❄️ Steps Into Awakening ❄️

Brandon Mehrgut

5h (edited) • 🧘Meditations

Hi friends,

No dharma talk tonight however I did offer a guided meditation on the level of concentration.

I wrote everything I said down into easy to follow steps.

I hope this helps you deepen your practice, and allow the mind to unfold.

With love,

Brandon

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A Guided Concentration Meditation

*A practice for settling the mind, grounding the body, and resting in awareness. Set aside about twenty to thirty minutes. Find a posture that feels both alert and at ease.*

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1. Arriving

Take a moment to give your body what it needs. Move it however feels right.

Then take three deep breaths in and out through the nose.

Breathe fully in. Pause. Take in a little more. Then let it go fully out through the nose.

Once more, fully in. Pause. And release.

2. White Light, Gray Smoke

Now we add a visual.

As you inhale, imagine you are breathing in a white light that represents everything good.

As you exhale, imagine you are breathing out a gray smoke that carries away any negativity, any limiting beliefs, anything that holds you back.

You can close your eyes here.

Inhale the white light. Hold it. Take in a little more. Let it permeate your whole body. Then exhale the gray smoke, fully out.

Keep going for a few rounds. Inhale everything good. Exhale everything you do not need, anything that is not serving you.

3. The Circle of Teachers

Now imagine you are surrounded by great meditation teachers, great spiritual leaders, mentors, any being that has helped you on your path. You may or may not have met them. They can be whoever you like.

Picture these beings sitting in a circle, with you in the center. Feel the field that forms. Feel the impact of their presence.

These beings are overjoyed that you are meditating, that you are facing the mind and resting in it.

Ask, from your heart, for their help in the practice.

They are happy to give it. Imagine them showering you in blessings. Like an empty vessel, receive everything you need as it is poured into you. Just receive for a moment.

Now imagine these beings merging into a single shimmering sphere of light above your head. Feel that light pour down into your head, into your heart. Feel yourself becoming one with these great teachers.

Let the sphere of light expand until it fills your entire body. A clear light body.

Now you have everything you need. You are meditating like a master. Nothing is limited. Nothing is lacking. Rest here in trust. Trust yourself. Trust your heart.

4. Grounding the Body

Relax your mind into your body, and your body into the earth.

From the base of your body, drop an anchor of awareness and pour it down into the earth. Miles and miles down. Rooting yourself.

This works with the first energy center at the base of the body. It helps you feel secure and safe.

If you are lying down, you can pour this anchor from the back of your body. You can even pour it from your feet.

Now notice where your body meets the chair or the cushion. Keep investigating that point. Where does the body end and the seat begin? Where does the seat end and you begin?

5. Relaxing the Whole Body

Bring awareness through the lower half of the body. Your thighs. Your knees. Your calves. Your shins. The tops of the feet. The soles of the feet. Your toes. Let the whole lower half relax.

Now your lower back. Upper back. Arms and hands. Let the fingers go soft.

Your stomach, releasing any tension there. Your chest. Your shoulders, letting them drop. Your throat. Your jaw. The back of the head. Your cheeks. Your eyes. Your forehead. The top of the head.

Bathe the whole body in awareness. Scan slowly from the top of the head all the way down to the feet. Then let your attention rest on the body as a whole.

6. The Breathing Body

Notice the body breathing.

Let your attention become fully absorbed in it. Grow even more curious about the breathing body. Like a baby entering a temple, completely in awe of the miraculous flow of the breath. As if you are seeing the breath for the first time.

Feel the body as a whole, breathing here. Stay awake. Do not slip into dullness. Keep the mind bright and alert with the breathing body. If you feel sleepy, adjust your posture or open your eyes.

7. Easing the Effort

You can start to ease up now. No need to apply so much effort. Enter into a meditative flow. Ease into trust.

You do not have to try. You do not have to get somewhere. You do not have to achieve anything.

8. The Boundaries Dissolve

Become aware of the boundaries of the body. Where does your skin end and the air begin? Where do your clothes end and your skin begin? Does space have a beginning? Does space have an ending?

Keep feeling into these edges. Through your own direct experience, you will start to notice the boundaries are not clear.

The body may begin to feel insubstantial. Like a pattern of aliveness. Like a pattern of light.

Angels fly because they take themselves lightly. So be light. Do not be so heavy. Just drop it.

9. The Aliveness Within

Now feel the body from the inside out. Tap into the aliveness of the body, its subtle energy. The body is alive, and you are aware of it. Could you become even more interested in that?

It may feel like ten thousand lights glowing inside the body. It may feel tingly. Or you may simply feel alive. Could you feel this aliveness even more?

As you lock onto the aliveness of the body, the mind begins to calm. And as the mind calms, ease up in turn. Apply less effort. No need to hold so tightly.

10. Dropping Into the Channel

You may start to feel a dropping in sensation, as if you are dropping into the deepest channel of your practice. It can feel like releasing a ball from your head down to the base of your body.

Like a skilled boatman navigating the river, you begin to find the deepest channel with very little effort. Rest here.

Keep making small adjustments. It is like taming a wild elephant. At first you keep the rope of mindfulness tight, then you loosen it gradually. If the mind runs wild, tighten the rope again and keep the curiosity. As the mind settles, rest into trust. Over time you train the mind to stay put, until you can simply drop the rope.

11. The Meditation of No Meditation

Now you enter the meditation of no meditation. No need to practice anymore. Even the idea of not meditating dissolves. Not an ounce of a meditator. Not a particle of trying.

This is the method of no method. Thinking is okay. Feeling is okay. Everything is okay. No method. No trying. Just be.

And even if just being feels like effort, let that effort be like a snowflake falling into a vast, warm ocean.

12. Sky Mind

Allow the mind to unfold, as if all of reality is sitting where your head used to be. A wide, beautiful sky. Your body as placid and pervasive as the earth, as deep as the ocean.

Rest here with awareness wide open. Each time you notice yourself trying, that is okay. Just let go of the trying and relax into doing nothing again. You may have to do nothing ten thousand times. That is fine. Even the idea of doing nothing dissolves, like mist into the air.

13. Closing the Practice

Gently bring the practice to a close. Open your eyes and stretch out your body. See if you can carry the practice with you, keeping a little awareness as you move.

Then check in. Notice how the body feels, any tension it is holding. Notice the emotional body, how your emotions feel now compared to when you began. Then notice the thinking mind. Things that were weighing on you before may feel lighter now.

Take that with you.

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(Please kindly do not share this written meditation. Thank you 🙏)

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