Hello,
And welcome to The Daily Insight.
My name is Trish Tettin,
And I'm a teacher here on Insight Timer.
In today's meditation,
We'll be focusing on creating a cool head and a warm heart.
May this practice be of benefit.
Take these first few moments to arrive and settle into a comfortable position for you.
Maybe that's sitting on a cushion or in a chair or maybe even lying down.
If you're sitting upright,
Consciously feel the lower half of your body relaxing and creating a stable foundation.
Feel the lower half of your body relax.
And with a deep breath in,
Feel your spine elongate and lengthen so that you're sitting with a quality of being alert and a quality of dignity.
Take a couple of deep breaths here,
No matter what position you're in,
To just arrive in this moment.
We'll take a moment to set our intention for this practice,
Remembering that an intention directs our focus.
It's like planting a seed to show us the direction we're going in,
To show us what we want to create.
Our intention today for this practice is to cool off the persistent or busy thoughts in our mind and to cultivate the warm qualities of the heart.
So we'll start by cooling off the mind.
We'll begin by anchoring our attention on the breath right where it enters the body at the nostrils.
Release your attention almost like an attendant or a guard that stands watch at the entrance of the breath to the body,
That place where when you inhale,
The air becomes breath,
And then you exhale where the breath becomes air.
Your attention like this guard or attendant doesn't go inside,
Doesn't go outside.
It just stands right at the entrance,
And it watches with alertness and without distraction as the breath comes and goes.
It observes the coolness of the breath,
Of the air as it comes in the nose and touches the insides of the nostrils.
And now maybe your attention can follow the breath,
That cool air as it moves through your nose into the nasal cavity,
The spaciousness in the skull.
And you can imagine here that the breath is like a cool breeze flowing through that space in the skull.
And as thoughts enter the mind,
This cool air starts to,
Like a breeze,
Just take them away.
And especially if there are any thoughts to which we have attachment or we tend to get caught up and they can create this hotheadedness,
Just notice those kind of thoughts being tempered by this coolness of the air circulating through the spaciousness of the skull.
It's like the thoughts in our mind can create a bit of a fire,
And the breath becomes this slow stream of cool water being poured on the flames to settle these thoughts down.
Continue to feel that cool air swirling through the skull,
Cooling off any intensity in the mind.
And now we want to complement this stable-mindedness with the qualities of a warm heart,
The quality of friendliness.
So I'll share some phrases here and you can silently repeat them toward yourself.
May I be at peace.
May I be at peace.
May I be at peace.
May I release all anger and aggression.
May I release all anger and aggression.
May I release all anger and aggression.
May I be patient,
Courageous,
And determined to meet and overcome the inevitable challenges and difficulties in my life.
May I be patient,
Courageous,
And determined to meet and overcome the inevitable challenges and difficulties in my life.
May I be patient,
Courageous,
And determined to meet and overcome the inevitable challenges and difficulties in my life.
Feeling this quality of friendliness,
Of warmth in your heart toward yourself,
Of well wishes.
As we come to the end of our practice,
Start to call up some gratitude for this time spent in meditation today,
For the privilege of this practice.
And for any clarity or insight you received.
Let's close our practice today with dedicating the benefits.
May the benefits of this practice radiate out and be of benefit to all beings.
May all beings be happy.
May all beings know their true nature.
And may this practice be of enormous benefit to all beings.
