Text of Guided Meditations

You can listen to the audio files of these guided meditations here.

The Three Letting Be’s Practice

Sit in a relaxed way and begin by taking three slow, deep, cleansing breaths, inhaling freshness, lightness, energy, exhaling any tension, any tiredness in the body.

Now, dropping into the body, taking a moment to sense the body as a whole right now, grounded, supported by your chair or the floor. Simply allowing the body to just be, allowing yourself to be embodied, relaxed, easy.

And if you notice any tension or holding anywhere in the body, slight holding in the belly, any restriction or holding in the chest, any tension, tightness in the shoulders, the muscles of the face, without trying to change or move these areas, seeing if you can relax right within those various spaces. Simply allowing the body to be relaxed and at ease.

And, similarly, allowing the breath to be natural, relaxed, and at ease, taking a few moments to sense into the natural rhythm of the breath, not trying to change or deepen the breath in any way, but simply letting ourselves be breathed.

And if you notice any subtle holding in the breath or the breathing process itself, seeing if you can relax right within that. Body and breath, completely relaxed and at ease.

And, similarly, with the mind, allowing the mind to be completely open, relaxed, at ease, giving the mind permission, all the senses, to fall completely open, wide open, open to whatever arises, simply letting it be.

If you notice your mind caught up in or grasping to a particular pattern of thought, a to-do list, memories, regrets, planning, seeing if you can relax the mind, allowing the mind to be completely at ease, without holding, rejecting, grasping, simply allowing whatever it is to be.

And each time you notice your mind caught or hooked in a particular way, very gently relaxing, right again, right there, in that space. Body, breath, and mind, completely relaxed and at ease, taking a moment to notice the experience of letting all be.

Body Scan Practice

Find a comfortable position with your feet flat on the floor. Your back straight, but not stiff. Your hands resting comfortably in your lap. Closing your eyes if that’s comfortable, or else just gazing downward toward the floor. Taking in a few long, deep breaths. Noticing each inhale and each exhale. Settling into this moment. Just bringing body and mind together.

Now, bringing your attention to the top of your head. Just noticing whatever it feels like right now. And moving down to your forehead, your cheeks, your jaw, the area around your eyes, your nose, and your mouth. And just breathing in relaxation and energy, and exhaling any fatigue or tightness or tension.

And now, moving down to your neck, your shoulders, and checking in with how that feels. Releasing any tightness and breathing in relaxation. Moving down both arms, noticing your upper arms, your elbows, your lower arms, your wrists, and each of your five fingers. Just noticing and letting go of any fatigue or tightness. Inhaling relaxation, inhaling energy.

And now, moving your attention to your chest and your belly. Perhaps feeling your belly and your chest rise with each inhale. Noticing that area deflate with each exhale. Shifting your attention to your back, your upper back, your lower back. Just noticing how that area feels. Filling the torso with air as you breathe deeply and noticing it deflate as you exhale.

Moving down to your hips, your sits bones. Noticing the support of the chair beneath your torso, your upper legs, your knees, your lower legs. And again, just noticing, releasing any tightness, and breathing in energy to that area of the body.

And now, noticing the ankles, the feet, the toes. Perhaps wiggling the toes and just noticing how they feel. Being aware of all that your feet do to support you each day. Breathing in air, energy, releasing any tightness or soreness in that area.

And now, scanning the whole body from the top of your head, through your torso, to the bottoms of your feet. Breathing in relaxation, breathing in energy. Letting go of any fatigue, any tiredness, any soreness. And just following your breath for a few more moments, until you hear the sound of the chime. (silence)

Focus on Sound-Silence Meditation Practice

In this practice, we’ll try an external focus. We’re going to anchor out and pay attention to sounds and silence around us. So let’s begin by sitting in a comfortable position and closing your eyes if that is comfortable for you or gazing softly at the floor. And taking a few deep breaths to settle in. And let’s take a moment to set our intention for the next few minutes, intention to pay attention to the presence of sound and silence. So listen to sound and silence surrounding us.

And as we pay attention to sounds around us, you might notice that some sounds may be brief, they arise and then fall away. And other sounds may be continuous, remaining constant or changing as they go. So just listen to cells as they come and go. And there is no need to analyze them, just simply noticing. And there’s no good or bad sound and there’s no good or bad silence. So we are not clinging to the sounds or silence, we’re not rejecting sounds or silence, we’re just simply listening and noticing.

And if you notice silence or the presence of the absence of sound gently say to yourself, silence. When you notice a sound, gently say to yourself, sound. And if a sound continues, you can allow your awareness to soak into the sound and explore the sound for a few seconds. And this is different from analyzing the sound, you’re just simply feeling into the sound and whenever you’re ready you can zoom out again and come back to the sound space surrounding you. And continue monitoring and noticing a sound or silence. And this process repeats.

(silence)

If you become distracted by thoughts, feelings, or sensation, you have a choice to engage or not engage with thoughts, feelings, or sensations. In this practice, there’s no need to engage with them, so just simply let them go and gently bring your attention back to the sound space around you.

