An Effortlessly Happy Place

Stamps Someday Thank you for joining me today.

My name is Amanda and I'm honoured to be your guide for the next half hour,

While we sit together in our process of allowing our mind the space to debug.

I invite you to close your eyes and make yourself comfortable in the chair that you're in.

To lean into it and let it support you.

Letting your back,

Your legs and your feet give their weight to the supports beneath them.

Letting your hands rest freely in your lap.

Letting your shoulders put down any weight they've been carrying and just slump into this moment.

Really just surrendering to gravity and feeling it pulling you deeper into the chair that you're sitting in.

Just taking as much time as you need to settle into this moment and let your brain catch up on what it's taken to get you to this point in your day.

When you're ready,

We'll start by just tuning into the natural rhythm of your breath.

Not trying to change it in any way,

Just noticing it as it is.

Letting your breath release.

While you're watching your breath,

I'll remind you that there's no such thing as a good or bad meditation.

The only thing that's important is that you've given yourself this time.

You're exactly where you need to be right now and you're thinking and feeling exactly what you need to be thinking and feeling.

In this moment,

You are perfect and you are safe.

Beginning to slowly deepen your breath now.

Gently guiding your breath down into your belly.

Feeling your belly rising with each inhale and falling with each exhale.

And now starting to lengthen your exhale to be longer than the inhale.

We're not trying to be precise.

We simply have an intention to have our exhale longer,

Even just slightly.

With each lengthened exhale,

Feeling your body softening,

Loosening and sinking into the support beneath it.

Just imagining any excess tension melting away with each lengthened exhale.

And now letting your breath return to a natural rhythm.

Remembering that thoughts are natural and expected.

They're an important part of our meditation.

We're not trying to stop them from arising.

We're not trying to have a still mind.

We're just resting our awareness on what's happening right now and then gently coming back to what we're doing whenever you happen to remember.

Just coming back to my voice or your breath or the music.

Whatever you choose to use as your anchor.

I invite you now to scan your body with your mind.

Noticing any built up tension that you've been unconsciously holding onto.

As I guide you,

Imagining that you're pulling a net through your body and it's catching any tension as though it was a solid,

Like a knot or a lump or a ball.

As the net drags through,

It will collect these solid pockets,

Leaving behind only warm,

Soft,

Calm love.

We're going to start at our feet today.

Just becoming aware of the soles of our feet and our toes and imagining that the net is slowly drifting through and collecting any throbbing or tenderness you can feel there.

Guiding your imaginary net up through your feet and into your calves.

Collecting any stiffness or niggling in your knees.

Gathering any heavy feelings from your thighs,

Your bum and your hips.

Imagining all that's left behind is a peaceful,

Warm,

Silky softness.

Letting the net start pulling up through your torso now.

Any churning or rocks in your belly and lower back are caught in the net.

Any butterflies just under your ribcage and heaviness in your heart are getting swept up.

And as we drift over our shoulder blades and shoulders,

The solid knots and heaviness are lifting away,

Leaving only a lightness and a smoothness to our torso.

So much that we feel even floppier in our chair.

We're just letting this net pass slowly through our head now.

Noticing as it collects any tightness in your throat.

Any throbbing at the base of your skull.

The tenseness behind your eyes is getting caught up in the pull.

As the net passes over your scalp,

Noticing as it takes with it any of those gripping or tight feelings.

And leaves your head feeling loose and light and relieved.

Holding onto the net for now,

We'll be using it again in a moment.

Now we're going to be remembering a time when you felt happy and safe and relaxed in front of a fire.

Remembering what the space looked like,

What the fire itself looked like.

It might have been a fireplace or a potbelly stove or even a campfire.

Whatever it was for you when you felt most relaxed.

Whatever it was for you,

Just bringing that to mind.

Are you inside by a fireplace?

Are you outdoors at a campfire?

Is the fire big or small?

What colours can you see in it?

Can you feel the warmth of the fire?

Who is sitting with you?

Who is around you?

Who is there?

Who is there?

Imagining now that you're taking that net that passed through you earlier and safely adding it along with all the tension that we collected into your fire.

You're watching how the flames inhale it and it starts to catch.

Little flames start to lick out from within the net and it starts to darken and glow red.

We're just going to imagine that we're sitting here in this place full of happiness and love and watching our fires burn up all our collected stress.

We're just going to imagine that we're sitting here in this place full of happiness and love and watching our fires burn up all our collected stress.

From here on,

When you realise that your mind has drifted,

Just bringing your awareness back to the vision of this fire crackling away and burning up all of your worries.

You're watching how the flames inhale and it starts to darken and glow red.

You're watching how the flames inhale and burn up all of your worries.

You're watching how the flames inhale and burn up all of your worries.

You're watching how the flames inhale and burn up all of your worries.

You're just watching and listening to the fire.

Whenever you happen to become conscious of your thoughts,

Gently guiding your awareness back to being happy and content and watching your dancing fire as it slowly loses energy and dwindles down to just embers and red hot coal.

You're watching how the flames inhale and burn up all of your worries.

You're watching how the flames inhale and burn up all of your worries.

You're watching how the flames inhale and burn up all of your worries.

You're watching how the flames inhale and burn up all of your worries.

You're watching how the flames inhale and burn up all of your worries.

You're watching how the flames inhale and burn up all of your worries.

You're watching how the flames inhale and burn up all of your worries.

You're watching how the flames inhale and burn up all of your worries.

Simply resting for the last few minutes while you allow the effects of your meditation to slowly sink in.

You're watching how the flames inhale and burn up all of your worries.

You're watching how the flames inhale and burn up all of your worries.

Gradually starting to deepen your breath now.

Feeling whatever the tips of your fingers are pressing against.

Noticing again the soles of your feet and what they can feel.

Perhaps wiggling your toes,

Moving your tongue in your mouth.

If it feels right,

Stretching your head from side to side.

Keeping your eyes closed for as long as you need to while you come back into your body and become aware of your space once again.

Whenever you're ready,

I'll be here.

If you want to talk about anything that came up during this meditation,

I'm always here for you.

I hope you take these feelings of peaceful,

Calm,

Contentness with you for the rest of your day.