Welcome to your meditation practice today,
Which is all about love.
Because so many teachings,
Philosophies and wisdoms from all different cultures,
Backgrounds and times,
At their core,
They all come back to love.
And so today's practice is designed to cultivate love and to come back to love.
So I invite you to just make yourself completely comfortable,
Sitting or lying.
And wherever you are,
Just allow yourself to settle in to the position you have chosen.
And this is an invitation to you to gently close down your eyes if that feels comfortable for you,
Or otherwise you might like to soften your gaze and gently look down into your lap.
As you signal to your body and to your mind that this is a time to turn inwards.
And then I invite you here to bring your attention to your breath.
Where do you feel your breath?
Perhaps you feel your belly rising and falling.
Perhaps you feel your breath up high in your chest.
Maybe you can feel the air entering your nostrils.
Perhaps you can feel your nostrils expanding with each inhalation.
Where do you feel your breath?
I invite you to make your inhalation just a little bit deeper and longer.
And your exhalation also a little deeper and longer.
And notice does that change the sensation of breath in your body?
Does it change where you feel your breath in your body?
And throughout our practice today,
If you feel your mind wandering,
Which is of course what our minds so often like to do,
I just encourage you to bring your attention gently back to your breath.
And again,
Bring your focus back to making your inhalation just a little longer and deeper.
And your exhalation also a little longer and deeper.
Because so often what happens is that when your mind moves quickly,
Your breath will also move quickly.
And so when you slow down your breath,
That is your invitation to your mind to also slow down.
And so I invite you here to imagine a light sitting in the center of your heart.
And if you would like to,
You could perhaps give it a color.
Perhaps a bright white light,
A calming pink,
A soothing blue,
A warming orange,
A fresh green,
Whatever color feels right and intuitive for you.
And this light that is sitting in the center of your heart,
This light encompasses all your feelings of love.
And this light at the moment may feel like it's dimmed,
Or perhaps it is flickering and struggling to stay alight.
And so all you are going to do now is turn up the dial on this light.
You are turning up the dial on this light and your feeling of love.
And as you do this,
This light is brightening and getting stronger.
It is spreading across your chest and radiating out into your body,
This light,
This warming sensation,
Spreading up to the crown of your head,
The tips of your fingers,
Down your legs,
To the tips of your toes.
This light is encompassing every inch of your mind,
Your body.
This light is flooding your body and every cell of your being with so much love and warmth.
This sensation of rushing,
All-consuming,
Unconditional love.
Feel the love,
Feel that light,
That love radiating through your body and allow yourself to drop fully into the feeling of love.
This love is unwavering,
This love is unconditional,
This love is so expansive.
And as this light,
This love radiates through your entire body,
Filling your body with light,
It then starts radiating outwards to the world and to the people in your world.
The love that you offer to others and the love that others offer to you is a reflection of the love that you have within yourself.
And so often people search for love in the external,
Not realizing that the love they are seeking is already inside them.
And that by cultivating this love,
The world will respond by reflecting it back to you.
It starts within.
It starts with you.
It starts with the inner world.
It starts with you reconnecting with yourself,
Coming to yourself and to your body with so much love and compassion.
And this is what you're doing right now.
You are changing your inner world,
Your internal landscape with love.
It starts within.
And as you take these steps to shift your inner world,
You may just see that your external world starts shifting to meet you where you're at.
And this is where the magic happens.
This is where love happens.
So I'll give you a few more moments here to again come back to that feeling of love radiating throughout your body.
That light flooding your body and every cell of your being with so much love and warmth and all-consuming,
Unconditional love.
Feel the feeling of love.
So as we come towards the end of our meditation today,
I encourage you to finish as we started by bringing your attention back to your breath.
Perhaps take a lovely deep breath in for me.
Really let it fill up your lungs.
And then as you let that breath go,
You can drop back into your body as you perhaps wriggle out your hands,
Your fingers,
Your feet,
Or stretch in whatever ways feel right for you.
And then when you feel ready,
You can slowly open your eyes and come back into your surroundings.
And remember as you move forward with your day to always come back to that feeling of love.
