Meditation Exercises with Inner Body Brightskip right to the meditation exercises Making your inner body bright is a practice of filling yourself, or allowing yourself to be filled, with the sense of inner expansion, or radiance. I know it sounds a little abstract, but anyone can do it. One way to find Inner Body Brightness is through an intentional experience of love. An easy way to start is just by thinking of someone for whom you have a pure and uncomplicated affection; a child, a childhood friend, or a pet. Think of them doing something that really encapsulates who or how they are, or why you love them. For example, if I picture my three year old niece, her nose wrinkling into a smile, I am filled with a feeling of love so profound that it is at once fundamentally human, and utterly divine. You can also use the feeling of wonder, like the one you get when you see something beautiful in nature, such as a beautiful mountain, a desert valley, or the night sky. After doing this practice over and over, in the manner of formal meditation exercises, we become so familiar with the feeling of inner brightness that we can fill ourselves with it at any time. We no longer need to think of anything but the feeling itself. When I remember, I use it to come back to balance when my sense of well being gets inhibited in some way - by self doubt, anger, loneliness, fear, anxiety, even tiredness. I soften, and let the universe come in, and lift me up and support me from the inside. It's the part of my on the mat practice that I most often use off the mat. You should be comfortable when you practice these or any meditation exercises. There are many traditional meditation positions to choose from, but sitting comfortably in a straight backed chair, or even lying down, will do just fine. Meditation Exercises #1 - Filling UpIn addition to being a powerful meditation on its own, you'll want to follow the steps below as the first action in every yoga pose. With practice, you will be able to cultivate the quality of inner brightness in the time it takes to inhale.Settle yourself into a comfortable meditation position. Close your eyes, and begin to observe your breath. After a time, just observing the breath will probably have a calming affect, and you may notice the breath slowing down a little, or deepening. If it doesn't, that's o.k., too. Now you can begin to collaborate with your natural breath, by intentionally smoothing out and lengthening the inhale, and then the exhale. You can visualize or feel the breath coming in, filling your body bit by bit, from the bottom to the top, like you are filling a container. I remember my teacher giving the instruction, "Imagine that you are inhaling a cloud of light." This cloud of light, or lightness, has all the qualities that light has - it's bright and warm and uplifting, and expands inside of you. Really try to feel yourself get bigger. Allow your muscles and skin to soften, and drape around this inner support. Then, on the exhales, let the breath go, but let the light remain. Meditation Exercises #2 - TrustingThis second meditation can also be practiced in savasana. Take a comfortable supported position, sitting in an easy chair, or lying on your back. It is important that your breath be as free as possible, so lying on your stomach, or hunching over your desk, may not be ideal, but it's up to you. Close your eyes, and begin to observe the breath.As you follow the natural rhythm of your inhale and exhale, begin cultivate a sense of heaviness about your skin, and the outermost muscles of your whole body. Not an overworked-but-still-at-your-desk-or-in-your-car-heaviness, but the heaviness of release. A feeling of "the project is finished," or,"the danger has passed." Let your bones feel heavy, and sink into the loving support of the surface beneath you. If letting go is really hard for you, you might try imagining that you are lying in a meadow, or on the sunny bank of a mountain stream. Feel the sun on your skin, watch the breath, and the softening will come. Now direct your attention inward. You may find that with all this heaviness, all this releasing down, rather than feeling denser, you are feeling more light, even airy. There is a sense of expansion inside of you. Try to rest your awareness on this feeling. And if you don't feel it, imagine it. You can find more meditation exercises by following the text links on the meditation techniques page. please note - There is no official inner body bright exercise, and the complexity of the term can only be unpacked through a dedicated AnusaraŽ practice and formal study of the method. You can contact me for more information. Or: take a class with me in Portland, Oregon
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