I am meditation.
So I invite you to find your comfortable meditation posture with the spine straight.
Comfortable and relaxed,
Yet alert.
We begin to connect to the breath,
Bringing all awareness to the gentle inflow and outflow of the breath.
Noticing the air moving through the nostrils,
In and out.
Noticing the coolness and the warmth.
So we give ourselves permission to be completely here.
Letting everything else go.
Everything that we thought we had to do.
Letting it all go and setting it to the side in order to be fully present and conscious in this practice.
Until we feel the ground underneath our feet.
Making that connection to Mother Earth.
And connecting it at the base of the spine.
Grounding to this Mother Earth energy.
Imagine a beautiful waterfall of violet light washing over the top of the head.
And down over the body,
Cleansing and purifying and washing away all tension and stress.
Moving in through the body and down the spine and down into the earth.
And connecting to the breath.
So I invite you to imagine that right out in front of you is a very large,
Clear plastic bag.
And in a moment I'm going to ask you to place your memories from early life beginnings until the present moment into the bag.
And you will just simply allow any memories that surface to be placed in the bag.
And so imagine you as a fetus in your mother's womb.
And just place that memory in the bag.
And you being born and you growing to one year old.
And all memories,
Whether they're known or not,
Just gently put them in the bag until two years old.
Three.
And four.
And five.
All past memories,
Conscious or subconscious,
Just put it in the bag.
All of your childhood history,
Place it in the bag.
Six years.
Seven.
Eight.
Nine.
Ten.
All childhood memories just gently placed in the bag.
And your pre-teen years.
And your teenage years.
And all that took place in all memories placed in the bag.
And young adult memories.
And adult memories.
Through your life until your present age.
Simply allow all your past memories to go into the bag.
And it was a part of you that observed all your memories.
And is still observing your experiences.
Who is observing this?
Now I invite you to place your possessions in the bag.
And starting with your house or wherever it is that you live.
Your car.
Transportation.
Any of your toys.
Your clothes.
Your jewelry.
Your shoes.
All the possessions that you identify with.
Everything that reflects who you are.
Or that you enjoy.
Everything that you own.
Place that in the bag.
Begin to notice how you feel.
What is left now?
Who is observing this?
And now I invite you to place all of your identities and roles in the bag.
There's perhaps you as a partner.
Or as a husband or wife.
As a mother or father.
As a child.
As a sibling.
As an employee or employer.
Any of your work roles.
Any role at all that you identify with.
That you say I am this or I do this.
Put it all in the bag.
And who is left now?
And who is observing this?
Now I invite you to place in the bag all of your repetitive thought patterns that cause you suffering.
These thought patterns that arise regularly in you.
Perhaps that you're not good enough,
Attractive enough,
Thin enough,
Not enough money,
Lonely.
Whatever it is that you think over and over again.
And it always causes some degree of suffering.
Simply place those thoughts in the bag.
And who are you without those thoughts?
And who is observing this?
Now simply place all thought patterns that are about your past.
Past regrets,
Past relationships,
Past experiences.
Even pleasant thoughts about your past.
Just place them in the bag.
Who is left now?
And who is observing this?
And now all your thought patterns about the future.
Any worries?
Any questions about the future?
Or even things you're looking forward to?
Or things you need to do?
Goals?
Dreams?
All thoughts about the future.
Place them in the bag.
Let them all go.
And what's left now?
With no thoughts of the past or the future.
Who is observing this?
And now I invite you to put your entire personality in the bag.
All the ways that you relate to others.
All the ways that you show yourself to others.
How people observe you.
How you get along with people.
And how you protect yourself.
And how you socialize.
And all the ways that you define yourself through your personality.
Place that in the bag.
And who's left now?
And who is observing this?
And now look at the clothes that you're wearing right now.
And place your shoes and socks in the bag.
Whatever clothes you're wearing,
Just place them all in the bag.
And now take your hair and place it in the bag.
And take your face.
And all the ways that people identify you.
Your eyes and your nose and your mouth and your cheeks.
And put your face in this bag and your head in this bag.
And your arms and your legs and your hips and your stomach and your chest.
And place all of your physical body in the bag.
And look at the bag and see this you in the bag.
All the ways that you have identified yourself.
All the things that you have called me.
But who is left now?
Who is observing this?
Who is watching all of this?
Seeing the bag.
Seeing the memories.
And the identities and the roles and the possessions and the thoughts.
Personality and clothes and body.
And if it's all in the bag,
Who are you?
And who is observing the bag?
Is that not the real you?
Who is left now?
Then you may hear something like,
I am.
I am here.
Begin to rest and feel into this I am.
This one that is always there.
Awake.
Observing.
Unmoved by all thought or all experience.
Pure consciousness.
Your awareness.
I am.
I am here.
And simply watching and seeing this bag.
From this observer self.
Without any judgment.
Commentary.
It's simply there.
And without all of it.
I am is here.
I am here.
Just rest in this mantra for a few moments.
I on the in breath and am on the out breath.
I am.
I am.
I am.
And just be aware as the pure awareness,
As the observer,
As the I am presence,
That peace is here.
Simple well being is here.
Love is here.
And you're just observing it.
Aware.
Presence is here.
Emptiness is here.
There is no judgment.
There is only observation and peace and presence.
And feel into this emptiness and expansiveness.
I am here.
I am awake and aware.
And I am not my body.
And I am not my roles and identities.
And I am not my positions and things.
And I am not my thoughts.
The thoughts simply happen.
And I am the one that observes.
And I am the one that can choose.
When I know that I am here.
And I look at this path.
And I can see through it and I can see all of these things,
Thoughts,
And forms.
And I can play with them and use them.
But I am more than that.
I am that I am.
And now just allow that plastic bag that contains all of that to just begin to float up.
And out of the room.
And out into the atmosphere until it dissolves.
Taking with it all the attachment and identification with the externals.
That I can remember that I have a body.
But I am more than that.
And that I have a personality and I have thoughts,
But I am more than all of it.
I am that I am.
And so I invite you now to gently bring your awareness to your body from that observer self.
And keep this sense and peace that you are not your body but you have a body.
And you are not your roles,
Identities,
Memories,
And thoughts.
And you are more than all of that.
And as you gently come back into the room,
Into your body,
Embracing the peace and the presence and the deep sense of well-being.
I am that I am.
I am that I am.
I am that I am.
I am.
