meditations for

awakening

letting go of the meditator

While meditation is a powerful tool for connecting with our True Nature, our practice can easily devolve into another act of doing, driving us further from our uncontrived state. Where is the peace, presence, and joy of being before we go looking for it? Do we really need rigid meditative techniques to access the truth of ourselves? In this meditation, we will relax mental grasping and fall effortlessly into our natural state.

This meditation exists in four lengths: 3 min, 7 min, 10 min and 20 min and is also available on Insight Timer and the Mindfulness app.

Discover Your True Nature: Self-Inquiry

While moving from ego identification to consciousness is a gift of grace, we can make ourselves grace prone by practicing the ancient art of self-inquiry. One day, through a book, a prayer, or an insight, a brave question is posed: Who am I? Who is this me when I’m not thinking myself into existence? And when we don’t immediately go to the mind for an answer, a space opens up. We may be shocked to discover that there is an awareness here that can witness our thoughts, emotions, and body. This initial step, what some call becoming conscious or aware, is really a foretaste of an ever-deepening realization. In this meditation, we will explore the nature of what we call the ‘self and connect with the truth of what we are, beyond name and form.

return to presence

I invite you to connect with the physical embodiment of your essential nature: the alive field of presence in the body. How does the body experience the mystery that we are? Awaken your inner presence field and explore the three unique signatures of presence: the clear, awake space in the head, the overflowing warmth in the heart, and the dazzling darkness of the belly.

turning towards our wholeness

To know ourselves as whole doesn't require any addition, but the subtracting away of all the limiting beliefs that obscure our vision. In this meditation, we will be guided to follow the thread of longing back from the external world to its primordial origin: the whole, worthy and vital Self at our core.

basking in the inner wellspring of joy

The ultimate ground of our being has been described as sat-chit-ananda or being-consciousness-bliss. Thus, by directing our consciousness into our being, we can open to experience this innate bliss more fully. While the joy of being can be felt throughout the body, it is traditionally associated with the sacral chakra. In Sanskrit, this chakra is referred to as svadhisthana, meaning 'sweetness'. When a plant has deep roots and is well-watered, the fruit is sure to be sweet. Svadhisthana also means ‘one’s own dwelling place' or the sacred abode where we can find ourselves again and again. Please join me in connecting with this ever-present wellspring of joy.

meditations for

emotional and Physical healing

Entering the secret chamber of the heart

After twenty years of meditation and about as much time on the spiritual path, I became desperate enough to pray for peace and love above all things. It was precisely then that I was guided to hold vigil over the spiritual heart, on the right side of the chest - what Ramana Maharshi called the 'seat of consciousness.' The heart is indeed our eternal throne, but it is also a portal into a radically new way of being in the world. It will never be through the mind, but only ever through the heart that our true nature as sat-chit-ananda or being-consciousness-bliss can be known. I invite you to walk through the cosmic doorway and meet me in our inner wellspring- the heart of hearts at the center of all creation.

how to heal emotional complexes

Our technique for healing emotional complexes borrows greatly from the Focusing school of therapy, an incredibly thorough and simple distillation of many somatic healing modalities. We will start by getting bigger than our disowned emotions and then welcoming them through connecting with their felt sense in the body. As we do so, we get calmer, because we're not caught up in the emotional complex. We also get smarter, because we have a larger perspective and are not being run by our emotions. We make better decisions, our relationships improve and we enjoy our lives more.

opening our boundless heart

In this meditation, we will discover what happens when we drop the numbness, armoring, tension, and pain over our hearts and connect with an infinitely spacious openness at its center, capable of holding all of our experiences. By placing our attention on the heart, we can evoke our innate wisdom, warmth, and compassion and reattune to the flow of love as it wishes to move through us and out into the world.

grounding in the earth

In this guided meditation, we will be letting consciousness dissolve into the body in order to receive the fullness of its nourishing support. We will learn to anchor presence in the body to counteract our default tendency to be swept up in limiting mental beliefs. By cultivating a somatic receptivity and grounded sense of security and safety, we will prepare to meet all that arises with greater acceptance, ease, and grace.

