Greetings.
This is a meditation to allow the joy of quietness and stillness into your life.
If you can take just a few minutes for yourself to calm your body,
Your feelings and your heart,
Joy becomes possible.
The joy of true quietness and stillness becomes a daily healing experience.
You are here now for your practice.
I know it's not always easy to get started or put it before the ego tries to test you and tell you that there's something better to do.
Does that sound familiar?
In those moments,
Exercise your willpower.
It's a muscle that we have to exercise and strengthen and it's certainly worth the effort.
Remember,
Every time you do that,
It becomes stronger and you can feel pleased with yourself.
It means that you have changed one of those old patterns.
Be aware of your posture for meditation.
Even if you're doing this practice in preparation for sleep,
It will be more effective to complete the practice while sitting and then be completely relaxed and calm to lie down and fall asleep.
Just a suggestion,
Maybe experiment with that.
From my own experience,
I would certainly recommend it.
The meditation posture is to sit upright with the spine gently elongated.
Remember,
No rigidity.
Shoulders relaxed and feet on the ground.
Place your hands,
Palms up at the top of your thighs.
This will help to draw the shoulders back slightly and open the chest area,
Enabling you to feel an expanded heart.
Now,
You may say,
Well,
What does that mean?
An expanded heart simply means that you are open and receptive to receive the grace that comes to you in meditation.
And also to give out peace so that you can be of some help to the world and to all sentient beings.
So please join me now in this meditation and we'll begin with an affirmation.
Say this affirmation with me either silently or out loud and we'll repeat it three times.
I allow the joy of quietness and stillness to become a daily healing experience in my life.
I allow the joy of quietness and stillness to become a daily healing experience in my life.
I allow the joy of quietness and stillness to become a daily healing experience in my life.
So it is necessary when meditating to bring about a feeling of relaxation in the body.
And you can do this by the age old method of tensing and relaxing your muscles with the breath.
If you've done any of my sessions before,
You may be familiar with this.
But if not,
Here it is.
You simply inhale through your nose,
Double breath and tense your body.
Make fists and tense through your body,
Not too much but just enough to feel the tension.
And then you exhale with a double breath and you relax the whole body all at once.
So let's do that together now.
Inhaling,
Hold and tense,
Exhale.
And again,
Inhaling,
Hold and tense,
Exhale.
Inhale,
Hold and tense.
And release,
Relaxing all the body parts at once and immediately then resuming a natural breath rhythm,
One that is comfortable and relaxed.
Restlessness in the body and mind is so often the reason that people think they cannot meditate.
Being mindful,
In other words being present and aware,
You can smile at your restless thoughts.
If your thoughts are around worry or concerns that perhaps are important to you,
Smile lovingly and promise yourself that you will think about these worries or concerns when your mind is clear and calm after your meditation practice.
That's when you are able to see clearly and to find solutions for your problems.
So now feel your whole body relax and follow my suggestions as we practice a simple rhythmic breath that helps to calm the fight or flight response and activate the relaxation response in the body.
Now the fight or flight response is pretty much turned on within us these days,
Albeit perhaps unconsciously.
There's so much going on in the world and in our lives that it's almost just a given.
If not dealt with though,
We can be experiencing life in that permanent state of fear and anxiety and that's not a healthy way to live.
The relaxation response on the other hand is when we feel calm and peaceful and of course the joy of quietness and stillness within.
So before we start the breath rhythm,
We do what I call a cleansing breath and it's very similar to what we did with our tensing and relaxing.
It's just a double breath in and a double breath out.
So do that together.
And now gently inhale counting four.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Pause,
Exhale.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
That's the rhythm and of course if it's too much,
If it's four is too long or six is too long,
Just go a little bit faster than I am or go a little bit slower too if you like.
So we're going to do this several times.
Inhaling,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
And again,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Inhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Please continue in your own time.
I'll come back to you.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
And when you finish the next breath,
The next exhalation,
We repeat again the cleansing breath to finish it.
Double inhalation.
Double exhalation.
And once again,
Resume a natural easy breath rhythm.
Feel the stillness slowly emerging within yourself.
And before we have our two minutes silence,
We go back to the affirmation and take the words,
The essence of those words into the silence of the meditation.
I allow the joy of quietness and stillness to become a daily healing experience in my life.
I allow the joy of quietness and stillness to become a daily healing experience in my life.
I allow the joy of quietness and stillness to become a daily healing experience in my life.
I allow the joy of quietness and stillness to become a daily healing experience in my life.
I allow the joy of quietness and stillness to become a daily healing experience in my life.
I allow the joy of quietness and stillness to become a daily healing experience in my life.
Let the feeling of deep peace now fill your heart and soul.
All is well.
The joy of quietness and stillness is present within you.
And I'll call you back after two minutes silence.
There,
Enjoy that stillness.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence.
Coming back now,
Smiling and embracing that feeling of peace within.
And carry it with you now into whatever you may be doing,
Whether it be sleeping or perhaps beginning your day.
When you are happier and more peaceful,
Making the effort in this way,
Quality of life will improve.
Your work improves,
Your relationships,
Your creativity.
All things of life can be more joyful and rewarding.
So please allow the joy of quietness and stillness to become a daily healing experience in your life.
May perfect peace and poise be with you now.
Many blessings to you and thank you for listening.
