A Vast Quiet (Guided Meditation With Music)

Let's notice together how quiet it is.

How that which notices thought,

That which notices sensation,

The awareness in the background.

Notice it's utterly quiet.

Aware of awareness.

Notice how it doesn't have a border.

It is everywhere.

This background awareness permeates everything.

It's endlessly vast and endlessly quiet.

You don't have to do anything for it.

What's looking is where we just rest our awareness.

So thought might be active,

But what is it active in?

Something sees thought.

Be aware of that.

This awareness,

This vast,

Immortal,

Quiet awareness.

It has a desire.

It has a movement.

It wants to be with this particular body.

Let's start with the very top of the head.

Just putting awareness,

Which is to feel the very top of the head.

There's sensation there.

It doesn't need a name.

It doesn't need you to do anything.

Just aware of the sensation.

Feel the skin at the top of the head.

Feel the hair follicles,

Maybe.

Maybe there's air moving through your hair.

Maybe there's warmth or coolness.

Awareness becoming aware of this body,

Landing inside this body,

Is a great healing and a great peace.

Just for now,

Being aware of sensation,

Letting thought just be,

Daring to feel the body.

Feeling all through the top of the head,

The whole top of the head,

And then starting to come inside the head,

Inside the skull.

Perhaps you can start to feel the sound inside the head.

Our bodies are kind of one big energetic vibration,

Connected to everything else.

Music can help ourselves feel our bodies.

Feel the music just start to come into the skull,

Around the back of the skull.

Feel it in the brainstem.

You,

Awareness,

Are witnessing a massage of this beautiful body.

Witnessing and feeling yourself be touched by sound.

Let the brainstem vibrate with the sound.

Feel the music start to come into the rest of the brain,

Temples,

Forehead,

The front of the skull,

The eyebrow ridge.

Let the music act like a bath,

A soothing balm,

Like warm water,

And then all the way inside the skull as well,

Deep inside the brain itself.

See if awareness can feel the middle of the head.

Your mind can't go,

You can't figure this out.

Without all figuring it out,

Just be to the side for now.

The body's already here,

Awareness is already here,

We're simply being aware of the sensation inside the head.

Whatever it is,

Is perfect.

Feel inside the eye sockets and inside the eyes themselves.

Feel the sound vibrate behind the eyes.

Feel it behind the sinuses.

Feel it all through your cheeks and your cheekbones,

Under your eyes and your nose.

Your whole body is already vibrating,

It's so alive,

So chock full of sensation.

Can you feel the roof of your mouth and the back of your throat?

Can you feel the music vibrating in your teeth and in your lips,

In the inner ears,

In the jaw,

The hinge of the jaw,

The chin and the tongue?

Notice how there might be a holding,

A kind of tension in your whole head,

In your brain,

Your brain stem,

In the face.

What would it be to just let all of the head soften and melt?

To not hold your head?

To let life hold it?

This body operates itself,

It doesn't need a manager.

In fact,

The less we attempt to manage it with the mind,

The better things go.

The truth is there isn't a manager here.

There's just awareness in this amazing body.

A body that's been quite neglected,

Actually,

Quite disinhabited.

And so we're just coming into the body,

We're inhabiting,

We're showing up inside ourselves.

All the way to the back of the head,

All the way to the front and the sides.

Let the sound just reverberate through the whole head,

All the way down to the neck now,

Following the spine in the back of the neck.

It's so delicious to feel each vertebrae in the spine,

To feel massaged and soothed by the sounds petting your spine.

One could say the healing process is an opening process,

The body opening like a flower.

And every piece of pain in your body,

Maybe you feel some pain in your neck,

Pain in the back,

Or if we move to the front,

In the throat,

Maybe there's a bit of a block or an ache,

A density,

That's very welcome,

It's not a problem.

We need no label there,

All it needs is awareness,

It needs to just be touched.

That's what it's been wanting,

It's a part of our body,

A part of our being that's been unseen,

Part of our own voice perhaps.

So what is it to really feel into the very base of your neck,

Feel the whole front of the neck and the sides,

And let this music soak through it and just love and soften the whole neck,

Let it be supple and open.

Where there is pain,

What would it be to let the sounds really kiss that pain,

Really soak right in.

Feeling through the whole neck and head now,

All the way to the back,

Feel that you're really leaning all the way to the back of the head,

Back of the neck,

The sides,

And all the way to the front.

And naturally we might have these exhales as we go,

It's just pressure release in the body,

Maybe you get little twitches or things,

That's totally fine,

Very welcome,

It's the body depressurizing itself,

So let yourself sigh,

Or even move around a little bit,

No need to hold a rigid position in fact,

Make sure you're nice and soft and relaxed.

Great,

Let's feel that sound just bathe the shoulders,

Tops of the shoulders and down into the shoulder joints and sockets,

All across the back of the shoulder blades,

And in between the shoulder blades,

Deep in the spine there.

