A Simple Meditation
Also useful for Climate Emergency and other Disasters
Life is the first ingredient in the recipe, the most important thing. We’ll meditate on what it feels like to be alive, take it not just as an idea but deep into our experience. It brings us back to what’s really important, and restores the magic and mystery of life.
When the going gets tough, I meditate on this. I remind myself that I am still alive. That’s the most precious and essential thing. Long ago I began meditating on this simple phrase, to restore myself to myself, in times of personal disaster. I felt so hurt, when terrible misunderstandings seemed beyond intractable, with housemates, or in my community-building endeavours. I forgot I was a worthwhile person, or what the point of living was. Nevertheless, I was alive.
Remembering that I was alive transported me instantly to quite another place. Suddenly, a bright, clear space opened up. I felt charmed and free to relax. This practice takes me to profound and beautiful places. Being alive is an utter mystery and miracle.
While we’re in the present moment, panic dissolves. Beneath the burnt-out field of grief or fear, is simply an aware mind, quietly present. We mostly take it for granted, and don’t notice.
We’re now overtaken by pandemic, and we’re constantly reminded that we or our loved ones might suddenly not be alive. We can get so caught up in worries about how to manage, we forget to stop, and notice that in this present moment, we are here, aware and breathing.
If you’re grieving the death of koalas and platypus, or you’ve lost your home in a fire, or fearing that similar climate catastrophes may happen to you, some time in the future, this simple practice can be a bottom-line support.
Here are two meditations on this theme. Please do them in order; they were all done on one evening, and follow on from each other. (Just a note: the soundtracks were recorded live in class, so may not be flawless.)
meditation is being in the middle if yourself, transforms our life.
In times like now, our emotional strength and resilience can feel drained away. It can seem like our inner resources are not enough. Yet here we are, still alive.
Once you’ve done the meditation, you can say to yourself ‘I am alive,’ whenever you remember. That will arrest the flow of distraction, even just for a moment.
This also reminds us that others are also alive; they share with us this treasure of awareness. It can help us feel less alone, part of a great and inconceivable whole.
I love it that a lot of people are now hoping we’ll find a new, regenerative way to live on our beautiful planet, when this tidal wave of pandemic has passed over. If we can remember how precious is life itself, far more precious than money, this will help us rediscover our relationship with our Mother Nature, who gave us all life in the first place. We might build a life-affirming culture. That would be a wondrous revolution. May this simple meditation help us along that path!
If you have questions about this work, or how to do it,contact me.
Alive 1
alive hv m1 200513 tr ed
attend to your posture – sitting or lying down – get your spine straight – not rigid – your spine has a beautiful curve like a cobra – a non-poisonous cobra – rising up in a beautiful wave – it feels straight – check that your shoulders are even – you haven’t got one shoulder up round your ear – go down to your belly – let the belly relax – let your buttocks relax – sink into the seat – feel the seat support you –
meditation is in a way very bodily – the body is our sacred home – where we live – where the heart lives – and the mind and spirit live – so when we bring the body into our awareness, we open up that sacred home for the rest of us –
check that your head is floating easily on your neck – you might draw your chin in a little – or let it relax more – so you haven’t got tension around your chin and your throat – lift the breastbone a little so the shoulders fall back – become aware of your fingers and toes –
greet the body – I live in a body space – notice what happens to your mind when you do that – your state of being – how much it changes just from going down into the body – it’s a different way of being from being up in your thoughts – notice for a few moments what that’s like –
notice all the little tingles – maybe aches – cold patches – warm patches – all the things you can feel in your body – little tensions in your face – whatever you feel – your body tingles and speaks to you in all these little ways, because it’s alive – when I hear my body, I know I’m alive – let that sink in, through how you feel – little sensations in the body which often can be distracting – oh my back hurts a little or whatever –
take it as, my body is alive – I am alive in my body – what a miracle – it’s fascinating – how come I’m alive – I just said the sensations tell you you’re alive – there’s more to it – what is it – how come I’m alive – you don’t have to find an answer – let that question be there – it’s a great mystery –
the body is breathing – notice the breath going in and out – don’t try and change the breath in any way – don’t make it deeper or anything – just notice, the body is breathing because I’m alive –
you might find monkey thoughts come across your mind – maybe they carry you into, oh I’ve got to do that when this is over – I forgot to do that or why did she say this today – all the things monkey does – don’t try to stop them – don’t fight them – if you fight them they’ll come back and fight you harder – just go back to, I’m thinking because I’m alive –
