And welcome to the session.
I invite you to lay down.
Take a seat.
Get yourself comfortable.
You can close down the eyes if you wish.
Just begin by slowing down the breath.
Breathing in through the nose,
Low into the belly.
Just a little bit slower than what you're currently doing Just taking a moment to scan the body scan the mind.
Releasing any surface level tensions that might be present.
Now taking one more slow and deep breath.
And allowing your mind to focus on the natural rhythms of the breath.
Really paying full attention to the sensations of the breath at the nose.
Notice your mind wandering.
Gently.
Lovingly.
Bring your attention back to the breath.
Mindfulness is the awareness that arises from purposely paying non-judgmental attention to the present moment.
Traditional way to practice mindfulness.
At least when you begin.
Is to pick a meditation object.
For example the breath.
You focus your attention upon it.
And when you notice your mind wandering.
You bring it back to the breath.
That's the practice.
If you'd like to stick with that practice today.
I encourage you to do so.
But you can,
If you like,
Change that anchor.
Change that point of focus to anything.
To you here.
To what you see,
To what you feel.
Or in this case today.
And internal visualization.
Going to be practicing a technique called the flame and the void.
This technique originated from the Wheel of Time series by Robin Jordan.
But it has been verified.
As a legitimate approach to mindfulness meditation.
I'll read you one of the quotes that talk about this technique.
Then I'll introduce it to you step by step.
Remember the flame,
Lad.
And the void.
It was an odd thing,
Tam had told him.
Concentrate on a single flame.
And feed all your passions into it.
Fear.
Hate.
Anger.
Until your mind became empty.
Became one with the void,
" Tan said.
And you could do anything.
So the first step of this meditation is to.
With your eyes closed or open.
Visualize a flame.
Could be a fire,
Could be a candle.
Could be just.
The flame part.
Could be a light.
Could be the sun.
Whatever version of a flame manifests for you,
Once that flame is established.
Begin feeding every thought.
Every emotion.
Every feeling.
That comes to you into this flame.
To a picturing of flame.
And when you notice things arising.
You almost feed them,
Wield them,
Release them.
Into this flame.
When everything is gone.
When there's nothing left to feed into the flame.
Let the flame glow.
Let the flame go.
Just allow the emptiness Allow the void.
And just be there for it.
Be in it.
That void disappears.
That emptiness disappears.
Reignite the flame.
And begin feeding what has arisen back into it.
Let's try this now.
Featuring a flame.
Feeding your thoughts,
Emotions,
Feelings,
Sensations,
Distractions into the flame.
If there's nothing left to feed.
Allow the flame to disappear.
Than just be.
Let's try this now.
If you realise you've become lost in thought.
Or emotion.
Rather distractions.
The moment you realise.
Gently.
Feed all of that into the flame.
The moment you become aware.
Of a sensation.
Of an emotion.
Of a thought or a memory.
Of future plans.
Moment you become aware of anything other than the flame.
And gently offer it to the flame.
Maintaining your meditation upon it.
And when there's nothing left to feed into the flame allowing it to release.
And just being.
So now let's sit together.
For ten minutes in silence.
Practicing this flame and void technique.
Imagining a flame in your mind.
Using it as the meditation object.
Is the anchor of focus.
The moment you notice your mind wandering.
The moment you notice anything arising.
Physical.
Mental or external.
Visualize yourself feeding that into the flame with love,
With compassion.
Again and again and again.
And when there's nothing left to fade.
Releasing everything.
Just existing.
Just being.
It's just embracing.
The emptiness within.
If things return.
Reignite the flame,
And begin again.
Let's begin.
OK.
So if you'd like to maintain the meditation You're more than welcome to do so.
With everyone else just gently returning.
Back to their bodies.
Back to the session.
To their day.
In this session we practiced a form of mindfulness.
Called the Flame and the Void.
Taken from the book The Wheel of Time.
By Robert Jordan In this practice we set the anchor as a visual representation.
Of a flame.
And whenever we notice.
Physical sensations.
Emotions.
Or external awareness.
We feed it all into the flame And we continue to do so.
Until nothing is left to feed into it.
Then we allow the flame to disappear.
And simply sit in the void.
In the self.
In this one moment.
I'm quite a fan of this technique because it allows you to instantly do something.
With those distractions that your broad awareness picks up.
You notice a sensation in the body you notice an aspect of a part.
You notice a mood or emotion or a thought or a feeling arising.
And it doesn't matter what it is.
You just generally offer it.
Much like a loving sacrifice.
An offering.
This internal flame.
And return back to focus.
If all you do in this session is visualise the flame.
And begin feeding things into it.
That is okay.
It might take many,
Many sessions.
Or an extended sit.
To achieve the void state.
I would encourage you to become aware of that internal craving to feel that void.
To feel that emptiness.
To feel that one singular moment.
You become aware of.
Those cravings to attain that state.
Also feed that.
Into the flight.
Everything that arises goes into the flame.
I encourage you to explore this practice further.
And I'll see you in the next session.
