating and evaporating.
Notice the mind.
Know that whatever shows up is okay.
You come as you are.
We're not trying to change ourselves.
That would imply that there's something wrong.
We're just showing up for ourselves to become whole and witness all these different aspects of self.
The mind and the intellect are how we form ideas our experiences our history.
They all shape us.
Notice if there's any judgments that you hold on to any thoughts that have a grip on you that you can just let go for now.
It's these ideas and these notions that separate ourselves from one another.
This layer of self this mind these thoughts are very much egocentric.
A lot of the trouble in the world right now is that we see ourselves as separate from one another.
The physical body separates us but our thoughts our minds our constructs our judgments also separate us.
So we're going to drop deeper still into the fourth layer of being known as our wisdom body.
You see we are not our bodies we are not our breath and we are not our thoughts rather we are the thinker behind the thoughts.
Whose body is this whose breath is this and whose thoughts are these.
That's the deeper layer.
This is our essence our core our truest self.
So see if you can drop in to that place beneath the thoughts and the breath and the body.
That essence that source that you come into the world with before you're shaped by experiences and history and judgment.
And just simply ask yourself the question Who am I?
What is my true nature?
What is my essence?
And just ask the question and don't search for the answer but just sit with the question.
What is my essence?
Who am I?
You know that sometimes answers will appear and sometimes they won't.
They may appear in the form of a feeling or a thought or an image.
There's no right or wrong.
Just simply in asking the question and being open to experience this deeper layer of being that we open up to possibility to this oneness because at this core level this essence this is where we are all the same.
So take a moment longer just to sit here and be open to receiving anything that wants to show up without judging it or analyzing it or trying to change it.
Just be open to it.
And as will often happen the body might disturb you with sensations.
The mind might disturb you with thoughts carrying you away from this deeper level of experience.
That's okay when you notice you've drifted away ever so gently and compassionately drift back inward repeating the question if necessary Who am I?
What is my essence?
My source?
My true nature?
And as you drop deep into that vast limitless place within take a moment now to bring your awareness to your heart center,
The center of your chest where your heart beats and your lungs empty and fill and where love resides.
Just imagine if you will a warmth there right in the center of your heart.
Imagine it glowing and see if you can access the love that's inside of you.
The compassion and tenderness and forgiveness that's inside of you that we are all born with.
And maybe as you inhale you can allow it to fill you a little more.
And as you exhale you can just soften into it.
Trying to merge these different aspects of self.
The breath,
The body,
The thoughts and our deepest truest nature.
Sometimes it's difficult to feel self compassion and self love and self forgiveness.
So if it's difficult for you today imagine you're feeling that forgiveness and compassion and love for the little version of you,
Your little girl or your little boy.
Because that smaller version of us,
That younger version of us is so pure and sometimes it's easier to tap into our essence when we think of them.
So send them some love,
Some forgiveness,
Some understanding and some compassion.
All the difficulty in the world right now can be attributed to this fact that we feel separate that we view each other as other rather than as same.
It's because we're seeing the external package.
We're experiencing the judgment,
The fear.
Then we begin to see the deeper layers,
The true essence of one another.
Where there's no skin color or size or shape or gender or beliefs.
But just this purity,
This essence where we all meet,
Where we're all the same,
Where we're all just humans practicing how to be.
So let's forgive ourselves and forgive one another for our limitations.
Let's practice forgiveness.
Let's practice compassion and let's practice loving one another.
This is the way we will heal ourselves and the world.
So with that warmth at the center of your being in your heart,
Take a nice full breath and allow yourself to fill with love and compassion and forgiveness.
As you let the breath go,
Allow yourself to soften into it.
And a couple more times on your own.
Now just sit quietly for a moment longer to experience the effects.
Of tuning in,
Of getting to know yourself a little bit more intimately.
Of doing this inner work.
How does it feel in your body,
In your energy,
In your mind and in your heart and in your essence?
How does it feel?
Please thank yourself for taking this time to connect to that place where we are all the same.
And I hope that when you leave this meditation today and you look into the eyes of other people,
You don't see them as separate or as others but you recognize their essence,
Their love as your own.
Namaste.
