Hello and welcome.
In today's meditation,
We'll explore the idea of cultivating internal heat to melt away any stress that you might be experiencing.
Heat is associated with the fire element,
And the fire element has been associated with transformation and purification.
If you look into the yoga system,
We have the concept of tapas,
Which is the fire of discipline that is used towards a spiritual practice,
Which burns away any impurities.
In yoga's sister school,
Which is Ayurveda,
The concept of a digestifier is in place,
This is known as Agni.
When we think of digestion,
It is the process of transformation,
Where we convert food into energy.
Likewise,
For this meditation,
We can imagine that we're cultivating an internal fire that will melt away stored stress.
So to get started,
Find a comfortable seat with your feet touching the floor.
Start to bring your attention down to the feet and begin to pay attention to any sensations that may arise in the feet area.
If you find it difficult to feel your feet,
Begin to ask yourself in your mind,
How do I know that I have feet without looking at them?
And if you practice this contemplation,
You may observe that you can experience a feeling of warmth in your feet,
Or perhaps a tingling sensation.
And this anchor point will be where we will start the meditation from.
Continue to feel into these sensations in your feet.
Further strengthen our practice.
Begin to imagine that there is a candle underneath your feet,
Perhaps in the ground below you.
And imagine that this candle has purifying qualities.
Feel that the heat generated from the flame of this candle is now starting to warm up the soles of your feet.
As you feel your feet start to warm up,
Notice that any accumulated tension in this area is now starting to melt away.
As the heat from the candle starts to rise upwards.
Notice this warmth slowly start to travel up your heels and the Achilles tendon,
Around your ankles and to the calves as well.
Notice any tension or muscular gripping in these areas begin to melt away.
As this internal heat begins to rise into your knees,
Allow your knees to soften.
Start to feel this internal heat and fire begin to rise upwards towards the thighs and the hamstrings.
Melting away stress and tension in these areas.
Feel the flame start to rise up and enter into your hips.
This is a place where many might hold on to stored tensions from the past.
Notice where you are gripping and allow the flame and heat from within start to melt away these tensions.
Allowing for a deeper sense of inner freedom and space.
Remember to soften and relax any parts of the body that feel tight.
Start to feel the flame start to rise up and enter into your lower abdomen.
The lower abdomen is known as the Tanden and is thought of to source our vital energy and power.
Allow the heat from the flame and your internal heat to gather into this area.
Notice any tension or tightness in the abdomen start to melt away.
If you started to lose connection with the body and your attention has wandered to different thoughts begin to simply redirect your focus back to the soles of your feet.
Firmly feeling them planted on the ground.
Then feel the heat in the soles of your feet and allow this heat to travel up the soles of your feet all the way up your legs and settling into the lower abdomen.
Feel this heat start to rise up now.
Traveling up the sides of your body from the lower back to the upper back and from the abdomen to the chest.
You can start to feel this heat which has accumulated in our lower abdomen.
Begin to melt away the tensions in the chest.
Can you soften your chest,
Soften your shoulders and traps to allow this process to unfold.
As this heat travels up to your chest,
Once again soften any tension in the chest area.
You sometimes tend to grip the muscles in our chest area when you've gone through certain difficult emotions in which we had to close off emotionally.
See if you can melt away any past tensions in this area.
As the heat begins to rise up,
Notice it start to enter into your shoulders.
As you experience this,
Observe the shoulders begin to naturally soften and release.
Observe that as your shoulders soften,
This natural ease of letting go begins to trickle down your arms and all the way down to the fingertips.
Noticing a steady relaxation and letting go.
If you've lost your connection to your inner flame,
Once again start to pay attention to the soles of your feet.
Once again feeling the internal heat and fire.
Allow it to start to rise up your feet,
Traveling up your legs,
Going up the abdomen,
Entering your chest.
Now watch the flames start to rise up into your neck,
Traveling up the sides of your neck,
Front of the neck,
And the back of the neck,
Releasing any tension in these areas.
Allow this heat to now travel up into your jaw.
This is a place where many people will tend to store a lot of tension.
This may manifest as a tight jaw.
See if you can allow the flames of this internal heat to melt away any stored tension in the jaw as the flames begin to slowly rise up into the cheeks and the nose.
Allow the flames to now rise up into the forehead.
Notice any gripping of the eyebrows start to melt away.
Allow your forehead to be soft.
Any straining in the mind slowly will start to melt away.
Now observe the flame begin to rise up,
Coming up from the back of the head,
The front of the head,
And the sides of the head.
Observe the flames now meeting at the crown of the head,
Softening into this area.
And just as we've observed the heat emanating from the soles of our feet,
Can you imagine that the heat generated from the crown of your head also begins to heat up and melt away any stored tensions,
Thoughts,
Stress,
Baggage,
Or any other thing that does not serve you.
They slowly melt away and drip down your body.
If you tend to be a visual person,
You can imagine all these impressions and stress and thoughts as candle wax.
It is slowly dripping away and melting away due to the heat of your inner candle and inner flame.
Now take a moment,
Scan your body,
And observe an inner feeling of relaxation and freedom that has started to emerge due to your tensions and stresses melting away.
Begin to also observe how you feel in this present moment compared to the beginning of this meditation.
Bring your hands to heart center and thank yourself for taking the time to practice meditation today.
Thank you.
