Friday Night Guided Meditation

0:00 So now I'm not going to do anything at all by learning how to meditate, teaching others how to meditate, by learning how to make sure that we trust in our intuitive mind which knows how to relax and be peaceful. Report an error in the passage at 0:00 Highlight the passage at 0:00

0:20 So, first of all, if you can, arrange your body into the most comfortable position you can. Maybe try not to lay down, if it's possible not to lay down for you. Sit, make the body really, really relaxed. Report an error in the passage at 0:20 Highlight the passage at 0:20

0:39 When I close my eyes, then I can feel the body without so many distractions. And I can feel right now that my body needs adjusting. Report an error in the passage at 0:39 Highlight the passage at 0:39

1:05 And over the years, you've learned how to use your mindfulness, your awareness, Focus on the parts of your body to learn how to relax to the max. It's really helpful whenever you need to go to sleep on an aircraft or in a hotel room you've never been to before or even in your own house where it's noisy. Report an error in the passage at 1:05 Highlight the passage at 1:05

1:38 Once the body knows how to relax, it's very easy to find peace. Report an error in the passage at 1:38 Highlight the passage at 1:38

1:46 So right now we're fortunate this is a quiet suburb and it's peaceful here. Report an error in the passage at 1:46 Highlight the passage at 1:46

1:56 For many people, just noticing that peace is highly attractive. The best music in the world is silence. Report an error in the passage at 1:56 Highlight the passage at 1:56

2:14 But to appreciate it to the maximum, we have to relax our body first. So as you're sitting here, can you feel your feet? Report an error in the passage at 2:14 Highlight the passage at 2:14

2:28 How are they? Report an error in the passage at 2:28 Highlight the passage at 2:28

2:32 As you become aware of them, see how you can relax them to the max. Often you think that it's impossible to relax the feet. Report an error in the passage at 2:32 Highlight the passage at 2:32

2:46 After a while, you found them more relaxed than they've probably ever been today. You don't hold anything tight, you let everything become loose and comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 2:46 Highlight the passage at 2:46

3:02 And her feet start to feel so peaceful. So relaxed, so at ease. Once your feet have been relaxed, you move the attention out from your feet to your ankles. Report an error in the passage at 3:02 Highlight the passage at 3:02

3:21 Even if you've had some injuries to your ankles, tripping, falling, you can still just focus on them and not wish them to change, but wish them to be at peace. It's very much the same way. You may have a little child. And a child can't go to sleep at night, is so anxious, tense, maybe because of exams. And you tell that little toddler to relax. Report an error in the passage at 3:21 Highlight the passage at 3:21

3:55 You don't force it, you suggest. And soon that little being starts to relax. And the aches and pains get so much easier, they may even disappear. Report an error in the passage at 3:55 Highlight the passage at 3:55

4:12 And then from the ankles to the rest of the lower legs. If you were doing a longer meditation, you can really get into this body, sweeping and relaxation. You get your body more relaxed than you've ever felt it before. Report an error in the passage at 4:12 Highlight the passage at 4:12

4:32 And that's incredibly powerful for your health, relaxing all the feelings in your lower legs until you get to your knees. Report an error in the passage at 4:32 Highlight the passage at 4:32

4:48 And it's amazing just how over all these years, having fallen off motorbikes, fallen off cliffs when I was young, Still my knees are just so well behaved. I can just sit here cross-legged, perfectly comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 4:48 Highlight the passage at 4:48

5:08 I've trained them that way over so many years. To open up, relax, and to any tension or tightness which can restrict the flow of energies through my knees, I've abandoned those. Report an error in the passage at 5:08 Highlight the passage at 5:08

5:27 So my knees actually do relax to the max. And then from the knees to the thighs. Report an error in the passage at 5:27 Highlight the passage at 5:27

5:37 And from the thighs to the butt, the bottom. And then there I always found how important it is to get my bottom well positioned over the little cushion. Report an error in the passage at 5:37 Highlight the passage at 5:37