Can you feel the sound touch inside each vertebrae between the shoulder blades?

Can you feel it bathe the collarbones and underneath the collarbones?

As you go deeper inside the shoulders,

The rotation of the shoulder joints around the front of your shoulders and under your armpits and all through there,

See if you can feel very deep inside the shoulder joints,

Underneath the shoulder blades and the very top of the chest.

There might be lots of aches and pains here,

They are very welcome,

They are in no way a problem.

See what happens if you even get closer to those,

Just to feel it,

Just to bring awareness there with no agenda,

Other than to just feel inside your body,

That alone is deeply healing.

Feeling all through the top of the chest where the sternum is now,

All through the ribs in the front of the chest,

And let's see if we can feel behind the sternum,

Deep inside the heart itself,

Through the breastbone,

Deep into the heart,

The center of the chest.

All you're doing is being aware of the feeling there,

Aware of the sensation,

It's enough.

Feel the spine in the back of the heart,

Feel the whole ribcage vibrating.

Being aware of the whole sensation of the chest,

Notice how sensation is this vibration inside of spaciousness,

Inside of awareness.

Feeling through the whole chest,

The whole upper chest,

Down to the bottom of the rib line,

The lungs in the back of the chest,

Feel them vibrate with sound,

Fill with oxygen all on their own.

Feel the arms vibrating,

The tops of the arms,

Inside the shoulders,

The crease of the elbow,

The bones of the elbow joint,

The wrists,

The hands,

Vibrating hands.

Feel how the whole chest,

The arms and the hands,

Are vibrating in spacious awareness.

And if thought is here,

It's no problem.

Come back to the loudest sensation,

Maybe your shoulder blades are a bit achy,

Good,

Let that be an invitation,

Let that be where your awareness goes.

Pain is an invitation to come closer,

That area wants to be touched,

It has been looking for awareness to come closer,

The body calls out for attention,

And you're the awareness to give it.

Good job,

And let's just feel the area right underneath the rib cage we call the solar plexus,

Let the sound just start to soak in there,

Massage it,

So we're just feeling what it feels like underneath the rib cage.

Maybe it's very grippy,

Maybe it's achy,

Maybe it's a bit numb,

All is welcome.

Feel the very back of the solar plexus,

Inside the spine there,

You're letting awareness come in,

Come into the skin,

Come into the muscles and the tissues,

To really feel this body.

There is nothing to fear here,

It's all alive.

This is where healing occurs,

This is where real peace is,

Is to be here,

To land fully inside our solar plexus right now.

Feel all the way deep inside the middle of the solar plexus,

And all through the sides and the back and the front,

The sound helps point out sensation,

It vibrates us.

Can you feel the music vibrating your solar plexus?

There's nothing to do,

There's nowhere to go,

This is the savoring of your being,

Of the sensation of being.

Let's feel awareness start to fill into the belly,

Below the solar plexus,

Lots of organs and glands here,

What is it to feel all the way to the back,

The mid-back,

Inside the spine there,

To feel the sides soften,

To feel the front relax,

To feel that you're deeply inside your belly,

Like a big baby belly,

Soft,

Letting the breath just come all the way in and down into your belly,

Which is to say,

Just let the body,

All the muscles and all the organs move as breath naturally moves through the torso,

You don't have to do anything,

You don't have to force anything,

No effort here at all,

Literally nothing to do.

