This guided meditation is called Shifting to Equanimity.
Shifting to Equanimity is a practice for intermediate to advanced meditators who have an interest in becoming more familiar with the states of the jhana meditation system.
I believe that in order to successfully perform this practice,
There are two key concepts that we must allow to be true before beginning.
The first is that these states,
The altered meditative states that we are entering into,
Are ever-present.
In fact,
These states precede our current waking conscious experience.
This means that our jhanic meditation practice is not a function of climbing Mount Everest,
But it is a process of sinking into the ocean.
If we can accept this framework,
Our practice will be greatly supported.
If we can accept this framework,
Our practice will be greatly supported.
These states are ever-present,
And so all that is necessary is to sink.
Go ahead,
Make any final adjustments to your seat,
And we will begin.
Begin by bringing your attention to your breath.
Breathing in,
Notice that one is breathing in.
Breathing out,
Notice that one is breathing out.
Breathing in,
Notice that one is breathing in.
Breathing out,
Notice that one is breathing out.
Follow the rise and the fall of the breath.
Allow the body to expand and contract freely.
As you begin to settle into being breathed,
Bring your attention to the sensations of the breath at the tip of the nose.
Whenever the attention to detail wavers,
Applaud yourself for recognizing this,
And gently return your attention to the task at hand,
Which is to notice in great detail the sensations of the breath at the nose.
As you become absorbed in these sensations,
You will notice your thought patterns having more space between them,
The breath regulating itself differently,
And experiences outside of the sensations of the breath to be less interesting.
Allow this to happen.
Notice the sensations in the body,
Perhaps the warmth in the hands,
Or tingling somewhere.
Find any pleasant sensation as it arises in your awareness,
And gently shift your attention from the sensations of the breath to this pleasant sensation wherever you find it.
As the intensity of this sensation grows,
Invite it to move and fill the body.
Allow this pleasantness to suffuse the whole body,
And to increase and intensify the body.
Allow this pleasantness to suffuse the whole body,
And to increase in intensity.
Allow this intensity to crescendo,
To grow,
To expand,
To fill the whole body,
And release.
Allow this to happen.
Allow this to happen.
Allow this to happen.
Allow this to happen.
Allow this to happen.
Fading.
Allow the face to relax its gentle smile,
And for equanimity to suffuse your being.
Rest here in perfect tranquility.
