This is a meditation for creating a sanctuary of peace.
Sit comfortably upright so you can relax and go within without falling asleep.
Close your eyes and take a slow,
Deep breath.
Adjusting your breathing will allow you to more easily spend time within your sanctuary of peace.
So continue to breathe deeply and slowly,
Taking full breaths.
Some of us tend to breathe using our chest and others with our abdomen.
But if you can,
Use your belly,
Allowing it to expand as you breathe in and relax as you breathe out.
Bring your focus to your heart center,
In the middle of your chest.
This will help you relax your mind,
Wind down,
Un-busy yourself,
And begin to enter your sanctuary of peace.
For now,
Take just a minute to simply focus in your heart and continue to breathe deeply and slowly.
We can think of life as a current of energy within us,
A river of peaceful support that we all share.
It connects us to each other and sustains us.
When you tap into your sanctuary of peace within your heart,
You can experience that current of energy,
That river of life.
Take a little longer to sit quietly,
Breathe deeply and slowly.
Focus in your heart and simply be attentive to the river of life within you.
It's not often easy to quiet the mind,
Especially at the beginning.
The mind is like a flywheel with its own momentum and takes a while to spin down.
To think about relaxing the mind is to stimulate it further,
So the best approach is to simply watch it.
Recognize when it's spinning and bring your focus back to your heart.
Take a little longer to sit quietly,
Focus in your heart and simply attend to the river of life within.
You,
Within your sanctuary of peace,
When you find yourself thinking,
Refocus in your heart and breathe.
Most of the time we're busy doing something,
Thinking about something we'll do or thinking about something we did.
In your sanctuary of peace,
There's nothing to do.
It's like sitting by a peaceful river on a Sunday afternoon and watching the water.
Soon the placid scene in front of you begins to reflect inside you and you feel quiet,
Calm and still.
Take some more time to experiment by quietly focusing in your heart,
Simply being without the need to do anything.
It's almost time for the end of this experience.
Bring yourself back into the present moment.
Notice your surroundings,
The sounds in the room,
The air on your face,
Your weight on the surface of your seat.
Deeply inhale peace and serenity.
Exhale chaos and confusion.
Inhale comfort and complacency.
Exhale agitation and irritation.
Take a final deep breath and as you inhale mental freedom,
Raise your arms above your head and reach for the sky.
Stretch up through the sides of your body and relax your shoulders.
And as you exhale,
Lower your arms and move your fingers and toes to awaken your body.
Know that you can return to this practice whenever you wish to spend time in your sanctuary of peace.
Until we meet again in stillness,
Find peace and be well.
And so it is.