5:55 Today it's not well positioned so I'm going to just adjust my posture one more time. Report an error in the passage at 5:55 Highlight the passage at 5:55

6:10 In meditation we're not supposed to deliberately endure. If you just want to... Do stretching exercises or get your body ache-free. Try other methods. Report an error in the passage at 6:10 Highlight the passage at 6:10

6:32 This place is in order for the body to vanish. It has to be very comfortable first. So Report an error in the passage at 6:32 Highlight the passage at 6:32

6:45 now I've adjusted my bottom on the cushion. It feels fine now. And even though the pressure of the weight of my body on those buttocks It's a feeling which doesn't disappear straight away. It's just after a short while, because nothing changes, because that feeling is balanced, then it disappears by itself. Report an error in the passage at 6:45 Highlight the passage at 6:45

7:16 And now I go up my back, and as I go up my back, I feel the vertebrae. And as I feel them, as I go up them one by one, if any of those vertebrae are not in the correct place, I will stretch or twist. It doesn't take that long for you to learn how to put your own spine in a position which is strong, pain-free. Report an error in the passage at 7:16 Highlight the passage at 7:16

7:47 It doesn't cause you any problems. Then I also go up my body, my torso, in the middle, going up the digestive part of my body. As I scan my attention upwards, Report an error in the passage at 7:47 Highlight the passage at 7:47

8:08 If there's any pain, any tightness, any stress in the body, I pause there. As I pause, I try and go into it, go right to its center and then spread kindness from inside. Report an error in the passage at 8:08 Highlight the passage at 8:08

8:29 I found that works so well for me. That kindness relaxes parts of my body which I cannot reach or touch and things start to get at ease. Report an error in the passage at 8:29 Highlight the passage at 8:29

8:47 They go up from the digestive tract to the stomach, from the stomach up to the lungs. It's easy to relax these organs because I'm not doing very much. I don't need much air. So the whole lungs become at ease, soft, peaceful. Report an error in the passage at 8:47 Highlight the passage at 8:47

9:15 And then up to the heart region. I can't really sense my heart. I just make sure that area is comfortable, relaxed, no force on it. When it is peaceful, then I can move up to my shoulders. Report an error in the passage at 9:15 Highlight the passage at 9:15

9:40 And those who've been listening to me on the internet and other channels know that often my shoulders are tense, tight. Tonight they're not. They're relaxed. If they were tight, I'd find a way to relax it all so that nothing is being held tightly or unnaturally stretched or squashed. Everything is loose and at ease. And I go down my arms, past my elbows, relaxing as I go. Report an error in the passage at 9:40 Highlight the passage at 9:40

10:25 So I come to my hands. Now I check the position of the fingers. There is no proper way to hold your hands. I feel how comfortable they are or if they're not comfortable and I adjust starting from there. Tonight my fingers are already quite comfortable. I just adjust them slightly until Report an error in the passage at 10:25 Highlight the passage at 10:25

10:58 you can feel those hands. They're at ease. I've been doing this for such a long time I notice it's as if my hands say thank you. Thank you for caring about parts of the body you take for granted too often. Report an error in the passage at 10:58 Highlight the passage at 10:58

11:16 I go back up to my shoulders and neck. I always make sure that my head is not too far forward, too far back or too far to one side. My head is balanced on top of the neck and Report an error in the passage at 11:16 Highlight the passage at 11:16

11:44 comfortable. And last, I notice any feelings on the front of my face, around the eyes, the nose or the mouth. In particular, I want those feelings to be as relaxed as possible, not tight. I'm not screwing down my eyes tightly or screwing up my mouth. I'm allowing it just to be closed but comfortable. Report an error in the passage at 11:44 Highlight the passage at 11:44

12:17 Once I notice that they are closed and comfortable, then I can realize just how much my head has relaxed on top of the shoulders. The body and the arms and the hands and the butt and all of the legs. I'm Report an error in the passage at 12:17 Highlight the passage at 12:17