When you notice a sound, you may also notice your mind creating a picture or story about the sound, or you may notice a feeling or sensation in your body in response to a sound, that’s normal. But for now, there is also no need to engage with them so let them go, return to your focus and sound or silence.

(silence)

Now notice any sounds or silence coming from your left side.

Notice any sounds or silence coming from the right side.

(silence)

Notice any sounds or silence in front of you.

Now, behind you.

(silence)

Notice any sounds or silence above you.

And below you.

(silence)

Now pay attention to the entire sound space surrounding you and continue listening for sounds and silence, wherever they occur until you hear the bell.

(silence)

Breath Awareness

Begin by settling in, sitting comfortably but also feeling supported. And closing your eyes, or simply lowering your gaze down to the floor, and just simply checking in with the body for a moment, noticing what it feels like to simply sit, noticing that the only place is here and the only time is now. And we’re going to take a few deep breaths, but as we take these deep breaths, I invite you to use your mind’s voice to help guide these deep breaths. So as we breathe in, going ahead and seeing if you can count to six in your mind, allowing the inhale to last those six counts, and then seeing if we can allow the out-breath to last eight counts so that the out-breath becomes just a bit elongated, seeing if we can do two or three of those breaths. And then maintaining that same pace, seeing if you can now drop the count in your mind, and yet still maintaining that same rhythm of a long inhale and a bit longer exhale, just seeing if we can maintain that same pace now without the count. (silence)

And then seeing if we can even release that control that we have over the breath, allowing the breath to simply settle back into its natural pace, but perhaps this time, we’re just a little bit more aware of the movement of that air. So, again, just leaving a little bit of time for us to settle in on the natural rhythm of the breath. And you might find that as you’re doing this, your mind begins to wander, which is okay. It’s a natural thing that often happens. Just noticing whenever that happens, inviting our mind back to our breath, whenever that occurs. We’ll see if we can leave just a little bit more room of silence of noticing the inhale and exhale until we hear the sound of the bell. (silence)

Gratitude Practice

Gratitude meditation. Let’s begin by finding a comfortable and wakeful seated position. You can allow your eyes to close, or gently lower your gaze.

Taking in a few deep breaths to settle in, to arrive.

To begin, bring to mind someone that makes your life so much better in big or smaller ways. Someone who bring joy, delight, maybe peacefulness, a sense of safety and acceptance. Take your time to explore.

Once you have that person in mind see if you can remember this person as vividly as possible. If it is helpful, you can imagine being with this person as if this person is sitting right in front of you in this very moment. See if you can feel that presence as vividly as possible.

Check in and see how you feel inside. How do you feel in the body? Allow yourself to soak into this experience.

Now, with this person being in front of you, get in touch with a sense of gratitude. See if you can access that feeling.

How do you feel? Continue to explore that feeling of gratitude.

Now begin to extend your heartfelt gratitude. You can use words, maybe silently repeating thank you, or you can extend smiles, or send positive energy to this person. In whatever way that works for you extend your gratitude.

Notice that this pleasant emotion, a sense of gratitude, is something that you just accessed yourself. It is available any time you wish to invite it back. So take a moment to acknowledge this resource.

And now gently bringing your attention back to your breath.

And now bringing your attention back to your body, and maybe slowly bringing some movement back to your body. And closing the practice.

Loving Kindness Meditation Practice

Find a comfortable position with your feet flat on the floor, your hands resting comfortably in your lap, and closing your eyes if that’s comfortable or else just gazing gently downward toward the floor. Taking in a few long, deep breaths, inhaling and exhaling slowly and deeply, bringing body and mind together. Just taking a moment, feeling the support of the earth beneath your feet, the chair beneath your body, just feeling that support.

And now shifting your attention, bring to mind a time when you felt really loved and cared for. Perhaps this involved a family member, a close friend, a coach, a teacher, maybe a favorite family pet. And just bring that memory to mind and focusing your attention on how it felt to be deeply loved and truly cared for, noticing where it is in your body that you feel that love and those caring feelings.

Now, as you bring those feelings to mind, sending yourself these kind wishes, “May I be safe. May I be happy. May I be healthy. May I enjoy peace. May I be safe. May I be happy. May I be healthy. May I enjoy peace.”

And now shifting your attention, bringing to mind a loved one, someone you care for very deeply. Perhaps the person or the pet that showed you great love, or it could be someone new and different. And picturing the image of that person in mind, sending them the same loving wishes, “May you be safe. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you enjoy peace. May you be safe. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you enjoy peace.”

And shifting your attention once again, bringing to mind someone neutral, someone who you do not have a relationship, but someone who you might see regularly. Perhaps the person who serves you coffee, perhaps the bus driver, maybe someone you passed by while walking today. And bringing the image of that person to mind, sending them the same wishes. “May you be safe. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you enjoy peace. May you be safe. May you be happy. May you be healthy. May you enjoy peace.”

And now considering more broadly, thinking about all people in the world and sending them these very same wishes. “May all people feel safe. May all people feel happy. May all people be healthy. May all people enjoy peace. May all people be safe. May all people be happy. May all people be healthy. May all people enjoy peace.”

And just taking a moment, noticing how you’re feeling until the sound of the chime. (silence)