Welcome to a profoundly special practice called the Altar of Devotion.
This particular meditation uses creative visualization to access the sentiment of bhakti,
Also meaning devotion,
Within the rhythm of your breath.
In this practice the diaphragm is made a sacrosanct following its motion and meaning to generate feelings of deep appreciation,
Gratitude,
Acceptance and surrender.
Please assume a comfortable seated position.
Rest your hips,
The bones of your legs settling into your seat and resting your hands in your lap.
As you breathe,
Sense the rise and fall of your diaphragm at the base of your lower ribs,
Allowing your breathing to be completely natural,
Easy,
Soft and fluid.
And then imagining your diaphragm to be a living altar,
Something that you place your devotion onto and sense the way your heart suspends on top of this flowing living space of your altar.
Sensing the way your heart suspends on top of this flowing and alive altar of your breath.
With each breath,
Feel your heart being lifted with the rhythmic motion of your diaphragm.
Feel and visualize an image of a loved one.
This can be a divine being,
An entity,
A teacher,
An animal or a person for whom you feel unconditional love and placing this love intentionally onto this altar of your breath.
You can visualize doing this in the same way that you would place a photo,
A statue or a bunch of flowers on an altar in your home or in a space that you devote yourself to in spiritual practice.
Let enter your heart someone who is a source of genuine nourishment,
Vitality and kindness.
Someone who is a source of love and containment.
Observe the way this being helps you fill the space of your heart with gratitude and appreciation of surrender and acceptance.
Allow your breathing to be full of acceptance and light.
Receive this unconditional love.
Contemplate and reflect on how the motion of each and every one of your breaths sustains this feeling of openness,
Of acceptance and receptivity.
Allowing the entity on your altar to cultivate a non-judgmental awareness inside of you.
Allowing this entity to cultivate empathy and love inside yourself and for the world around you.
Allowing the goodness of this being to permeate your entire chest and let it fill you with a feeling of spaciousness.
Let it fill your entire body.
Noticing how soft and supple your breath becomes as a result of this visualization.
And allowing this felt sense of your current experience in receptivity and surrender and gratitude and appreciation open you up to a deeper space of healing and compassion within yourself.
Staying with this image of your breath as an altar.
Something or someone you intentionally devote yourself to.
Someone or something that you offer your trust to.
Someone or something to that you can surrender and that you can embrace.
And then just allowing for another lived moment to come back to your physical senses,
The space around you.
And just reorienting yourself into your surroundings.
Gently closing your practice.
And moving into the rest of your day filled with a sense of devotion and openness.
Namaste