releasing ghosts: the empty chair technique

This is a classic Gestalt therapy exercise in which you express your thoughts and feelings as if you were talking to a specific person. Even though they are not present, you direct your words and gestures at an empty chair and imagine that person sitting in it while you talk. This simple approach is designed to allow you to work through interpersonal or internal conflict. The Sedona Method questions at the end of the recording are designed for letting go of any emotions that may be brought up during the exercise and should be answered without much rumination. Either a yes or no answer is fine as simply asking the questions can lead to a profound release. May this offering empower us to meet and release any lingering ghosts of the past.

a love you cannot earn

Many of us are riddled with an insidious feeling of unworthiness, a vague sense that there is something inherently wrong with us. We have been conditioned through millennia to believe that we are broken and separate, spending much of our lives trying to cover up this core wound. This is a beautiful practice intended to restore our sense of wholeness by opening us up to the redemptive love that is our birthright.

happier than your parents

Many patterns of happiness are learned from our parents. As children, we unconsciously limit our happiness to be only as happy as our parents were in an attempt to love them. In this practice, we learn that we can expand our ability to be happy by talking to the soul of each of our parents and asking permission to be happier than they were. Our meditation will end with reparenting our inner child and inquiring into ways we can support their happiness now.

transforming a subpersonality

Our personalities are composed of many parts. The inner critic and inner child are well-known ones, but there are many others: a nurturing self, an obedient self, a rebellious self, a parent-like self, a confident self, a fearful self, a saboteur self, and so on. While helpful in certain situations, they can become utterly destructive when taken to extremes. These personalities are often created when we are younger, to help us cope with challenging life situations. If you feel yourself resisting growth or what you know is good for your soul, it may be time to discover which subpersonality needs to be heard to evolve. When you gain their cooperation, they will transform from resisting your goals to helping you achieve them.

inner child alchemy

Our inner child lives in the subconscious mind and can thus be accessed through the language of the soul, which is composed of myths, images, and symbols. By visually evoking and dialoguing with this younger part of ourselves, we can alchemize limiting beliefs, challenging emotions and physical tension into creativity, joy, and freedom. Are you ready for magical alchemy?

breathe and let go

Our lives reflect both our conscious and subconscious drives, but how can we release what we can't see? Breathwork is a timeless way of accessing our limiting subconscious emotions, thoughts, and energetic blocks and letting them go. Allow this simple but powerful two-step pranayama technique to guide you in releasing what no longer serves you and embodying the freedom that is your birthright.

allowing love to flow to ourselves

If self-judgment is a defense from feeling the emotional pain underneath, then self-love must be the opposite: the willingness to bring awareness to all the parts of ourselves. In this meditation, we will first be generating a stream of love towards a loved one and then turning that same flow towards ourselves. In the words of the late, great Ram Dass: "Consciousness equals awareness which equals love."

I love and accept myself

This practice supports you in letting go of low self-worth to uncover the innate wholeness, self-love, and self-acceptance that has always been here. The Sedona Method questions posed throughout the recording should be answered without much rumination. Either a yes or no answer is fine as simply asking the questions can lead to a profound release.

meditations for

INTUITIVE DEVELOPMENT

allowing life to take care of us

Trusting the goodness of life requires surrender, and surrender requires trust. How then do we make the initial leap of faith? In this meditation, you will be guided to dissolve the boundaries of your small self into the totality of life. By opening to the loving embrace of the universe, you will connect more deeply with the innate wisdom, creativity, and joy of life as it moves through you.

opening to the flow of abudance

This practice allows you to welcome and release all your conflicting thoughts, feelings, and beliefs about money. As we let go of these limiting perspectives, we open more to the universal flow of abundance that is always available. The Sedona Method questions posed throughout the recording should be answered without much rumination. Either a yes or no answer is fine as simply asking the questions can lead to a profound shift in your relationship with money.

