Welcome.
I'm so happy that you've joined me for this guided meditation.
Take the first few moments to settle into your preferred meditation posture.
And once you're there,
Begin to cultivate a sense of ease and softness.
Begin to feel your body and start to let your body relax.
Relax the muscles in the face and the jaw.
Relax your neck and shoulders.
Relax your torso and your hips and your hands and your feet.
Just begin to let everything soften a bit until you feel like your body is fully present and resting comfortably in a stable and easy posture.
Once you feel physically settled,
Perhaps say to yourself,
My meditation begins now.
Bring your awareness to your breath.
Begin to follow the breath flowing in and flowing out.
Notice the rhythm of the breath.
Notice how quickly or slowly the breath is moving in and out through the body.
Keep your awareness on the breath and the flow of the breath for about three cycles,
Letting the breath settle into a natural rhythm,
One that feels soft and not strained.
Now become even more deeply aware of the breath,
Allowing everything else to fade into the background.
Allow the breath to become prominent so that it consumes your entire attention.
Keep your awareness fixed on the breath,
Flowing in and flowing out.
Now start to tune in to the more subtle and deeper aspects of the breathing process.
Notice how the breath feels.
Is it soft and smooth,
Or is it ragged and a little rough today?
What is the rhythm of the breath?
How quickly or slowly are you breathing in and breathing out?
And how deep is the breath?
Are you breathing in all the way down into the belly,
Or does the breath stop at the chest or in the throat?
Just notice,
Becoming more and more deeply aware of how your breath is moving in this moment.
Just breathe.
Now begin to allow your breath to lengthen and deepen,
But not so much that you cause strain.
Let the deepening process proceed naturally,
Evolving from a more shallow breath to a deeper and longer breath.
Breathing in and breathing out.
And breathing in and breathing out.
Just continue breathing in and out.
Begin now to distance yourself from the breathing process as though you're watching it from afar.
Begin to observe the breath instead of being an active participant.
Cultivate the role of a passive observer,
Allowing the body to breathe on its own as you mindfully observe the breathing process.
Just watching.
Bring your awareness now to your heartbeat.
And without asking or answering the question of how you can sense your heartbeat,
Just begin to feel the heart beating in your body.
Remember that you may feel the heartbeat in your mouth,
Maybe in your sinuses,
Perhaps in the fingertips or other areas of the body.
You may very well not notice the heart beating at all in the chest.
Focus in deeply on the heartbeat.
Notice its rhythm,
Including the speed.
Stay with the rhythm and the speed and notice how the heartbeat repeats over and over and over again.
A constant repeating sensation of the heart beating in the body.
Continue focusing more and more deeply on the heartbeat.
Let nothing else enter your awareness.
Stay completely focused on the heart beating in the body.
The heart beating in the body.
Stay focused on your heartbeat.
Let everything else go.
Begin now to reach out with your awareness for the heartbeat of someone physically close to you.
Someone very near to where you are.
Someone within your household.
Maybe a spouse.
Or another family member.
Reach out with your awareness and begin to sense their heartbeat.
Now begin to feel their heart beating over and over again.
Just as yours is beating.
Two hearts beating simultaneously.
Not necessarily the same rhythm,
But beating together nonetheless.
Stay focused on both heartbeats.
Beating together.
Now reach out with your awareness for others in your immediate vicinity.
Maybe other family members or neighbors in the house or the apartment next door.
Tune in to several heartbeats this way.
Begin to experience the heartbeats of others in your immediate vicinity.
Now notice your heartbeat and their heartbeats synchronized.
All beating together at the same time.
The heartbeats are all one.
Take a few moments just to experience the heartbeats of you and those in your immediate vicinity.
Beating together.
Now reach out with your awareness for other heartbeats.
Ignoring physical proximity.
Begin to feel the heartbeat of your parents or your children or siblings or other family members.
Even if they're distant from you.
Feel those heartbeats joining the chorus of others.
All beating together.
All heartbeats beating as one.
Begin now to sense the heartbeats of all the residents of your neighborhood.
Imagine all the hearts beating together.
All hearts beating at the same time.
People old and young,
Awake and asleep,
Walking and laying down.
Each person is unique.
None is like any other.
Yet they all have a heart.
The heart beating together as one.
Reach out with your awareness now to all the people in the country where you reside.
Imagine the many tens of thousands or perhaps even millions of people in your country with their heart beating as one.
Sense with your awareness the deep connection between all people with their hearts beating together as one.
Reach out now with your awareness to all people everywhere on this planet.
Become aware that each heart is beating just as yours is.
Billions of hearts scattered over every continent of our planet.
Beating over and over and over again.
Joining the chorus of hearts beating together like a great symphony of humankind sharing the simple rhythm of a heartbeat.
Each and every one.
Rest for a moment or two in the comfort of this universal heartbeat.
Something we all share,
Each with the other.
Every single person's heart beating over and over again.
Beating as one.
All of humankind.
Sharing in this simple beauty of a heartbeat.
Over and over again.
Day and night.
Week after week.
Month after month.
Year after year.
Feel the unity of humankind.
Feel it deeply.
Recognize the truth.
That we are one.
Return now to your heartbeat.
Begin to tune in again to its rhythm.
Remember that just as your heart beats,
So beats the heart of every other person on earth.
And you can return to that connection.
This universal rhythm that unites us all.
Anytime you want.
Just by focusing on the beating of your heart.
When you're ready,
Breathe in deeply.
And then exhale and release the breath.
Just let it go.
Do that again.
Breathe in deeply and exhale,
Letting it all go.
Now gently allow your eyes to open.
Thank you for sharing this meditation with me.
I offer you loving kindness.
May you be happy.
May you be well.
May you be safe.
May you be peaceful.
And may you be at ease.
Namaste.
