"I Am That" Meditation
15m
As a man, you may find yourself with so much on your mind, it could feel like you’ll never get the thoughts to stop running—thoughts about your business, relationship, or life itself. You want to go deeper in your life and expand your awareness, so perhaps you’ve tried meditating, but you can’t seem to find any peace from your own mind, let alone a deeper connection to consciousness.
In this meditation, you will experience the sweet, delicious relationship between your breath and consciousness; and expand your level of openness, awareness, and depth from a pervasive thoughtform into the absolute core of you.
If you’re looking for a way to pierce through your thoughts into an expanded experience of awareness, this 15-minute meditation is a powerful one to take on.
Begin sitting in a "yogi's pose," with your back straight, spine long, chin slightly tucked so the back of your neck is long, tongue pressed on roof of your mouth, either behind your teeth or at the center of your palate, jaw relaxed, shoulders relaxed, and the base of your body pressed down into the earth. With your eyes and mouth closed, begin to breathe deeply through your belly. Notice how your belly rises when you inhale and falls when you exhale. Say quietly to yourself, "Belly Rising" on the inhale, and "Belly Falling" on the exhale. Following the rhythm of your own breath, become connected to your belly rising, widening, and expanding; and also falling, relaxing, and contracting. Try to be as still as you can, with the exception of your belly rising and falling. Staying connected to your own body and breath, notice what a few minutes of "Belly Rising, Belly Falling" does for you - maybe your nervous system feels a little more relaxed; maybe your mind feels a little more free...
Continuing with that breath, and keeping in the back of your awareness "Belly Rising, Belly Falling," bring to the front of your mind, a thoughtform you've been perseverating on - something in your business, life or relationships that returns continually. Bring all of your awareness to this thoughtform. As you get into witnessing the thoughtform, do not lose this smooth, deep breath. You may notice it's harder to stay connected to the thoughtform when you're breathing deeply.
Looking at the thoughtform, ask yourself the question, "Who, or what, is witnessing this thoughtform?" Whatever the answer is, speak it aloud to yourself in one word, sentence, or phrase. Then let your body take the energetic, and maybe even physical, shape of who, or what, is witnessing that thoughtform. Feel, become, and embody the who, or the what, that was witnessing that thoughtform. Take a few moments to really settle into becoming this deeper part of yourself.
Now ask yourself the question, "And who, or what, is even deeper than the one that is witnessing that thoughtform?" Speak it aloud. Then, for the next few moments, let your whole body become that which is behind the witness; that which is even deeper than the witness.
If you stop breathing, return to "Belly Rising, Belly Falling."
Then one last time, feel even deeper into who, or what, is behind the witness, which is behind that which is witnessing the witness, which is behind that which is witnessing the witness of the witness. Say it to yourself one more time. Then become that - feel and expand through your body into that which you are.
Say quietly to yourself, "I Am That." Begin to breathe with the realization of "I Am That." Let your breath be the only movement. On the inhale, "I Am That," and on the exhale, "That I Am." Feel every cell in your body brighten as it receives that truth. Recognize how far you are from that original thoughtform that you've been spending so much time paying attention to.
From this place of whatever you discovered that is behind all of you, look back at that thoughtform and watch it - actually place the space in you that you just discovered around the thoughtform, as if that space in you could hold, surround and contain the thoughtform. Notice if something in you is more relaxed as you witness the form of your thoughts from all that space.
Coming back to your physical body, feeling your feet fully planted into the earth, and without losing any awareness of that which is the absolute core of you, take three more breaths - "Belly Rising, Belly Falling." Then after the third breath, open your eyes.
Disclaimer: Although anyone may find this practice to be useful, it is made available with the understanding that we are not engaged in presenting specific medical, psychological, emotional, sexual or spiritual advice. Nor is anything in this practice intended to be a diagnosis, prescription, recommendation or cure for any specific kind of medical, psychological, emotional, sexual or spiritual problem. Each individual has unique needs and this practice cannot take these individual differences into account. Each person should engage in a program of treatment, prevention, cure, or general health only in consultation with a licensed, qualified physician, therapist or other competent professional. Any person suffering from a sexually transmitted disease or any local illness of his or her sexual organs should consult a medical doctor and a qualified instructor of sexual yoga before practicing the sexual methods described in this practice.