Welcome to a 10 minute guided meditation
If you would like to make the practice longer, simply increase the number of breaths in each position.
This practice will purify your Qi — balance and clear emotions and awaken you to your true nature and purpose.
And recent articles in Science show that by using the full landscape of the mind, we can even grow more grey matter. Matter that's involved in muscle control, and sensory perception.
Find a comfortable seated position, you can use blocks, bolsters or a chair, see if you can find a place that supports and feels good in your body - with the hips elevated, higher than the knees.
Gently close your eyes and bring your awareness to your breath. Quietly inhaling and exhaling through your nose, sensing the belly rise on the inhale, and actively deflating on the exhale, drawing the naval back towards the spine.
I invite you to sing 3 "aums", lengthening the exhale. Make each progressive aum-sound less loud — whispering the 3rd aum to yourself.
Starting at your tailbone, imagine each vertebrae stacked directly on top of each other, as you direct your breath upwards, vertebrae-by-vertebrae.
Sense energy rising, as the breath travels up thru the lower back to the middle back. Observe how your breath, is it strained or forced or is it easy and flowing? There's no right answer, you're simply bringing your awareness to your breath.
As you travel with your breath thru the upper back, see if you can find a bit more space between each vertebrae, lengthening thru the cervical spine, as energy moves up and thru the crown of the head.
If the mind wanders bring your attention back to the breath— sense the stomach rising with the inhale and emptying with the exhale.
Bring your awareness to your heart, on the inhale nourishing the heart center, exhaling send the breath laterally, out towards the sides of the torso.
Imagine an umbrella opening fully with the exhale and closing with the inhale. Nourish the heart with the inhale, and on the exhale direct the breath out to the side ribs.
With each breath, imagine energy rising through each of your stacked vertebrae up through the crown of the head.
Relax the jaw and scalp, tongue and ears.
Visualize a clock around the head - the low numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 on the right, the high numbers 11, 10, 9, 8, 7 on the left. Send the breath from the center of the mind out to 11 o'clock in the upper left, and 1 o'clock position in the upper right region. Send 3 quiet breaths from the mind's center to these outer areas of the mind - focus on the 11 and 1 o'clock position.
You don't need to power wash these regions with your breath, gently breathe and visualize the ends of these neural pathways light-up.
Direct the breath from the center of the mind to 10 o'clock in the upper left and 2 o'clock in the upper right. Send 3 quiet breaths from the mind's center to these outer areas of the mind - to the 10 and 2 o'clock position. Lengthen, deepen and slow down the breath.
Send the breath from the center of the mind to 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock. Imagine the breath traveling out the ears to the far horizon. Send 3 nourishing breaths. Sense a gentle smile forming and the heart-warming.
Visualize the breath traveling from the center of the mind outwards to the 8 o'clock and 4 o'clock spheres — just below the ear lobes and beyond. Send 3 quiet breaths, sense energy rising up the spine.
Gently direct the breath from the center of the mind to 7 o'clock and 5 o'clock. Send 3 breaths to this area that affects our balance and coordination... Notice where set our intention the breath follows.
Visualize the 12 o'clock position — 9 and 3 at the ears — 6 o'clock all the way down the brain stem thru the tail bone to the ground. Send the breath from the mind's center to all these points, skywards thru the crown, out thru the ears and down the spinal column. As you direct the breath to these realms, sense yourself grounding but at the same time lifting, creating more space and openness.
Bring attention to the space between your eyes just above the eyebrows. Send the breath from the mind's center out thru this space. Imagine a bright light emanating from you.
Bring the hands in prayer, thumbs at the sternum. Thank yourself for taking this time to enrich your life, forming positive habits that help us live more joyfully... Gently open your eyes to a new moment.
Namaste
