Letting go of work/home stresses (+/- 25 mins)

by Christina Suykens
(Calgary AB Canada)

Hello all,

I would like to welcome you to today’s meditation session The purpose of this session is to re-energize,..to re-focus,..to re-center yourself so that when you go into your afternoon you will be more effective in your job.

To begin with hold your hands in either "Cosmic Mudra" (right on left, thumbs together), helps silencing the mind or the basic "Gyna Mudra" good for meditation and the mind going inwards, brings wisdom and insight.

I will ask you lightly to close your eyes,..so that what I tell you next will be without interference,..without distraction,..listened to by your wisdom, not by ego.

Let’s get started
10 mins

Your eyes are now feeling smooth,..and your muscles no longer have to work hard to keep your eyes closed.

I will ask you to sit comfortably, either in a chair, on the floor,..cross legged, or however you want and hold your hand mudra however it is comfortable for you.

Ultimately the best way is to sit on the floor,..legs crossed lightly,..or on a meditation bench or with a big meditation pillow (aka zafu / zabuton), even a chair is ok.

The purpose is to sit comfortable and move around a little until your body tells you that you have balanced internally, skeletal and muscular. And nothing seems to strain too much like your spine,..your quads,..are not to stretched….your neck is straight. Your spine is like a coat rack and you can hang your shoulders gently on the rack
Place you hand in your lap,..in meditation there are various hand positions,..you will know which one is the right on for you

……………..

Minute 1
Take some deep breaths,…fill up your lungs,..then I want you to let all the air out,..
3 breaths,..

As you exhale I want you to constrict your throat, and make a sound,..this sound signifies that you are actually present in breath and that your body is working on creating posture,..it is called Ujjayi breath, or Ocean breath in Yoga, as it kind of sounds like the surf of waves.

Now take in another breath and visualize that you are breathing in silvery light,..and it is radiant and divine,..full of positive energy,..
fill up every crevice in your body with this energy in the intake breath.

Now when you exhale,..exhale all your negative feelings,..your thoughts about work,..your deadlines,..that phonecall you had this morning from an irate person,….the guilt you feel over that little error you made that everyone seem to have thought was a big deal,..it really wasn’t you know.

Well do a few more, 10 or so breaths, and I will count for you, so don’t worry about keeping track of your breaths.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Minute 4----- 3 breaths a minute

Now I want you to relax your body,..
Feel your legs heavy and sinking into the ground,..
Feel your hips relaxing and becoming heavy,..
then the hands on your lap are relaxed, heavy and feel full of light.

Now feel your stomach area feel heavy and melt into your hips,..
your shoulders relax and fall slightly back, causing your spine to remain straight,..
your arms feel heavy and relaxed,..
your chin should be slightly pulled back to cause your head to center on your neck to balance it out. Slightly tilt your face up to greet the sunlight.

Now find yourself to be in a beautiful green valley,..
see the surroundings,..the sky,..hear the birds,..feel the breeze,..and smell nature


Now see yourself walking through this beautiful valley that you are envisioning.
there are beautiful sequoia trees,..they are magnificent,..
the ground beneath your feet, is moist,..soft,..moss covered
and the occasional twig crackles under your feet as you accidently step on it.
Smell the moist woodsy odor

Keep walking admiring the surroundings,…..see the flowers,…the vines climbing onto tree trunks,….the wild berry bushes,….the little creek that is flowing along the path you are walking on……

Feel the bright sun shine,…as the rays filter through branches,…you feel the warmth of it on your face…aaahhhh that feels so comforting

See a clearing coming up and there is a table with a big antique looking book with empty pages,…and a beautiful feather pen,…pick the pen up, dip it in the jetblack ink and start writing the things you don’t want to think about right now,.. things about work,..relationships,…your shopping list….dentist appointment,…anything
Take your time to write things down….

