Hello,
My name is Jane Cunningham.
I'm a psychotherapist and meditation teacher here today to guide you on a journey called Embodied Awareness.
The reason I think being embodied in a meditation practice and not just meditating from the neck up is so important is because when we're embodied,
We bring this awareness into our lives.
We respond and allow our feelings,
Our thoughts to metabolize through our body and not choke them off by tensing or dissociating from our body.
Our bodies are wells of wisdom.
They operate sometimes outside of our awareness,
But there's a purity,
A natural wisdom that our body brings to everything.
So allowing yourself to meditate in a very whole way,
You get so much more out of it and it will be useful in your everyday lives.
So let's take a moment and get comfortable.
Unplug your cell phone.
Do whatever you need to do so that you're not interrupted.
And above all,
Let's get comfortable.
A comfortable body allows your mind to relax as well.
So you might need to support your back.
You might need a blanket.
Whatever you need to do,
Take a moment and get comfortable.
Now bring your awareness inside your body.
Just notice the flow of energy,
That sense of aliveness.
It might feel like a tingling or a heat or like champagne bubbles alive and sparkling.
Notice where your body feels most alive and not so alive.
Perhaps that area just hasn't had as much attention paid to it.
Not judging anything or trying to change anything,
Just being aware of your inner landscape at this moment in time.
Take a moment to connect with your breath.
Write your breath to deepen so that your exhale is twice as long as your inhale.
Now at first,
You might want to release a little tension by exhaling through your mouth.
But ultimately,
You want to breathe in and out of your nose if you can.
If not,
That's fine too.
When we breathe through our nose,
It brings a more inner quiet way of being.
So notice your breath.
Listen to the sound of the breath like waves of the ocean.
Feel the air at your nostrils,
The coolness of the inhale and the warmth of the exhale.
Invite your breath to puff out your back as it inhales so that you feel it puff out into the chair.
Feel your side body puffing out.
Feel yourself breathing three-dimensionally to the back,
To the sides,
To the front.
And beginning the breath,
The foundation of the breath is to breathe into the belly.
It is what turns on the parasympathetic or calming part of the nervous system.
And you can bring your breath up from the belly to the middle area where your solar plexus is and all the way up to your collarbones.
But making sure that that lower belly is engaged.
And notice how your breath breathes you.
If you just get out of its way,
Who's doing the breathing?
You're not constantly thinking of every breath.
This life force breathes you.
And this life force is what this is all about.
How do we engage the life force of the body without having to wrestle with the mind to stop?
The mind oftentimes doesn't stop.
And don't worry about that.
When you focus your attention on your body,
You'll naturally move away from the mind.
Notice the mind is a kind of a wild monkey just jumping from tree to tree to tree.
And it's about trying to find the threat and keep us safe.
We don't want to operate in that place of threat.
We want to find that deeper layer of awareness that is unflappable,
That is beyond the corporal world and exists in an infinite way of being.
Invite your brain to shift to the back of your head and feel its weight.
Imagine that you could just unplug the thinking mechanism and come fully into your senses.
Let your exhale be twice as long as your inhale.
This also engages the calming part of your nervous system.
A relaxed body creates a relaxed mind that all works together.
Bringing your awareness to your lower body.
Feel your pelvic floor expanding and contracting as you breathe,
Kind of puffing out and pulling in.
And imagine that you could sprout roots from your pelvic floor,
Down your legs,
Through your feet into the earth.
Feeling those roots extend through the surface,
Through the crust of the earth,
Down into the soil,
Sensing the moisture in the soil,
The granules of dirt,
Going down deeper into the shale and the rock.
Feeling this solid earth,
The same matter as your body,
Feeling it hold you so solid,
Unconditional support.
Feel the rock like your bones,
Feel the weight of your bones.
Let your body to surrender to being held.
The earth holds you.
Day after day doesn't take a break,
Always here supporting you.
Let your muscles relax.
Feel the organs in your body even relax as they feel held by your lower body,
By your legs,
By the earth,
Your pelvic bowl.
When we ground into the earth,
Our energy body is stabilized.
Our body becomes a wider container that can more efficiently and effectively run energy and feel like a larger capacity is available to you so that you don't have to cut off or make yourself smaller.
You have a wide base of support that's solid and unconditionally supportive.
Feel your lower body.
That is your ground,
The ground of your being.
Your beingness is that universal pristine awareness that innervates you,
That innervates all of life.
When we can get out of our heads,
Out of our personalities,
We can expand into this beingness that's luscious.
That is forgiving.
That is pure love.
Starting with the ground of our being.
And imagine you could draw up this energy of earth through your roots,
Through your legs,
Pulling it up into your torso and letting yourself stretch out in your torso.
Bending your belly or the second brain,
Sensing into your heart and inviting your senses to turn on,
To awaken.
Sensing into each cell in your torso.
The reason the torso is so important is because that's where our emotions are.
And when we just meditate from our head,
We bypass all our emotions.
They don't get to process through.
And it's very important to let all of you,
Your instincts,
Your emotions,
Your thoughts,
All of it to be metabolized through meditation,
Not getting caught up in content of anything,
But rather being aware of this spacious awareness,
This energy that it's alive in every cell of your body.
Now let yourself feel inside your torso.
Feel your heart beating.
Feel your heart being beaten,
Knowing that you are connected to everything in the universe.
Your heart is the heart of the universe.
Your breath is the same breath that we all breathe,
All the plants,
Animals,
All beings.
This inter-beingness is in our cells.
And it's not about doing anything.
It's not about being a better meditator.
It's about letting go of doing and letting yourself simply be as you are without trying,
Because you have everything you need inside you.
And as you breathe,
Bring yourself up to your head and feel your third eye and the crown on top of your head open.
And imagine that you could extend out into space.
Your consciousness,
Your awareness is the same space that's infinite in the universe.
And feel this infinite wisdom,
Infinite love that is beingness consciousness itself.
Allow it in,
Drink it in into each cell of your body,
Of your head,
Of all of you.
Feel the pores of your skin open to receive,
Drinking in empty open space.
Now the space isn't empty as in void.
It's empty of content.
But it's like a gracious host that hosts whatever arises in awareness without any judgment,
Without any attachment.
It just lets everything move through.
Nothing sticks.
Pure,
Pristine awareness,
Which is love itself.
It accepts everything.
It rejects nothing.
It is our very beingness that is perfect,
That is whole,
That is wise,
Compassionate and knowing.
How amazing is that,
That our very consciousness has everything that we need,
Is pure love itself.
And we don't have to do anything to get it.
It's who we are.
It's our essence.
Allow that essence to feed every part of your heart,
Of your emotional being,
Of your body.
Let this beingness come through,
Through your personality so it becomes an expression of your beingness.
Getting out of the way,
Allowing beingness,
Allowing pristine awareness to express itself as who you truly are.
Pure love.
Your body is an ocean rich with hidden treasures.
Open its innermost chambers and light its lamp.
Mirabai.
Thank you for joining me today.
Much love to each and every one of you.
Thank you.
