Grounding Practice - Guided meditation

Hi everybody, Al Nier.

Today in our practice I thought I'd focus a little on grounding ourselves, on physical

and emotional grounding.

I've mentioned before that yoga is at least partly a tantric tradition.

For our purposes today, this means that our meditation is rooted in and of our bodies.

We are or we inhabit physical bodies and these are an intrinsic part of our lived experience.

And so we recognize that and use this truth in yoga tantra.

You've probably done this before, actually.

If you've done a body scan meditation or anything like that, then you have some experience

of this kind of practice.

So today we will root our meditation in the physicality of our bodies, but not just the

physical, because our emotions are also part of our physical, biological selves.

So we will observe both the body and our emotions as we sit in this practice.

So the purpose of doing this, of observing our bodies, our feelings is to begin to understand

how they ground us in present time.

Quite often we tend to think of emotions in particular as being ever-moving, unpredictable,

and this is certainly true from one perspective.

But how you feel at this moment, this very moment is a singular thing, not in the past or

future, just an experience of this very moment, fully grounded in our present experience

of time.

This can be a little bit harder to observe and experience than just noticing our bodies.

So as we go through the practice, don't worry too much if it doesn't feel quite right

to you today.

So without out of the way, let's get to the important part, which is our practice.

Opening mantra.

We are going to practice meditation.

Make any final adjustments to your sitting position now.

We want to be sitting comfortably, but alert.

Close your eyes.

Settling into the body.

Settling into the present moment.

Become aware of the body, of your physical body.

As I name each body part, observe how that part feels at this very moment.

Simply observe and move on.

Awareness in the feet and toes, ankles, lower legs, the knees, thighs, awareness of

the hips, of the sitting bones at the base of the hips, awareness of the lower back,

upper back of the abdomen, chest, awareness of the hands and fingers, forearms, upper

arms, the shoulders, neck and throat, head and face, awareness of your physical

body, awareness of the movement within this body, noticing the breath now, not changing

how it flows, just noticing the flow of the inhalation, feeling the body, the release

of the exhalation.

Observe the stillness between the inhalation and the exhalation.

Observe the stillness between the exhalation and the inhalation.

Become aware of your emotions.

Observe a feeling that you have at this very moment.

You may find the mind starts to analyze.

Just try to draw your attention back to the feeling itself.

Allow yourself to fully feel that emotion as it is at this very moment.

Observe yourself, the one who is feeling this emotion.

Be constant, stillness. You are a witness and observer to these aspects of your existence.

Observe, just observe the stillness of the body, the stillness of your emotion.

Be aware and present.

Observe, just observe the stillness of your emotion.

Bring your awareness back to the present moment if the mind is wandered, deepening your breath, reconnecting with the body.

Bring movement back to fingers and toes, hands and feet, and opening the eyes when you're ready.

Practice is complete.

Thank you very much for listening.

Grounding Practice - Guided meditation

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