Silence for 1 minute

Now put the pen down and start walking again

Now you start noticing that the path starts to slope slight upwards and you start to see mountains and hills through the trees in the distance,…eventually the trees become less dense and a sloping meadow appears before you,…full of beautiful little purple, yellow and white flowers,.. the scent changes from wood to airy,..grass,…and flowers,..mixed in the gentle wind which flows down from the mountain through the meadow,..picking up the meadow scent, as it glides down the slope, as you feel the breeze on your face,..and the breeze continues past you and flows into the forest behind and below you

Keep walking,….the path becoming a little more steeper,…but you walk it effortless

Now the path is coiling itself up the mountain,…go up,…..now stop for a minute turn around and look back you will see that you are above the treeline,..and the view is becoming magnificent,…let’s climb further to see how the view is on top

As you near the top of the mountain,…you close your eyes,…don’t look back yet,…savour the moment….
Now prepare yourself,….keep your eyes on the rocky ground,…and then take a deep deep breath and spin yourself around and look at the beautiful landscape !
Wauwww,..what magnificence !,..look at the mountains in the distance,..the heavy moisture making the mountains appear as though they are a water color painting…now see the ocean wayyy in the distance,…and look down and see that the sequoias appear but as little blades of grass,…kind of like your problems,…for now what appeared as though they were 100 stories tall,..they now appear insignificant….

Sit down for a minute catch your breath and take in the view,……

Before we walk back down the mountain I want you to place the following thought in your head,… to help you walk back down the mountain:
The thought is: “No task is small enough,..no problem to big,….I have all the energy in the world to resolve it, and I will stay energized after it’s resolution”.

Now let’s stand up and go back down the mountain,…this time our pace is fairly steady as gravity is helping up move effortless,….down the rocky path,…then through the meadow,…aren’t those flowers awesome,…like a purple carpet….then back into the wooded path,..past the enormous cedars,…

As we meet up with the same clearing we earlier past,..we walk up to the table with the big beautiful antique book and notice that what we wrote earlier,..has vanished,…
instead we find scribbles of what looks to be Sanskrit,..
we see the words Ohm,…namaste,..
we see drawn images of lotus flowers and the outline of a Buddha,…a heart,..
Xs and Os,….all in soft pastels, and notice that a rose grew out of the feather pen you used.
And on the bottom of the page someone wrote for us ;” No task is small enough,..no problem to big,….I have all the energy in the world to resolve, and I will stay energized after resolution “
Smile to yourself, and absorb the love that someone had for you while they wrote and drew all those nice images. Feel the peace you received through that kind act.

Now notice that slowly your body is becoming a mist,…a heavy dewy mist,…and you evaporate,..and float from your vision to above your current body,…..Now as the mist enters your body,..through our crown chakra,….feel the dense mist filling your whole body,..floating down through to the tips of your toes,..and slowly backfilling till the mist completely filled your body,…now feel the mist become flesh,..bones,..blood,..muscles,….and it makes your body very light and airy.

Let’s take a few grounding breaths,….deep breaths,…to solidify our bodies,…..
And feel that our feet have grown roots into the ground and we are connected with mother earth,..

Start feeling that your body is alive again,…feel the blood pulse through it,…..feel alive

Now start wiggling your toes,…your fingers,…shift your spine,….
Move your head to the right, then to the left,…then forwards and backwards,…slow deliberate movements

Please your hands in prayer position over your heart,…and lets say three OOMMSSS
Joint in when your are ready,…

Ohm
Ohm
Ohm

Now place your thumbs on your third eye,…

I honor myself,..I am grateful for the vision of beauty,..I am blessed,..I honor the divine me…Namaste

Rub your hands together a little bit to create some friction and heat then place them on your eyes,……

Now open your eyes slowly, and when you are ready take your hands down and slightly bend forward to bow to the divine.


I want to thank you for letting me guide you on your journey this afternoon and I wish you all a fantastic rest of the day,..and don’t forget to honour yourselves in all your actions and thoughts.

Namaste