Over my time as a personal trainer, I have found that the way clients see success is when they are able to take control of their own lives. Meeting once or twice a week with someone who gives you a hard day is great, but if a client doesn't make improving their life a priority outside of that time, they will not reach their goals as quickly. Meditation is a fantastic tool to help people become the best version of themself that they can. The meditations that I combined due to the evidence I could find for their efficacy are mindfulness, gratitude, loving-kindness, refuge, and a kriya yoga meditation practice. The purpose is to inspire compassion towards ones fellow man, an awareness of ones thoughts and an ability to surf cravings, and to increase the appreciation for ones life.
First, I invite your eyes to close. Bring your gaze behind your eyelids gently upward, and try to focus on your breath. How does the oxygen feel as you inhale and your lungs expand? How does it feel to expel that breath of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, continuing one of many cycles of life? Note how your breath can expand into your back, and sides. Begin to count your breaths at one, and continue up to ten before counting back down. If your attention wanders, gently bring that attention back to your breath, or to the count. There is no judgement, no failure. There is just the constant cycle of breath, and the recognition of thoughts as they present themself. They can be there when you are done, and do not control you.
I invite you to find the core of yourself, wherever it may be in your body. It may be in your skull or your heart. It may be lower, closer to the center of your body. Think to this part of yourself love, care, and compassion. Imagine as if you found yourself in a place of refuge, of sanctuary. One can find refuge in a wide variety of places. It could be with people you love, your room at home, a quiet library, or an inspiring peak. Try to make that image as clear as possible. What does this place of refuge sound like? Are there smells?
As you breathe, tie a mantra to your inhalation, "I am not my body." As you exhale, repeat to yourself, "I am not even my mind." You are more than these things, not just inhabiting a body of flesh and bone. You are not just thoughts and feelings. Those are transitory, ephemeral. You are life itself. "I am not my body, I am not even my mind."
Wish toward yourself love, safety, and joy with this mantra. You are deserving of that.
May I be well
May I be safe
May I be free from pain and suffering
May I know happiness
May I know peace
After some time with that, redirect the target of your benevolence from yourself toward someone you feel unconditional love for, then toward an acquaintance, then toward someone who has frustrated you recently. After having moved through the mantra for all of these people in your life, try and widen your focus to include as much of your community as you can. This could just be your apartment complex, the city, the nation, or as wide as the world.
To close out our time, picture something you are grateful exists in your life. It should be something you haven't thought of for some time. What does it look like? What does it sound like? How does it feel, or taste? It could be something as small as an apple, or the home you have, or the company of those you love in your life.
First, I invite your eyes to close. Bring your gaze behind your eyelids gently upward, and try to focus on your breath. How does the oxygen feel as you inhale and your lungs expand? How does it feel to expel that breath of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, continuing one of many cycles of life? Note how your breath can expand into your back, and sides. Begin to count your breaths at one, and continue up to ten before counting back down. If your attention wanders, gently bring that attention back to your breath, or to the count. There is no judgement, no failure. There is just the constant cycle of breath, and the recognition of thoughts as they present themself. They can be there when you are done, and do not control you.
I invite you to find the core of yourself, wherever it may be in your body. It may be in your skull or your heart. It may be lower, closer to the center of your body. Think to this part of yourself love, care, and compassion. Imagine as if you found yourself in a place of refuge, of sanctuary. One can find refuge in a wide variety of places. It could be with people you love, your room at home, a quiet library, or an inspiring peak. Try to make that image as clear as possible. What does this place of refuge sound like? Are there smells?
As you breathe, tie a mantra to your inhalation, "I am not my body." As you exhale, repeat to yourself, "I am not even my mind." You are more than these things, not just inhabiting a body of flesh and bone. You are not just thoughts and feelings. Those are transitory, ephemeral. You are life itself. "I am not my body, I am not even my mind."
Wish toward yourself love, safety, and joy with this mantra. You are deserving of that.
May I be well
May I be safe
May I be free from pain and suffering
May I know happiness
May I know peace
After some time with that, redirect the target of your benevolence from yourself toward someone you feel unconditional love for, then toward an acquaintance, then toward someone who has frustrated you recently. After having moved through the mantra for all of these people in your life, try and widen your focus to include as much of your community as you can. This could just be your apartment complex, the city, the nation, or as wide as the world.
To close out our time, picture something you are grateful exists in your life. It should be something you haven't thought of for some time. What does it look like? What does it sound like? How does it feel, or taste? It could be something as small as an apple, or the home you have, or the company of those you love in your life.
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