Feel the lower back,

Feel the lower back so deeply massaged by this music,

Inside the spine,

Inside the tailbone,

The tailbone is vibrating,

It's vibrating with sound,

You could even feel below the tailbone,

Awareness can do this,

Awareness can move beyond the skin,

See if you can feel a few feet below your tailbone,

The mind can't go,

But awareness can,

You could even feel the vibration of sound down below the tailbone,

Feel the vibration of sound ringing like a bell inside your pelvis,

Inside the pelvic bones,

Inside the sexual organs,

Down at the very base of the torso,

Base of the pelvis,

Feel it ringing,

Vibrating through your hip joints,

And feel it naturally opening and expanding,

Softening,

Feel the whole pelvis,

Like a big bowl,

Just softening and opening,

Like a big flower,

Blooming,

Whole pelvis,

360 degrees around,

Letting it just fall open,

No effort,

The whole torso,

360 degrees around,

And from deep inside,

In front of the spine,

Letting the torso fall open,

No effort,

It's safe,

It's safe for the body to open,

Safe for you to lose thought of boundary,

To not know where your skin begins and ends with the air in the room,

With the chair,

It's safe,

You won't be lost,

Just let everything continue to soften,

Let the music massage you,

Open your whole back body,

Whole front body,

Good,

And now moving down into the legs,

Feel that vibration from inside the hip joints,

And then down into the legs,

The thighs are vibrating,

Bones are alive,

There's actually nothing in our bodies,

Nothing in life that is stagnant,

That is still,

It's all space and light,

The very,

Very finest level,

And it's moving light,

It's not stagnant,

So see if you can feel,

And maybe even visuals come,

Vibrating light,

That vibrating energy of your bones and your upper legs,

Feel how the tissues in the skin is also vibrating just a little bit,

Vibrating with the sound,

Feel the inner thighs and the outer thighs,

Feel the knees,

The kneecaps,

Feel underneath the knees,

The crease of the joint,

Feel the music vibrating through the skin of the lower legs,

And then all the way down into the bones,

Through the tissues,

Through the muscles,

Spacious awareness,

All this gorgeous energy and light in the form of this body,

This alive,

Beautiful,

Vibrating,

Totally functional on its own body,

Doesn't need any manager,

We're simply letting ourselves be,

We're going to let those legs just be now,

As soft and relaxed as we can be,

Let those ankles relax and soften as the music comes down inside the ankles,

Let yourself be massaged,

Touched by your own awareness,

Touched by sound,

Sound and awareness can penetrate all the way to the very center of the ankle joint,

And then down into the heels of the feet,

Archways,

Pads of the feet,

In between all the bones of the toes,

Very tips of the toes,

Underneath the toes,

The legs and the feet,

Very alive,

Vibrating with life energy,

You're just aware of it,

Aware of this delicious,

Alive,

Chock full of sensation body,

Feel through the bottoms of the feet,

Down,

Down,

Down into the ground,

Awareness can go there,

Awareness can feel the energetic roots through the bottoms of the feet,

Down,

Down,

Down into the earth,

At no point has this body been disconnected from all the other energies of life,

The one body of life,

You can feel that,

You can feel the connectedness to the earth and then as we feel through the feet,

Down those cords,

Energetic tree roots of our feet,

Let's also feel through the top of the head,

There's a tree branch and roots coming out the top of the head,

So feel through the very top of the head a few feet,

Just put your awareness there,

Whatever you notice is perfect,

It's okay if there's mind here,

Go back to awareness and back to the sensation,

At the bottoms of the feet and through the bottoms of the feet and the sensation at the top of the head and through the top of the head,

Now let's see if we can feel noticing from awareness the whole body vibrating,

The whole body humming and live with the sound,

Made of music,

Made of sound,

It's okay to let it permeate the whole body and as you're letting the whole body soften and open to the sound,

Maybe you can feel where there's some pain,

That pain is saying,

Please come a little closer,

Bring awareness here,

Bring the sound here,

Maybe in your shoulders,

Maybe your heart or your solar plexus,

When there's pain,

The mind can get chatty for his distraction,

It's fine,

See if you,

The awareness can just go to the pain anyway,

Let it be touched by the sound,

Touched by this awareness,

Let the whole body hum,

Especially where there's an ache or a sharp pain,

Keep bringing the sound there,

Keep bringing awareness there,

It's natural,

As this whole body is just humming the sound,

Vibrating,

So alive and delicious,

We can hear the sound,

We can feel the sound and the vibration,

You can also notice what that vibration falls into,

There's this vibrating feeling and it vibrates and that vibration falls into nothingness or silence,

The sound goes back to nothingness,

To silence,

Being aware of the feeling of sound,

Hearing the sound,

Now feel and hear quiet,

That it returns to,

This quiet is so big,

It's endless and your whole body,

Your whole being is soaked in it already,

Swimming in it already,

Here is that vast quiet,

Right here,

Let your whole being dissolve into it,

Merge with it,

It's already merged,

It's already made of silence,

We're just noticing what already is here,

It's safe to let all the way go,

To let the silent vastness,

The silent vastness of awareness hold you,

Hold you like a baby in an endless womb,

You are already that baby,

Held in soft,

Endless silence,

So feel that,

Feel how you are held in this love,

Held in love,

Held in silence,

It's safe to let yourself be held,

To dissolve into the arms of this endless quiet,

It will heal you,

It is you,

It is being aware of who you really are,

This vast quiet,

These waters of quiet,

They want to wash through wherever there's extra pain in your body or density,

Just bring some awareness which is that vast quiet over to where it hurts,

Let it just wash through very naturally and easily,

Let yourself be rinsed,

Cleansed,

Let the body fully dissolve into this silence,

This endless silence and notice how endless it is,

Awareness can explore the edges of this silence,

Is there an edge or is it wholeness,

Could you ever be separate from this vastness or is it the very fabric of your being,

Staying aware of the vastness,

Aware of the silence,

Feel your body,

Feel if you might need a little stretch,

You can still be totally aware of the body's needs,

It's right here,

You don't lose anything by being aware of this vastness,

You don't have to put your human suit back on,

It's all included,

You could start to just feel if you want a little stretch,

Need a drink of water and slowly,

In your own time,

Opening your eyes,

When we open our eyes,

Staying aware that there's vastness everywhere,

Aware that it didn't go anywhere,

Still permeates your whole being and the whole room.