This is a meditation inspired by my summer retreat in a cabin in the woods.
It was raining and chilly,
And I decided to make a fire.
Just having a fire going in the wood-burning stove transformed the feeling of damp,
Depressing darkness into a feeling of being warm and cozy inside the cabin as it rains outside.
I think that's a pretty good metaphor for finding solace when the world outside seems very stressful.
This is not meant to be a meditation about hiding from the things that stress us out.
It's about turning down our brain's fear response instead,
Telling ourselves that it's okay to take a break and relax.
The amygdala is the part of the brain that's designed to save us from predators by triggering a fear response when we encounter a threat in our environment.
That's helped us survive and evolve to modern times,
But these days we're more likely to feel stressed out by situations that aren't life-threatening,
And that turns our healthy fear response into chronic stress,
Which is unhealthy and drains our energy.
So let's thank the amygdala for all the times it's kept us safe,
But now we can ask it to relax.
Let's begin with settling into our seat,
Whether we're sitting on a chair or on a cushion,
Or we could even do this meditation lying down.
So whatever is supporting you,
Feel that support coming up from the earth itself,
Which is big and stable enough to hold us through anything.
Now we'll invite the mind into the body through taking some long,
Deep breaths down into the abdomen.
If you'd like,
You can hold the breath for a moment after the in-breath and the out-breath.
As the breath returns to its regular flow,
We can start by tuning into our sense of stress or anxiety,
Noticing the rain,
So to speak.
How does the body feel as we notice whatever we've been dwelling on that brings us stress and anxiety?
To help us turn down that fear response,
Let's imagine that we're in a cabin in the woods.
It's raining outside and it's cloudy and chilly,
And we can hear the rain,
Which represents our stress,
Striking the tin roof.
We can take a moment and feel compassion for ourselves.
Let's shift the attention now from the rain falling outside,
Our focus on what's wrong,
What's scary,
What's stressful in the world,
And imagine that inside this cabin there's a wood-burning stove.
There's plenty of wood stacked up and available for us to burn.
We can't stop the rain falling outside,
But we can use our internal resources to feel comfortable as we wait for the weather to change.
Let's imagine building a little fire in the wood-burning stove,
Feeding it until it's burning brightly.
Soon we begin to feel the warmth radiating from the stove,
And we can see the flames leaping inside it.
We're beginning to feel very cozy inside this cabin,
And the rain actually makes it cozier.
Let's sit now for a few moments,
Watching the fire burn and feeling the warmth of the stove.
This fire and this stove can represent our internal resources,
Our ability to self-soothe once our brain isn't freaking out about the external world.
They can also represent the warm glow of our Buddha nature,
Which we can never lose,
But which sometimes we forget about because we're focused on life's rain.
So let's take a few minutes and focus on the warm glow of our natural inner gold,
The wealth of resources we were born with,
And can never lose.
Let's take a few minutes and focus on the warm glow of our natural inner gold,
The wealth of resources we were born with,
And can never lose.
Let's take a few minutes and focus on the warm glow of our natural inner gold,
The wealth of resources we were born with,
And can never lose.
Let's take a few minutes and focus on the warm glow of our natural inner gold,
The wealth of resources we were born with.
We started this meditation focused on the rain,
But the rain has become the background now,
And the fire can become the foreground.
Let's practice hearing both the fire and the rain,
But letting the rain be the background.
Let's practice hearing both the fire and the rain,
But letting the rain be the background.
Let's practice hearing both the fire and the rain,
But letting the rain be the background.
Let's practice hearing both the fire and the rain,
But letting the rain be the background.
Finally,
Before we close this meditation,
We can let go of trying to do anything or make anything happen,
And simply rest,
Present to ourselves.
And now we close the meditation.
