If we relax into the body and patiently wait in stillness, the breath will reveal itself. This is a much more relaxed approach to meditation that you might find useful if you are a striver.

“In stillness all that needs to be known, is shown.”

Mudita, translated as sympathetic joy, is the practice of sharing in the joys of others. Seeing others do well in life and instead of being jealous and thinking why them, we instead celebrate truly from the heart, feeling as happy as if it was our own great fortune.

This brings about great gladness to our lives and increases our own joy.

Join me in this guided meditation.

Here is a quick, easy, five minute, mindfulness meditation practice that you can do whenever you get a spare moment.

Here are some tips to help you establish a daily meditation practice.

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A deep mindfulness meditation.

I have likened this latest practice to the deep ocean.  I have called it the sea of tranquillity.

The Sea of Tranquility is actually a part of the moon and was once thought by early astronomers to be an ocean. It appears dark when viewed from Earth, smooth and relatively flat. The Sea of Tranquility was the landing site of Apollo 11, the mission during which Neil Armstrong made mankind's first ever walk on the Moon, so it also has relevance for this meditation; just like Neil Armstrong, we are in meditation often venturing into strange and far off lands within us.

I also love the word tranquillity, the word has a beautiful sense of stillness that is useful as a reflection during meditation.

Let’s meditate

This body scan is so easy to do yet so powerful. Simply lie down down and feel  sensations in your body as you are guided along.

This can bring about a powerful relaxation response.

Repeated practise with this audio will bring you into a much more mindful relationship with your body.

Learn to look at our beautiful world with awe and wonder. Our eyes are in constant use but we rarely look deeply. Without training ourselves to look mindfully, our perception of the world can be dulled. This mindfulness practice will bring about a deep connection with your world that you might not have felt since being a child.

I am going to introduce you to a short body scan I have devised called FREE, FREE being an acronym for Find- Release- Exhale- Enjoy.

I’ve called it FREE because if you make it a habit you will become much more free of mental and physical tension.

You can do throughout the day, eyes open, at your desk and nobody will even notice that you’re doing it. What they will start to notice though is that you start walking around like a zen master, totally unphased by life.

F R E E here is what it stands for.

F -Feel – Scan the location of your body and be with whatever you find, really feel it and notice any holding or tension place your awareness on it, watch it change

R -Release- Allow the tension to begin to dissolve, let it go, not pushing away but relaxing wherever you can

E- Exhale- Take in a deep breathe as if your body is porous and the breathe can actually penetrate into the tension. And allow a big exhale to take with it the last of any tension that wants to leave.

E- Enjoy  - Return to the area and enjoy any sense of release that has occurred. This is important because the more we reflect on and physically feel the benefits the more likely we are to make it into a a habit.

You can do this for the whole body in much smaller parts but for the purposes of a short meditation as an add on practice we will Hit the body in large groups.

This evening gratitude meditation is a response to a poll i ran on the Mindfulness In Daily Life Facebook Group.

So lay down, relax, let go of the day and feel the joy that comes from the deep experience of gratitude.

Do this every night and you will find that joy will begin to permeate your day. 

#gratitude #meditation 

Affirmations are a great way to guide our lives in a meaningful direction that aligns with our deepest values.

Listen to these every morning for a week and watch for the changes in your life.

We are going to set the day so that we can rise above any challenge and meet the world from a place of gratitude, awareness and joy rather than our usual patterns of mindless reaction.