Simple Meditations for moving from where you are to HAPPINESS

Hello,

I recently ran a meditation circle. It was my first one and I really just wanted to bring my experience of meditation and the simple processes that have helped me over the years. 

I wrote the following instructions that I hope are really simple and clear. There are 3 meditations. Each one builds on the one before, but there is no need that you do all of the meditations in one sitting. 

If you are feeling quite good, you can more easily move to the loving-kindness meditation. If you are feeling less good when you sit to meditate, don't be in a rush to go all the way to loving-kindness. You will get the most benefit if you work from where you are.

Note: I by no means claim to have invented these. They are all very common forms of meditation. I hope you will find benefit in the way I have arranged and worded them. 

Body Awareness Meditation

1.        Sit in a comfortable and upright position, spine straight yet relaxed, and close your eyes.

2.       Come into your body using body scan from toe to head.

3.       Rest your awareness on either the physical sensation of the palms of your hands OR the physical sensation of your natural breath OR both. In case of intense anxiety, agitation, or panic, or if you are having difficulty feeling your breath, take several deeper and slower breaths, observing them.

4.      As thought arises, let it move through and past and return to the sensation

Emotional Awareness Meditation

5.       Begin with steps 1-4 above. You will know you can move on to the steps below when you are able to sit calmly and easily feel the sensations in your body.

6.      Ask yourself what emotion is present. Await the response without expectation.

7.       Whatever emotion is present allow yourself to experience it fully. Ask that it come forth even stronger in intensity. Sit with the emotion and feel it without pushing it away. Watch the intensity rise up and feel anything physical that may be associated with the emotion.

8.      When the emotion seems to have lost its intensity/charge begin at step 6 again with the next emotion.

9.      Repeat steps 6-8 until a) you reach a blissful emotion (preferred) or b) your meditation time runs out

Loving-kindness Meditation

10.    Begin with steps 1-9 above. You will know you can move into the Loving-kindness Meditation when you have reached a blissful emotion.

11.     Now that you have full body and full emotion awareness, invite the feeling of love to enter your body and to fill your entire energy field.

12.    State to yourself:

May I be happy. May I be at peace. May I experience real love.

(drawing to mind someone in your life…) May you be happy. May you be at peace. May you experience real love.

May all beings be happy. May all beings be at peace. May all beings experience real love.

13.    Repeat above statements (visualising someone different each time you say ‘you’) until a) you transcend time and space, dissolving into particles of light (preferred) or b) your meditation time runs out.