Welcome to your meditation.
Start in a comfortable seated position.
Take a little time to settle in here.
Maybe taking one hand under one hip,
Moving the skin out and back,
Same thing on the other side.
Lengthening your spine here.
And you can have the eyes closed or softly open here.
Maybe finding something to focus your gaze on.
Just breathing at your own pace here and I'll get us started with our invocation and it is,
May my compassion start with me.
Bring your attention here to your hips where you're in contact with whatever you're sitting on.
Begin to just get acquainted with what's happening in the hips in this moment.
You might rock a little forward and back,
Side to side,
Try to find an even ground.
Making any adjustments to your position that would help you sit more comfortably including adding props,
Changing the position of your legs,
Whatever is needed including nothing.
You might already be in a great position for you.
I'm just starting to bring an awareness of the hips,
The pelvis into your mind's eye and then holding on to that,
Moving your attention to the top of your head.
Maybe even just for a moment resting your hand lightly on the top of your head.
And see if you can keep in your awareness and your mind's eye both the pelvis and the top of the head.
You can bring one hand to the low belly here if that's helpful.
And if you've got them and you don't need that physical reminder here of the hands,
The low belly and the top of the head,
You can release the hands for a moment.
Either way,
Start to visualize a channel from your pelvis to the top of your head.
And if you're wondering,
What would that look like?
You might visualize those tubes at the bank where you put something in and it whooshes into the teller from your car.
So just seeing a clear tube or channel there from your pelvis to the top of your head.
You could also use your spine as the image if that's helpful.
So as you begin to see and sense into this connection,
This channel,
See it open and full of light whenever color resonates with you.
Back when I was a kid,
We had these clear jelly bracelets that were full of glitter.
You could see the channel like that if that brings a smile to your face.
And now again,
If you would let your hands come down by your sides for a moment,
Let one hand rest on the low belly and the other on the top of your head.
Begin to breathe in deeply here and feel the breath at your nostrils as your head softly lifts up under your hand.
As you breathe down,
Let your belly fill and feel your hand on the low belly rise as it does.
As you exhale,
Feel your hand on the low belly lightly drop again,
Visualizing the breath riding up the spine on the exhale,
Feeling your hand on top of your head lightly drop at the bottom of the exhale.
Continue this five more times at your own pace,
Inhaling,
Feeling the hands moving lightly.
Visualizing that light in the open channel and the reverse on the exhale.
And the reverse on the exhale.
Letting the light in this channel be the light of compassion.
After your fifth exhale,
Whenever that comes,
You're welcome to continue like this or you can also let this go,
Bringing your hands back down by your sides.
As you do that,
Letting that visual of the open channel filled with light,
Begin to expand through your whole body,
Letting that light fill the body.
And start to fill from there out into the space around you,
A couple feet around you in all directions.
And we'll sit together for just a little bit here,
Letting ourselves feel into our breath,
This light,
Compassion.
Let's let ourselves percolate in a bit.
And now to connect even deeper with this light of compassion,
We'll close with a bit of a call and response guided meditation here.
I'll repeat a phrase and then you're welcome to let it resonate,
Repeat it silently or repeat it out loud,
Whatever's calling you in the moment.
So let's begin.
Light before me,
Light behind me,
Light at my left,
Light at my right,
Light above me,
Light below me,
Light unto me,
Light in my surroundings,
Light to the universe,
May my compassion start with me,
May my compassion start with me,
May my compassion start with me.
Let's close with one breath together.
We'll inhale and exhale.
The light in me honors the light in you.
Namaste.