Welcome.
Today we are going to do a guided meditation focused on the benefits of being gentle with ourselves.
Being gentle with ourselves in regard to our meditation practice is one of the most important things that you can do in promoting a positive mindset,
A positive outlook on sitting down and closing our eyes each and every day.
Whether you practice one time a day,
Three times a day,
Ten minutes,
An hour,
However much you practice,
Whenever you go into your meditation practice,
If you have a negative feeling about it,
It's going to make it more difficult to show up next time,
More difficult to stay with it while you are sitting there with your eyes closed and you're dealing with things that you might not like,
Expectations that you have about what your practice should be when you close your eyes,
Not having a lot of thoughts,
Not having emotions pop up.
Those expectations can lead to judgment and almost certainly will and that judgment can lead you down the rabbit hole of not wanting to stick with your practice.
So if we can look at those things with a gentle touch and know that they're going to happen,
Thoughts are okay,
Thoughts are a part of you,
Therefore they're going to be a part of your meditation practice.
Expectations are most certainly okay and they are going to come up during your meditation practice.
And that's okay.
And instead of judging them or having an expectation that they're not going to happen,
When they do happen we can gently rely on the tools that we've developed,
The breath practice,
The mantra that we use to come back to the present moment and use those tools gently and shift back and when more thoughts come up gently shift back again and again as often as we need to.
And the more that we do that and the more that we realize that being gentle with ourselves has a positive impact and that those things that we go in,
The expectations that we have are not realistic because your meditation practice is a direct reflection of your life.
You have emotions and you have thoughts and they're going to be there during your meditation practice.
So let's go into our practice knowing that and when those things happen let's gently shift back.
So with that why don't we go ahead and close our eyes and let's take a couple of deep breaths.
Another one just like that.
Begin to notice gravity holding you.
Gravity creating the feeling of weight as you sit in your chair or on the floor.
Your points of connection where you're touching the chair or the floor.
Gravity's always there.
Holding you.
Embracing you.
Holding you from flying off into space.
Begin to notice the room around you.
Notice the sounds that are coming to you.
There's no need to search for them.
Just notice them as they come to you.
Notice the air in the room.
Is it warm?
Is it cool?
Is it just right?
Begin to notice your body.
How does your body feel right now?
Are you tight?
Is there pain?
Not trying to change anything.
Just noticing.
Begin to notice your breath.
Is it fast?
Is it slow?
Deep or shallow?
Don't try to control it.
Don't try to change it.
You're just watching.
Notice how each breath is different than the last.
Just like each moment in time is different than the last.
Today we are going to use a mantra.
Om Shanti.
Shanti means peace in Sanskrit.
Say this mantra to yourself over and over again.
It may change in volume as you say it to yourself.
It may change in tempo.
And that is okay.
We're not trying to control it.
We're just saying Om Shanti over and over.
And when you notice that you've stopped saying Om Shanti,
We're going to gently return back to the mantra as many times as we can or as many times as we need to.
I'll keep track of the time.
And when we are ready to finish,
I'll bring us back out of the meditation.
And when you hear the bell,
You can gently open your eyes.
Om Shanti.
Om Shanti.
Om Shanti.
Om Shanti.
Om Shanti.
Om Shanti.
No judgment.
Gently shift back whenever you notice that you've stopped chanting.
Now inhale deeply into your new Thank you heart.
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