For this meditation you will need a candle.
When you're ready,
Sitting in a comfortable position,
With your hands and arms relaxed,
And your back upright,
Take one deep breath,
And exhaling very slowly,
And a second deep breath,
And a deep breath,
Exhaling as slowly as you can,
And a last deep breath,
Exhaling,
Extending the breath as long as you can,
With the lit candle in front of your eyes at eye level,
If possible,
And gently bring your attention to your hands,
Look at your hands,
Very gently gazing,
And gazing at both of your arms,
Out of your peripheral vision,
With the eyelids just relaxed,
No staring or closing the eyes just yet,
Now bring the focus to your upper arms,
And finally to the middle of the sternum,
At the chest centre,
Trace your gaze upwards still,
To the tip of the nose,
And let your gaze soften,
Draw your senses inward,
Start to settle down the senses now,
And let your breath normalise,
And place the tongue at the top of the roof of the mouth,
And slide it into the front of the teeth,
And just let it rest gently there,
Soften the gaze,
Drawing the attention more inward,
And when you're ready,
Begin to gaze at the candle flame,
Just a soft,
Relaxed gaze,
Be aware of any movements in the eyes,
And just gently bring it back,
Bring the attention back to the flame of the candle,
Breathing gently,
And just let your eyes rest on the candle,
Gently gazing,
And if your mind wanders at any stage during this meditation,
Simply bring the focus and concentration back to the candle,
And just for a brief second or two,
Let the eyelids very slowly and gently close,
And open the eyelids again,
Gazing at the candle,
And slowly and gently closing the eyes,
And opening the eyes,
Gazing at the candle,
Concentrate on the candle flame,
And concentrate and bring the focus and the tension to the aura of the flame,
The colour of the flame,
If there's any swaying of the candle,
And just simply take a little notice of it,
And continue your gaze,
If the mind should wander,
Simply bring the concentration back to focusing on the candle flame,
And very gently and slowly closing the eyelids for a second or two,
Opening up the eyes,
Bringing the focus immediately to the candle flame,
And gently and slowly closing the eyelids,
And opening the eyes,
Gazing at the candle,
Focusing all your attention on the qualities of the candle,
And make some spaciousness,
And extend that spaciousness in your thoughts,
So if you're having one thought,
Just gently bring it back to the flame of the candle,
Bring that focus back,
Bring that concentration back,
And let the space between your thought and the next thought gradually extend longer and longer,
This is the place where we are most in the moment,
And this is the place where peace fosters the most,
And we're going to go a little bit deeper now,
Simply closing the eyes and bringing the image of the candle into the mind's eye,
Opening up the eyes,
Focus on the candle,
And take in all the qualities of the candle flame,
Closing the eyes,
You might see remnants of the flame,
Or the shadows of the shape of the candle flame in your mind's eye,
This is all normal,
And simply opening and closing the eyes in this way for the next couple of minutes,
Bringing the image and the qualities of the candle flame into your mind,
Watching your thoughts,
Bringing the focus back to the candle flame,
And then you can close the eyes,
And then you can close the eyes,
And then you can close the eyes,
And then you can close the eyes,
You will find that with gradual practice,
The image will be burnt into the mind,
And you'll be eventually able to do this practice without a candle in front of you,
This may take a few weeks or months depending on how much you practice,
And just have consistency,
Practice only for a minute or two each day,
Or simply listen to this recording to access the instructions,
And don't worry if your mind is very distracted,
This is very normal,
Just keep persisting,
It takes a very long time to restrain the mind,
So just have faith in yourself,
Breathing normally,
We're going to keep the eyes open,
Gazing at the candle,
And this time you're going to simply notice the thoughts coming in,
Just let the thoughts drift in and out of your mind,
Without attaching to it,
In other words without latching onto it or letting it carry you into other thought forms,
Just letting it drift past you,
Giving yourself space between this thought and the next,
Still gazing at the candle,
When the thoughts come,
Don't become entangled in them,
Don't start thinking different other thoughts related to that thought,
It's very tempting but,
If we simply develop the observing mind which takes time,
Eventually you'll be able to bring about a peaceful space,
A very very special place for yourself,
In your mind,
In your thoughts,
And eventually in your life,
You'll be able to come to this very safe and consistent,
Secure space within your own mind,
That is peaceful and restful and relaxing,
And you'll be able to come to this place,
This special space of yours,
To rest and come away from the troubles and chaos of daily modern life,
Still gazing at the candle,
Let the thoughts drift past,
You can say to yourself,
I'm just here for a couple of minutes,
You can think whatever you like thoughts but,
I'm just going to sit here and meditate for a little while,
You don't really bother me much,
I'm just going to watch the candle and let the thoughts drift past,
And when you're ready,
We're going to be closing our eyes for one last time for a little bit longer,
So closing the eyes,
And when the image and residual colour or shape of the candle is still fresh,
Try to grasp onto that image,
And focus all your attention onto the image that's still remaining in your mind,
With the eyes closed,
And when the image starts to dissipate,
When the image starts to disappear or fade away,
Try to concentrate and focus on bringing the image that you have been gazing at,
The candle flame,
Back into your imagination,
And don't worry too much if you can or can't do this,
Just give it a go,
Imagine the image of the candle flame as if you're looking at it with the eyes open,
But you have the eyes closed and you're simply imagining the image in your mind's eye,
Just visualising the candle flame,
And focusing all your energy and attention on conjuring up this image in your mind's eye,
And then in your mind's eye,
And then in your mind's eye,
And then in your mind's eye,
And when you're ready,
Gently and very,
Very slowly bring the focus back to the tip of the nose,
And bring your attention down to the throat,
The base of the throat,
To the middle of the sternum,
Back to the arms and the hands,
Just quickly scan your body,
With any tension just simply let it relax,
Let go of the attention in your body,
And notice your state of mind,
Your emotions,
How you're feeling at this particular time,
Bring the awareness back to the room,
Any sounds within the room,
And bringing your attention back to your limbs,
Giving your fingers and toes a wiggle,
Deepen the breath and opening up the eyes,
Give yourself a nice stretch,
And when you're ready you can end the meditation and repeat as much as you can throughout the day,
To bring about peace and awareness,
I'm just going to chant Om,
The sound of the universe vibrating in a peaceful way,
And then we're going to simply say peace in Sanskrit three times,
To bring about peace in our own lives,
To bring about peace towards others,
And to bring about peace towards the world around us,
You can have the hands together at the heart centre in prayer position,
This connects the hemispheres of the brain,
And you can chant with me,
Om Om Shanti,
Shanti,
Shanti May the entire universe be filled with peace and joy,
Love and light,
Peace,
Peace,
Peace to all.
