Guided Meditation for Beginners (Rohini) — A First Step

Namaste everybody, and welcome to the second episode of your guided meditations. Again, I just want to reiterate that guided meditations are a step towards real meditation. They're not entirely like meditation, because in meditation there should be no thought, and as I speak to you in the guidance, there's still a thought. So ideally, in good meditation we should be able to sit quietly, and those of us that find it hard, which is all practitioners in the beginning, this is a great first step.

The best seat for meditation is Siddhasana, where you just stack your ankles one in front of the other. I'm also sitting on a block, and that helps me keep my spine straight. Even in the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna that the most important thing for good meditation is a straight spine.

The other thing I want you to start keeping in mind now is, as you create this regular practice, try and do the meditation in the same place at the same time every day. Create a habit out of it.

So once you sit in Siddhasana, palms either facing up or down, whatever it is that you like, just a little bit up, shoulders a bit back, chin parallel to the earth, and bring your eyes to a close. Just take a few quiet seconds, just noticing the sounds around you. There might be birds, traffic, people. Living yogis are aware of their surroundings, and from that they take their awareness deeper inside.

Start to bring awareness to your breath, just allowing the air to enter from the tip of your nostrils all the way to your lungs, and using Siddhasana, watching the breath enter and leave, your breath, your body. I want you to visualize this golden white light just above your head, like it's come from the skies, and it's going to enter the crown of your head. As it enters, it's coming down through the rest of your body, all the way to the base of your spine, and then from the earth, another beautiful light is rising up, again through the tailbone to the center of your body. Let your body be like a little teabag, let that light infuse into every cell of your body, feel the waves of energy move through your system.

And as your mind slows down, the easiest way to relax or to quieten the mind is to give it a point of focus. And today, as your eyes stay closed, I want you to think of somebody in your life you're very grateful for. It can be one person or even a few. Somebody who has always nourished you, has helped lift you up on the days you were sad, who has pushed you to grow on the days you didn't want to, and who has loved you even at your most unlovable.

Bring this person, or these people, to the front of our eyes, behind our closed eyes. Visualize them fully, from head to toe. When your heart fills with gratitude for the presence of these angels in our life, let us smile draw upon your face. Let your mind go to the small moments of love, of upliftment.

May you remember, just like this person that you hold special, there were many other people that did wonderful things to help you to this point in life. Let the mind fill with joy, with gratitude, and most importantly, a deep understanding that we are not alone. The source of the universe will always guide and push us in the right direction.

Allow that feeling of love and gratitude to pulse through you, and bring your awareness back to this moment, back to your breath. Reminding yourself of how much love exists around you, and through it, reminding ourselves of how much love exists inside us. Allow yourself to just brew in that energy, sitting quietly, very slowly.

As we bring ourselves back to the physical realm, I want you to slowly start to move your fingertips, your toes, gently bringing the palms together, slowly rubbing, bring your awareness back to this moment. Slowly, as you're ready, place your palms over the eyes, open your eyes first into the darkness, and gently moving the hands down the cheeks, back to your heart center, bowing down to say namaste.

Thank you so much, you guys, I hope you enjoyed that gratitude meditation. The easiest way to calm our minds is sometimes just to remind ourselves of how much love exists in our lives. I hope you have a really fruitful, happy rest of the day. Thank you.