Guided Meditation: 3 Centers

We've been focusing on tuning these three centers of perception as a means of being in relationship with another, and yet of course having an understanding of these three centers is incredibly useful with the relationship of observing yourself. So let's move into a meditation with this in mind. So you'll notice that Alana is seated in Virasana. She's sitting up on a block with her knees bent, and I'm using this perfect size pranayama meditation cushion. You can be sitting like us or in your own way.

So step one, snuggle in, and then let yourself ground. So maybe it's a deliberate inhale, and exhale, let it happen, and relax the floor of your pelvis, maybe even look down, maybe even slump. The play here is to allow yourself to really feel held, to feel a quality of absorption. And there's really no rush, and that little slump that happens as you're really tuning towards grounded, we joke a little bit about all the best Swami's slump. Give yourself over, surrender a little bit towards gravity.

Settle, like, one of the often used images is, you know, as if we're like jars of money water and that silt and that mud won't kind of settle until the jar sits still. So there's this sense of, and as the clear water starts to be revealed, and only when you really feel that sense of go, then remember that quality behind the heart, like let the heart begin to brighten, and you're tuning towards those same feeling we've been tuning in the Tadasana, in the seated exercises of letting the heart feel generous and bright without hardening. So that you have this sense of being connected, supported, and yet you've turned on the light of wide open awareness. Let your arms adjust so elbows might get heavy so the shoulders can roll back and down, and decide if the palms want to be up or down. Feeling grounded, connected, feeling bright, generous, compassion.

And then only as you're ready to start to turn on that element of wisdom, that element of letting the mind join in so that you have the quality of keen observation, not trying to ditch the skills of the mind, we need her, we need her discernment. So that as you let the base of the skull widen and you find the alignment of your skull, you're aware of being grounded, generous, discerning. But in the practice of Sita meditation, which is the one of the methods yogis use for self-observation, if we don't have our instruments of perception turned on, if we're only noticing the mind with the mind, or only noticing ourself with our heart, or if all of our attention is in the belly, we'll miss some details. And just like let the physiological cues help hold you, that grounding, that brightening, that alignment. And you can be aware because if the mind train starts to run, then you know that there's too much gas there, and you can counter it by drawing your attention back to the heart or back to the belly.

Or if you start to feel sleepy or sluggish, then there's probably too much of you in the belly, and you can like dial the heart in a little bit, align the mind again. Or if the movements of the heart start to carry you, if what sometimes gets called the emotions start to run the show, then you can ground and find some discernment. So letting the balance of these three centers help hold you steady. Just be here at least a few more minutes together. Grounded, generous, open.

All right. Last handful of moments, can you let yourself trust the earth a little bit more? Can you feel your heart just a little brighter? Can you let your mind be a little bit more clear? So big, deliberate inhale, exhale everything.

Let your hands find each other at the heart. Namaste.