go back to the mystery – I’m alive – what an extraordinary thing – settle into that – settle into just resting with the breathing – and the body’s sensing – simple and basic – I’m a living being – this I share with all creatures – birds – bugs – fish – we all are living creatures – I’m alive – rest in it – rest peacefully – it’s so simple – quite beyond or beneath the worriting and carrying on the mind might be doing –
way beneath is this simple I am alive – just rest there – I’m alive no matter what’s going on – whether I failed or succeeded in what I wanted to do yesterday – that’s by the by – I’m alive, whatever I’ve done or not done – is it relaxing – how does it feel to you – do you feel a letting go into it – relief – or what do you feel like when you really let this in – I’m alive –
check how does it feel in the body, if you feel letting go or relief – how does that change how your body feels – or whatever it is – excitement – I’m not prescribing what you should feel – whatever it is, what’s it like in the body –
Alive 2
alive hv m2 200513 tr ed
go into the body space – the body is like a space – it’s full of things, and it can feel like a space – go down into that space – see what’s happening there – as you go down, adjust the posture – so your beautiful spine rises up like the cobra – a friendly cobra – feel the middle of your body – the spine elongating – go down to your pelvis – the back of the pelvis – let the lower back relax – hips relax – your belly relax – feel like your pelvis is like a bowl – feel how it supports the rest of your body that rises up from that bowl – notice, just by going into the body space how it changes your way of being – what happens – notice your bodily sensations, going into the body – does it feel more spacious – more peaceful – or what –
Notice the sensations in the body – whatever they are, pleasant or unpleasant, just notice my body is speaking to me because it’s alive – that’s how I know I’m alive – because my body speaks to me – be fascinated by the sensations whether you like them or not – whether they’re uncomfortable or pleasant – they’re fascinating – this is my body’s songs –
One of the songs of the body is the breathing – settle into the living body –
now what is the awareness that notices the sensations – we have a mind that thinks – we know our mind is thinking when the monkey’s dancing about saying things to us – and there’s more – what is the consciousness that is noticing the body’s tingles and itches and whatever –
I’m aware – that’s really how I know I’m alive – I’m aware – that’s a real mystery – check where is that awareness – you’ve got awareness all over your body – you must do because how else would you feel the sensations in your knees and fingers – feel what is the awareness like that’s in your knees and fingers – don’t look for answers – you don’t need to put this into words while you’re doing it – just notice what it feels like – I’m aware – I’m alive and aware of these sensations –
settle into that awareness – to use an image for this, you might feel your awareness is like a deep ocean – you might have thoughts dancing as well, in and out – your sensations are like the waves on the surface of the ocean – then there’s this deep well of whatever it feels like – spacious or – is it quiet, peaceful – even if there are thoughts going round – is it peaceful underneath like an ocean – or what – really check your experience –
settle into that awareness – whatever it feels like to you – this is me being alive – or is it even me – this question do you know who you are – who is this being who’s alive – get to know this being – this living being get to know her –
is that awareness all over your body – or what – enjoy the mystery the magic of this – is it magic – people go on about oh consciousness is in the brain – when you actually sit in that, being an aware living being, what’s the feeling – magic is it – precious – beautiful –
you may sometimes see a bird in a tree and think how there’s a special beauty about it – this living creature with its bright eyes – you are a living creature just like that – like the bird – you may look different – have a different lifestyle – and this deep thing we share, all of us – that’s really mysterious –
notice, in order to feel the orchestra of the body, and the living awareness – you’re not in the past – and you’re not in the future – you’re right here present now – notice that – this present moment is where you can be aware like this – and see the magic –
you might notice, if the monkey comes along and carries you off, she carries you off into the past – oh last week I really made a mistake – or the future – I’ll do it better next time – when we let go of the monkey and say yes yes, not fighting, just coming back to this moment – you’re coming back into the present, into now – what does that feel like – is it relaxing compared to rushing round with the monkey –
notice again the body – how your breathing goes on – the living breathing goes on even when you don’t notice it – body sensations go on – all those living things that happen in a living being – a living body – here we are finally tuning into all that – noticing I am alive – I’m simply alive – what a wonder –
we’ll gently begin to come out – when you come out, bring that mystery and magic into your life – keep it if you can, with you, as you come back into your more ordinary consciousness – you’re still alive –