Let's first find a comfortable meditative position for today.
Maybe it is seated with your hands sitting softly on the top of the legs.
Maybe it's in a supported Queen's Throne or even a Shavasana.
Finding a position today where you can maintain a tall spine and remain comfortable,
But not be tempted to fall asleep.
Blinking the eyes closed if that feels okay.
And as you settle in,
Start by giving yourself permission to be here.
The mind can sometimes fight the quiet stillness of meditation and can try to distract us with the things we have left still to do,
The problems yet to solve.
And any time throughout our practice when these thoughts arise,
Simply acknowledge the thought as a distraction and let it pass.
And as it passes,
Return to the breath.
That next inhale and next exhale.
Bringing that full awareness to the breath now,
The inhale and exhale in and out through the nose.
Feel the path of the breath as it enters through the nose,
As it sinks low into the belly.
And then retrace the path back up and out through the nose.
Maybe feel the coolness of your inhale and the warmth of the exhale.
And feel as the focus on the breath allows you to become more relaxed.
Maybe feel how the breath that started as a more shallow breath becomes deeper,
More rhythmic,
And regular.
These deeper breaths signal to the body that it can relax and soften and sink more and more deeply into the meditation.
On your next breath,
Begin to picture and imagine a bright white light being pulled into the body with the inhale.
This light is a good light and carries with it a good energy.
Each inhale drawing more and more of that light into the body.
And maybe this light feels warm and safe,
Invigorating or calm,
Relaxing or energizing.
Each breath feeling more and more bright white light filling the body.
As we feel and see this light entering the body,
Let it fill you up completely,
Including all the way up into the mind.
Feel this bright white light illuminating the hallways of the mind,
Beginning to light up all the areas of the mind,
Acting like a flashlight.
And today we are going to use that flashlight to look for feelings and memories of guilt that we have stored and stashed away.
Guilt likes to hide and fester.
It looks for times to rise up and fill your mind and undermine your sense of self and your worth.
Guilt seizes on moments when it knows you are vulnerable.
And so allow the mind now to begin a search.
Use this bright white light to search through all the nooks and crannies around every corner of the mind.
Where are the pockets of guilt hiding?
Where are they tucked away for safekeeping?
Are these feelings of guilt stored where you keep your blame?
Maybe guilt over mistakes?
Things forgotten and misplaced?
Times you feel that you let a ball drop?
Are there pockets of guilt that live with memories of certain people?
Moments when you believe you let someone else down?
Or when they made you feel that you did?
Times when you hurt someone's feelings?
When you told someone it wouldn't work?
Times when you said no?
As the light that you breathe in fills the mind and finds and illuminates these pockets of guilt,
Picture the darkness of this guilt leaving the body on your exhales.
Inhale in more of the bright and clean white light and exhale out this darkness.
Inhale in weightless light and exhale out heavy darkness.
Inhale in acceptance,
Forgiveness,
And exhale out the guilt.
See the light sweeping through your mind.
Even feel free to let your exhales become audible releases through the mouth as you feel this guilt leaving,
As you feel the release of that darkness and that weight.
And continue using this light.
Come back to the focus on your breath.
Inhaling in more and more bright white light.
Continuing to find where the guilt is hiding.
Do you find guilt over events or times or certain situations where you should have done or said something but didn't or you did when you shouldn't?
Finding guilt over going or leaving or not attending or about something else completely?
Do you find guilt hiding where you have let yourself down,
Where you didn't say no but should have,
When you felt disappointed in yourself?
Maybe didn't care for yourself like you planned or wanted.
And again,
As the light fills the mind and illuminates these pockets of guilt,
Continue to picture the darkness of the guilt leaving the body with your exhales.
Each inhale draws in more of the bright and clean light and the exhale carries out more and more darkness.
Inhale in the weightless light and exhale out the heavy darkness.
Inhale in acceptance and forgiveness and exhale out the guilt.
Breathing in this light and sweeping out the guilt.
And remind the mind that guilt doesn't need to be stored,
That we don't want or need to revisit it later.
It is not something that gets better with age and instead we want to make room for more light,
More positivity,
More productivity and removing the guilt that rises up after festering and growing in the darkness allows us to move forward more confidently and positively.
And it doesn't mean we haven't made mistakes.
It means we are moving forward.
It doesn't mean we won't make more mistakes in the future.
It means we accept that we are humans and imperfect beings.
And continue feeling and seeing this light fill you on the inhale,
Purging darkness and sweeping out guilt with the exhales.
And as you do,
Feel the body and the mind getting lighter,
More and more weightless as this heavy guilt is removed.
You are no longer encumbered with past mistakes.
Feel this space reclaimed.
See the light and feel the lightness of being guilt-free.
Notice the relaxed,
Long,
Slow breath that you have now.
Return to following the path of your breath as it enters through the nose,
Sinks low into the belly and then retraces the path back up and out through the nose.
Feel the coolness of your inhales,
The warmth of the exhales.
And feel yourself becoming more aware once again of the physical body.
Feel the legs,
Hips,
Back.
Feel your shoulders,
Arms and hands.
Feel yourself coming back into the body and also back into your physical place.
Breathe in the room and maybe slowly invite some gentle movement as you make your way back to reality.
Maybe returning to a seat if you're not already there.
And feel free to keep the eyes closed or to have a soft gaze at your knees.
And only when you are ready,
Take a nice last deep breath and return to the world.
Thank you so very much for joining me today for meditation.
Namaste.
