Greetings.
This is Travis Elliott,
Yoga instructor,
Meditation teacher and author.
The following is a special meditation practice presented by The Be Ultimate Podcast.
For more information,
Inspiring talks and meditations,
Please visit thebeultimatepodcast.
Com.
Welcome to the Pause Meditation.
This meditation allows you to discover calmness even in the midst of a busy or hectic day.
Please find your seat,
Get settled,
Allow your hands to rest on your knees.
You could turn your palms up or you could turn the palms down.
Or you could even rest both hands in your lap,
Wherever it feels right for you.
As you continue to find your seat,
Allow yourself to sit upright,
But at the same time,
Allow yourself to be relaxed and to be at ease.
Feel your shoulders soft,
Feel your neck long,
Feel your jaw disengaged.
Allow your face to relax and allow your mind to begin to relax as well.
From here,
Take a nice deep inhale through your nose and out the mouth,
Exhale,
Let it go.
A couple more like that.
Take another deep inhale through the nose and exhale out the mouth,
Just let it go.
Once more,
Big inhale and then side out the mouth,
Exhale,
Let it go.
And then just allow your breath to just move in its own natural,
Effortless rhythm.
What we sometimes call the autopilot breath.
And as you continue to find your seat and to develop presence,
You begin to access what the great poet T.
S.
Eliot described as the still point in the turning of the world.
So here you are right now in the midst of all the activities of the day,
Just taking a little bit of time to press that pause button to become that still point in the turning of day and night,
The turning of the seasons,
The turning of the thoughts,
Sounds,
Feelings.
Just taking your seat right here,
Right now,
Halfway between heaven and earth.
You can give yourself the permission to shift gears,
To shift from doing into being,
To shift from striving into arriving and to shift from being in fast forward motion into just pressing that pause button,
Allowing any unwanted tension,
Stress,
Worry,
Anxiety to fade away and dissolve.
As the great Zen poet Thich Nhat Hanh says,
Your true home is in the here and now.
Feel yourself opening up the scope of your awareness to all that's unfolding right here,
Right now,
Allowing both past and future to go out of focus.
Can you be at home right now within your body?
Can you be at home right now with this breath,
This breath right here,
Right now,
And then this breath,
And then this breath?
Allow your nervous system the gift of just taking a break.
Anytime you press this pause button,
It's like you're giving yourself a well-deserved vacation or a little mini retreat.
Perhaps you can feel your mind becoming still like a lake on a windless day,
Less choppy and more serene.
And that serenity,
Just allow your attention to rest gently and easily with that natural movement of your breath.
Feel the natural inhales followed by the natural exhales.
It's not necessary to change the breath at all,
But to just let the breath again just be in that natural effortless rhythm.
As you meditate on the rise and the fall of the breath,
Take some time to just be with the expansion,
To be with the contraction.
You can let the 1902 hop- ones open on hand.
And from here,
See if you can begin to notice the pause at the top of the inhale before the exhale.
It might be for a second or two,
But start to explore that brief pause before the inhale transforms into the exhale.
As you continue to explore that pause at the top of the inhale,
Notice how the waves of the mind become still.
The breath becomes still for a moment,
And the mind also becomes still as well.
Then also begin to bring your attention to the pause of the breath at the end of the exhale before the next inhale begins.
And again,
This just might be a moment or two,
But to just allow your mind to experience that deep undercurrent of peace within those moments of the breath pausing.
Starting to meditate on these four parts of the breath,
The inhale,
The pause,
The exhale,
And another pause.
Take a few minutes now on your own to just continue to follow and watch closely these four parts of the breath.
Namaste.
If you notice at any point your mind wandering away,
Start thinking about other things outside of your meditation practice.
Just gently release the distraction,
Release that thought.
And with compassion,
With kindness,
With grace,
Just bring your attention back to those four parts of the breath,
Bringing extra special attention to those pauses,
Those little windows of stillness,
A pause,
Helping you tap into a part of yourself that's calm,
Peaceful,
And incredibly serene.
Helplessness you you you you you you you you From here nice and easily just gently release the breath and we'll take a last minute or two here to just savor savor the stillness the kind of stillness that restores and renews in the deepest of ways you you you beautiful take a nice deep inhale through your nose and a big exhale out the mouth just let it go and then now you can bring the serenity with you into the rest of your day and at any point that you might feel overstressed overworked or overwhelmed just know that you always have the power to press pause and to come back to this deep quality of calm a last closing prayer may we bring strength where there is weakness may we bring courage where there is fear may we bring compassion where there is suffering and may we bring light where there is darkness may we be ultimate as you're ready slowly open up your eyes hope you enjoy this special meditation presented by the be ultimate podcast if you found this meditation helpful and inspiring please consider to subscribe rate and leave a review for the be ultimate podcast look forward to reconnecting soon
