Hey,
It's Ash and welcome to Asharic Meditation's Signature Session.
Take a moment here to get cozy in your space,
Maximizing your body's physical comfort,
Preparing for your meditation practice.
And at this time,
I invite you to close your eyes if it's comfortable to do so.
Closing your eyes helps reduce mental stimulation by blocking what we take in visually.
If it's not comfortable to close your eyes during this session,
Find a soft gaze on the floor in front of you.
We'll begin by tuning into our bodies,
Taking three long breaths followed by a body scan.
And taking that first deep sip of air in through the nose and out through the mouth,
Exhaling the entire breath.
And at the bottom of that breath,
Drawing another inhale through the nose and sigh it out.
And one more in through the nose,
Pulling your shoulders up to your ears and releasing them down with a sigh.
Feeling the oxygen traveling to the far reachings of your limbs.
Feeling your breath become a little more expansive in the body.
Realizing where you feel that expansion,
Perhaps in the front of the shoulders,
The top of the back,
Perhaps in the belly and hips.
And as your breath settles into your natural pace,
Observing it flowing in and out of your body.
Seeing all of those subtle sensations of breath.
Feeling it enter through the nose,
Moving down to the lungs.
Feeling that slight pause between the exchange of the inhale and the exhale and following it all back out of your body again.
Engaging in a body scan,
Anchors the mind into the present moment awareness and strengthens our ability to detect our body and mind's needs.
With practice,
It helps us pinpoint the physical sensations of thought in the body.
Whether the body is noticeably relaxed or perhaps holding on to some tension.
Perhaps you are presently aware of the state of your body.
Or resting in this present moment.
There's nowhere else to be and nothing else to do.
But to sink deeper into the body.
Deeper into the moment.
Allowing the mind to drift into stillness.
At this time,
I invite you to bring your awareness up to your forehead for a body scan.
Noticing any sensation present in this space.
Any tension,
Any heat or any tingling.
And allowing this space to grow heavy.
Allowing the forehead to relax.
Allowing the eyes to become heavy.
Bringing that awareness down to the jaw.
Relaxing the jaw by creating space here.
And your tongue on the roof of your mouth and parting your teeth ever so slightly.
As your jaw relaxes,
Noticing ease coming back into the breath.
And noticing your ears relaxing.
And allowing that ease to travel down the front of the throat,
Down to the shoulders.
Softening the chest and the back.
And extending that softness down the arms into the hands.
And the hands to rest.
And bringing that awareness back into the torso.
Relaxing the belly.
And nodding any tension in this space.
And allowing it to expand fully as you breathe.
And settling into the hips.
Allowing them to support you as you rest.
Feeling the weight of your legs softening your knees and your ankles.
And releasing that nearly undetectable tension in the thighs,
Calves and feet.
Exhaling here,
Allowing your whole mind and body to surrender.
And just once you think you've surrendered,
Surrender a little more.
Allowing yourself to feel fully supported as you are.
Drawing in a nice slow sip of air in through the nose.
And fully exhaling out of the mouth.
And returning to your natural pace of breath.
At this time you may feel mind activity kicking back in.
Interrupting your stillness with cyclical thought patterns and sensations in the body.
When the body is relaxed,
It's in an optimal state to release stored stress.
Often times this feels like activity in the mind bubbling up to grab your attention.
Rather than resisting the activity entirely,
Just allowing the body and mind to purify itself of stress.
We want to allow all thought and sensation to be as it is.
Allowing it space to be and to pass by.
And returning your awareness to your natural pace of breath.
Becoming present in the body.
And taking that nice slow sip of air in through the nose.
And out through the mouth.
Staying those subtle sensations of breath in the body.
Noticing the mind beginning to respond to gentle redirection.
Allowing it to follow that ease into the body.
For the next few moments we'll rest in stillness.
Keep following that breath and I'll watch the clock.
Good night.
Good night.
Good night.
Good night.
Good night.
Good night.
Taking a nice slow sip of air in through your nose.
And slowly exhaling all the way.
And in the bottom of that breath.
Three experiences you may have while you meditate are you may experience thought,
Activity in various degrees.
You may experience present stillness.
Or perhaps you may find yourself drifting to sleep.
There's no wrong experience to have in meditation as all three experiences show us our inner state and the needs of that inner state.
We have between 60 and 80,
000 thoughts a day.
Many of which are the same thoughts we had yesterday and the day before that.
As we practice the release of cyclical thought patterns in meditation we increase our ability to enter the state of present stillness at any time.
That space between thoughts.
The space of the self.
Infinite potential.
So let's dip back into that stillness together.
First with another body scan.
Bringing that awareness back up to the brow.
Relaxing the brow.
Allowing it to feel heavy.
Allowing the eyes to feel heavy.
And drawing that awareness down to the jaw.
Creating space here.
And as the jaw relaxes.
Noticing the ears relaxing.
Realizing ease coming back into the breath.
Allowing that ease to run down the arms to the hands.
Into the torso.
Resting into the hips.
Softening the legs.
Feeling that nearly undetectable tension in the thighs,
Calves and feet.
And just as you think you've surrendered.
Surrender a little more.
Allowing both body and mind to drift.
And following that breath at your natural pace in and out of the body.
Keep following that breath for the next few moments and I'll be watching the clock.
I'll be watching the clock.
Drying in a slow sip of air in through the nose.
And out.
All the way to the bottom of that breath.
And at the bottom taking in another breath through the nose.
Little deeper than the last.
And out.
One more in.
And sighing that breath out.
All the way to the bottom of that breath.
And before we open our eyes,
Spending a moment in gratitude.
Thanking your body for bringing you here.
Thanking the mind for being present.
And thanking your whole self for gifting yourself this time spent in relaxation.
Harmonizing the body and mind.
At this time I invite you to bring movement into the body.
Wiggling the fingers and toes.
Placing your attention on the sensation of movement in the body.
To gently reawaken the mind.
And following any movement that feels good.
And when you're ready,
You can open your eyes and find a gentle gaze in front of you.
Spending a few moments to reawaken to your surroundings before reengaging in activity.
Thank you for tuning in to Asherak meditation's signature session.
Namaste.
