And welcome to the session.
I invite you to take a seat.
Or lie down.
And get yourself comfortable.
You can close down the eyes if you wish Just begin by slowing down the breath.
Breathing in through the nose.
Blow into the belly.
And slap.
Just taking a moment to scan the body.
Scan the mind.
Just acknowledging.
What's surprising?
Sensations memories.
Thoughts.
Just observing it all.
Today we'll be practising A.
Mindfulness technique.
Called the Flame and the Void.
Like all mindfulness techniques.
Our goal,
Primarily,
Is awareness.
Become aware of where the mind is.
And then we return it to focus.
Back to an anchor.
Traditionally,
The anchor is the breath.
The mind wanders.
And you return it to focus upon the sensations of the breath at the nose.
You can choose to use the Bretherton anchor today.
But if you'd like to explore the flame in the void.
Instead,
We will choose the anchor.
Of an internal visualization.
In your mind's eye.
Remember.
Or visualize an image of a flame.
This could be a candle or a fire.
Could be like the sun.
Glowing ball of energy.
Fire itself.
In your mind's eye remembering or picturing or visualizing a flame.
Flame will be our anchor for our meditation.
Maintaining the visualisation of the flame.
If you notice your mind wandering.
Thoughts.
Memories.
Sensation.
Emotion.
Past or future.
Acknowledge it and then gently.
Lovingly.
Feed those things into the flame.
Symbolically offering it to the flame.
When you notice your mind has wandered.
You offer.
The wanderings to the flame.
Visualizing a flame in your mind.
However it manifests for you.
And if at any time you notice yourself lost.
Distracted.
If anything other than the flame becomes a point of focus for you.
Feed it into the flame.
And continue doing so.
Keep feeding what arises into the flame.
Until there's nothing left When there's nothing left to feed into the flame release the imagery of the flame itself.
And simply sit.
Embracing the emptiness.
The void.
The peace.
The Self.
The moment that remains.
And if you notice yourself getting lost in thought once more.
Sensation or emotion.
Where you ignite the flame.
Begin again.
If you find yourself lost.
Distracted.
Thinking,
Feeling.
Remembering.
Planning.
Feed it into the flame.
Lovingly.
As if it's an offering.
Or a gift.
And then return back to visualizing the flame.
When there's nothing left Release the flame itself.
Simply sit.
In a moment.
We will sit together in silence for ten minutes.
Continuing to practice the flame in the void.
Visualizing the flame.
Feeding into it any distractions that arise.
When there's nothing remaining,
Nothing left but leasing the flame itself and simply sitting.
And if once again we discover that we have become lost?
If thoughts or emotions or memories have returned.
We read not the flame.
We begin again.
Let's begin.
If you'd like to maintain the meditation.
You are more than welcome to do so.
With everyone else just gently returning.
Back to their bodies.
Back to the session.
Back to their day.
Today we looked at a variation of mindfulness.
Caught the flame in the void.
This technique is derived from Robert Jordan's Will of Time series We're in the book.
This simple technique is offered.
To remember the flame and the void.
To visualize the flame and then to feed it.
All the emotions.
Thoughts.
Sensations.
When there's nothing left.
To release the flame.
To simply sit.
Simply be.
The emptiness of the void.
And if things return.
You find yourself lost.
You reignite the flame and begin again.
I would encourage you to.
Not stress too much about the origin of this practice.
It comes from the work of fiction.
Yes,
It's made up.
But every technique is made up.
And if the technique works.
If it works for you.
It is valid.
At its core it's a mindfulness technique.
Your mind wanders.
You bring it back to the point of focus.
Traditional mindfulness uses the breath.
For some people.
The sensations,
The physical sensations of the breath.
At the best point of focus.
For others,
It can be hard.
Perhaps even triggering.
With mindfulness you can choose any object you like.
Sensation.
Sound,
Or in this case,
A visualization.
You treat it all the same,
Your mind wanders,
You bring it back.
But what this technique does is it gives you something to do.
Your mind wanders and wherever it wanders to.
You send that,
You release that,
You offer it to the flame.
This technique also gives you something more.
It allows you to simply be in that mindfulness state.
Mildfulness is the awareness that arises from purposely paying non-judgmental attention to the present moment.
If you fed it all into the flame.
If you've released.
The flame.
You're simply being.
That may be the mindfulness state.
If this technique appeals to you.
Try a variety of different techniques and we find the one that best suits us in this moment.
So thank you for joining me and I'll see you in the next session.