12:45 aware of the degree of relaxation. This little exercise has managed to create hardly any tension in my body at all. Report an error in the passage at 12:45 Highlight the passage at 12:45

13:04 If I see anything which needs just a little bit of attention and relaxation, I will do that. Report an error in the passage at 13:04 Highlight the passage at 13:04

13:14 Relaxation is experienced as comfort. It's a pleasant feeling. It allows you to relax even more. Report an error in the passage at 13:14 Highlight the passage at 13:14

13:28 Once my body is relaxed, there's something else which I noticed a long time ago when I started meditation, that when the body is relaxed, there's a certain happiness, a pleasure can be felt in the body. Report an error in the passage at 13:28 Highlight the passage at 13:28

13:52 Throughout the whole body, there's a pleasure of relaxation. Report an error in the passage at 13:52 Highlight the passage at 13:52

14:00 I indulge in that because it allows my body to get more relaxed until it's kind of humming in the background and you can hardly feel it. Report an error in the passage at 14:00 Highlight the passage at 14:00

14:13 So then I go to the mind. How peaceful are you? What is that peace? Report an error in the passage at 14:13 Highlight the passage at 14:13

14:27 Peace is an object in your mind. That's what I look on now. Not focus on physical feelings. Focus on this internal feeling of peace. Report an error in the passage at 14:27 Highlight the passage at 14:27

14:45 What makes it more stable? What causes it to go deeper? Report an error in the passage at 14:45 Highlight the passage at 14:45

14:52 One thing which you always notice, I have to let go of all future and all past. Report an error in the passage at 14:52 Highlight the passage at 14:52

15:04 Right now, your future is being made. If you put your attention to the future, you are neglecting it, neglecting the place where it's born. Report an error in the passage at 15:04 Highlight the passage at 15:04

15:17 If you put your attention right now, you are creating the best possible causes for success. Right now, as for the past, I've always noticed whenever I try and remember the past, I only remember part of it. There's too much to bring fully into the present, so it's never totally accurate. I forget the past, stay in the present and build the future. Report an error in the passage at 15:17 Highlight the passage at 15:17

15:59 To Report an error in the passage at 15:59 Highlight the passage at 15:59

16:09 get more fully into the present... I stop naming things. The usual way we think, I calm down. Report an error in the passage at 16:09 Highlight the passage at 16:09

16:26 I'm not taking notes, not trying to describe what I'm experiencing. Just knowing it, silently. Report an error in the passage at 16:26 Highlight the passage at 16:26

16:46 Silent, present moment, awareness. If Report an error in the passage at 16:46 Highlight the passage at 16:46

17:00 you get into it, that is even more pleasant. It's a beautiful, peaceful, safe place. To hang out. I Report an error in the passage at 17:00 Highlight the passage at 17:00

17:23 will be quiet for the next five or ten minutes. How Report an error in the passage at 17:23 Highlight the passage at 17:23

· · · silence, 8 minutes

25:21 do you feel right now? Notice how peaceful. Can you notice any feeling of joy? To be able to appreciate this moment. To Report an error in the passage at 25:21 Highlight the passage at 25:21

25:45 me it's like being on a holiday. Let go of all worries, concerns, plans. Report an error in the passage at 25:45 Highlight the passage at 25:45

25:58 Relaxing the body so it's really healthy. Even peace by itself. It's beautiful. How Report an error in the passage at 25:58 Highlight the passage at 25:58

26:12 do you feel? Report an error in the passage at 26:12 Highlight the passage at 26:12

26:20 In a minute or two, I'll be ringing the gong to end the meditation. Report an error in the passage at 26:20 Highlight the passage at 26:20

26:31 Please just know how it feels, what caused it. Very Report an error in the passage at 26:31 Highlight the passage at 26:31

· · · silence, 1 minute

27:38 good. So Report an error in the passage at 27:38 Highlight the passage at 27:38

27:46 I'll start the talk in another minute or two. Now's a good chance to adjust the posture to get it nice and comfortable again. Report an error in the passage at 27:46 Highlight the passage at 27:46