embracing not knowing

As a wise teacher once told me, the closer we get to Truth, the closer we get to paradox. One of the deepest paradoxes of life is that the more we let go of pretending to know, the more we connect with the true security of not knowing. As we surrender to the ineffable mystery of life, we find ourselves guided, moment to moment, by a wisdom beyond all-knowing. This practice is meant to serve those in periods of questioning, insecurity, and disorienting transformation.

trusting your heart

With the smorgasbord of spiritual teachings out there, it can be easy to disconnect from the guidance at our very core. This practice is designed to bring you into alignment with the greatest barometer of truth in creation: your own precious heart. Our heart is always speaking to us, guiding us to our deepest fulfillment and fullest expression. But it is up to us to put our ears down close to our chest and listen. And when we listen, we are richly rewarded.

turning towards our wholeness

To know ourselves as a whole doesn't require any addition, but the subtracting away of all the limiting beliefs that obscure our vision. In this meditation, we will be guided to follow the thread of longing back from the external world to its primordial origin: the whole, worthy and vital Self at our core. This offering was inspired by the poetry of Charles Bukowski, a satsang entitled the 'Red Thread of Desire' by Adyashanti, and my own lifelong desire to know myself as a whole.

meditations for

letting go

S.O.S For Releasing Challenging Emotions

In this meditation, we will be practicing Triple Welcoming, a simple and powerful three-step process we can use to release any issue, problem, belief, or feeling. First, we will welcome the issue, then welcome any feelings and wants associated with it, and finally the sense that it’s personal or has anything to do with us. This release can be practiced any time you would like to go from being lost in a painful story or emotional turmoil to resting as the presence, love, and joy that you are. The questions throughout the recording should be answered without much rumination. Either a yes or no answer is fine, as simply asking the questions can lead to a profound release.

Letting Go of Physical Pain

This holistic release is designed to help you dissolve or lessen sensations such as pain and tension in the body. Feel free to focus on any part of your body that is chronically tenser than the other parts or that you’d like to have more relaxed. Holistic Releasing is based on the premise that everything the mind experiences, whether real or imagined, arises in pairs. If we have hot, we have a cold. If we have pain, we also have the absence of pain. In this release, we’ll be alternating back and forth on the different sides of the pain and spaciousness polarity. As we do so, the polarities will gradually dissolve each other and we will be left with greater awareness of the freedom, spaciousness, and presence that we already are.

letting go of control

In this meditation, we will be letting go of trying to control ourselves, other people, and the world around us. As we let go, we feel lighter, freer, and more open. We feel relaxed and at ease, knowing that all is well and everything is unfolding as it should. As we release the illusion of control, we also release manipulation, pushing, fixing, and forcing. We discover that we are still moved to act, but can now do so from a place of peace, harmony, and trust. The questions throughout the recording should be answered without much rumination; either a yes or no answer is fine, as simply asking the questions can lead to a profound release.

letting go of resistance

Have you ever started a project with great fervor only to lose enthusiasm down the road? Resistance is insidious because it's not always conscious, but it can quietly sabotage our life goals. In fact, we often subconsciously resist what we truly want. Similarly, if someone tells us to do something, that will certainly evoke resistance - even if we actually wanted to do it. We simply do not like being told what to do, even by ourselves. Thus, we can benefit from releasing resistance at any point along our spiritual journey. The questions posed throughout the recording should be answered without much rumination. Either a yes or no answer is fine, as simply asking the questions can release resistance and lead to greater freedom.

letting go of judgement

We are programmed to believe that judgments are meaningful and serve a purpose, but all they do is hurt us, hurt others, and keep us tied to the tyrannical voice of the ego. Judgments give the ego a false sense of security and superiority; all they do is eat away at love. In this meditation, we will be witnessing how judgments feel in the body and release them. The Sedona Method poses questions throughout the recording that should be answered without much rumination. Either a yes or no answer is fine, as simply asking the questions can lead to a profound release.

