Living In The Heart Space (Live from Andy's Garden)

Today I'm going to do something a little bit different.

I'm in the back of my garden in London so you can probably hear all the sounds that are greeting us right now and I thought it'd be nice to do something that's not been edited and not been changed just from my own experience of this moment and this meditation really is about welcoming in everything in life as we spend a lot of our time closing down to what happens and we create this very narrow window where we can be happy and sound interestingly can be part of that as well especially if you live in a city so I really encourage you to be curious about how you respond to the different sounds that you'll hear along the way and notice in your body your reactions and my invitation for this meditation is really just to welcome everything in.

Let go of that judging mind,

See if you can bypass it and just be in your own experience and the way to do this is just to be in your heart space and that can be in the center of your chest or wherever you really feel it and you can put your hand there as well so every time you notice a reaction to something for example the airplane going past right now I warn you there'll be some loud ones soon just put your hand on your heart and just say it's okay let it be here and this can be your practice for today for anything that happens today we'll be using sounds but anything that happens anytime you notice that you're against the present moment this is your mantra.

Let it be here even when I hit the mic stand by accident let it be there.

So finding a nice comfortable meditation posture and you can lie down if you prefer and then take a nice deep breath in all the way down into your belly breathing out and just allowing your body to settle allowing the weight of your body to go down into the ground and then take another deep breath in all the way down breathing out letting go a bit more and just noticing how you are as you sit here noticing how your body is especially in meditation we often have this expectation of inner calm and peace so you're being presented here with some sounds around my voice as well so noticing how your body's responding to those maybe you have some thoughts as well this isn't what I needed today this this won't do I need a calm and meditation this morning so just notice those thoughts and see what it's like just open to it so you can place your hand on your heart at this point now if you want to and just feel that spaciousness there say to yourself whatever's here for me as I sit right now let it be here it's already here it's visiting whether it's underlying anxiety a sense of restlessness tiredness or perhaps you're feeling energized just notice and see what it's like just to open to this moment an inner yes to everything even an inner smile perhaps we don't need to take life so seriously and those loud planes will come over our heads sometimes in life throw us off balance send us in all kinds of kinds of directions to see what it's like just to witness that sound just being alongside it being in your heart space and if you're feeling a little bit all over the place this morning a little bit fragmented you can always come to your breathing so inviting you to notice your breath for a few moments feeling the air coming in and out of your nose just at the end feeling that cooler coming in and the warm air going out and if you've done this many times in meditation I really encourage you to treat each breath as if it's the first one you've ever felt really falling into your breathing rather than making it a thing to do so resting on your breath so resting on your breath you can also allow the sounds to bring you to a sense of calm as well sometimes that background noise that static in the air can kind of meet where we are it kind of matches our moment so being with that too no need to change a thing going with what feels right I think of trying to follow the so-called rules of meditation we have to quieten our minds where we have to focus on our breath we have to get it right each time see what it's like to be here seeing where your mind is going to go to the sounds that's fine that's okay here it is comes back to my voice I have a sense that it would feel better to be on your breath for a moment you're getting a little bit more relaxed and relaxed feel better to be on your breath for a moment you're getting pulled away then just gently go to your breath just dancing with each moment all the while noticing that response in your body and when something gets a bit too much too much in the foreground a bit too intense you can come back to that heart space as well put your hand on your heart feel that spaciousness being kind to yourself offering yourself some stability and you can even open your eyes for a moment if you've got a hot drink nearby have a sip give your body a little shake and then come back to that meditation and this is the dance of phenomena always changing always shifting stillness peace turbulence and it's all just coming to our senses visiting and all we're here for is to witness it allow it to pass through there's no need to block what comes our way and each time we do this each time we allow things to pass through we open up another little channel and now the energy in our body to flow rather than using it to push back this isn't good enough this won't do this shouldn't happen to me not today so being aware of the little narrative as well that sometimes comes up I'm just gonna allow you to sit now just for a few minutes witnessing the sounds remember you've got your breath as an anchor your heart as a sense of uplift and kindness to yourself and openness and you've also got the sounds as a gift and the trust in yourself that you can be with all of this in presence so I'm just going to ring a bell to mark the beginning of this moment in this period of quiet reflection or perhaps noisy reflection you you you you you you you you you you you you and where is your mind now just noticing without judging yourself may have gone to a completely different place could be on the sounds around you in this recording perhaps as a sense of stillness acceptance and also noticing how you're meeting this moment right now you can check this in your body you how much are you allowing this moment to be here allowing it to unfold you you you now just taking another deep breath in breathing out just relaxing your body once again relaxing into this moment allowing whatever arises just to pass to meet you to greet you and then it moves on and then next thing just as we come to the end of this meditation just inviting you to place your hand on your heart space just feel that for a moment to feel that spaciousness you're really acknowledging how you feel knowing that there's no goal to this moment there's anxiety or tension that's okay let it be there if there's confusion that that be there just opening in your heart space whatever that means to you even if heart space means nothing it's something that you've never heard of before that's in good of those words just putting your hand in the center of your chest and maybe just feeling the warmth the contact with your hand on your chest so thank you for sitting with me the sounds where I live and I hope you have a lovely day and take along any of this presence you brought with you remembering that you can open to anything that happens in your day the very same way that you have done in this meditation so seeing what it's like to relax into each moment all the while letting go of that self judgment that you should feel a different way noticing the points of stillness sounds of nature but also honoring those big jet planes that pass over your head seeming need to stir your peace and quiet thank you you