letting go of problems

It's easy to invest emotionally in our problems or to try and make them real as a way of reinforcing our self-identity. While this practice does not undermine the very real stressors in our lives, it does allow us to let go of any subconscious clinging to them. By so doing, it grants us an opportunity to see the perceived issue from a freer vantage point and perhaps to let it go entirely. The Sedona Method release questions throughout the recording should be answered with much rumination; either a yes or no answer is fine as both will lead to greater lightness, clarity, and ease.

letting go of mistakes

In this meditation, we will be letting go of perceived mistakes as well as the subconscious expectation of repeating them again. We talk about learning from our mistakes, yet we often don't because we're trying not to make the same mistake again, which is simply holding it in mind. The mind does not translate "never" or "not" or "don’t" so when we're telling ourselves that we don't want to repeat a mistake, the mind is simply picturing us doing it again. The questions throughout the recording should be answered without much rumination. Either a yes or no answer is fine, as simply asking the questions can lead to a profound release of the emotional pain caused by our perceived errors.

let go and be free

At the highest level that can be expressed in words, we can say that consciousness alone exists. Yet, since our egos are convinced that we need the effort to become what we already are, we can conjure up a process to exhaust the seeking mind. In this practice, we will be letting go of the four linchpins keeping our egoic resistance in place; the drives for approval, control, security, and separation. As we let them go, we create space to embody our ever-present true self; always whole and already free. The Sedona Method questions throughout the recording should be answered without much rumination. Either a yes or no answer is fine as simply asking the questions can lead to a profound release.

letting go of apathy

This is the first session in a series of six releases on letting go of the six core emotional states (Apathy, Grief, Fear, Lust, Anger and Pride). The biggest stumbling block on the initial part of our awakening journey is apathy. While a sense of futility or stagnation can pop up at any point, these states are particularly potent when we first set foot on the path. Thus, in these earlier stages, we simply need to make a tremendous leap of faith. We need to cut through inertia, doubt, and resistance and allow ourselves to blossom.

letting go of grief

This is the second session in a series of six releases on letting go of the six core emotional states (Apathy, Grief, Fear, Lust, Anger, and Pride). The common theme behind grief is the dawning awareness of our collective programming. While some of our conditioning predates this life, our upbringing and our social and cultural conditioning play a significant role. In order to fully individuate and bring forth the fullest expression of our gifts, we need to de-condition from these limiting imprints. And because the stories of lack, fear, or disempowerment fueling grief don’t vary too much from person to person, as we free ourselves, we extend the same possibility to others.

letting go of fear

This is the third session in a series of six releases on letting go of the six core emotional states (Apathy, Grief, Fear, Lust, Anger, and Pride). As this sinking from the head to the heart deepens, the ego grows increasingly frightened. To safeguard itself, it begins telling us that living from our heart is dangerous and reckless. As we let go of fear, we connect more deeply with the wisdom of our hearts. We step more fully into a willingness to take ownership of how we perceive the world. We can’t hold on to our biases, our conditioning, our resistance, and try to find freedom. The only freedom that ultimately exists is freedom from our own distorted lenses of perception and the illusory sense of fear they engender.

letting go of lust

This is the fourth session in a series of six releases on letting go of the six core emotional states (Apathy, Grief, Fear, Lust, Anger, and Pride). Beneath all of the ego’s seeking is a denial of this moment as it is. As we learn to rest more and more in our inner state of peace, our minds begin to slow down and wise up to the trap we are endlessly being lulled into: the perpetual motion machine of desire. There is nothing wrong with having desires or fulfilling them, but we suffer tremendously when we look for True Nature in them. When we let go of the lust energy that underlies these thoughts, we give ourselves a chance to drop into the quieter but more profound contentment that is available now.

letting go of anger

This is the fifth session in a series of six releases on letting go of the six core emotional states (Apathy, Grief, Fear, Lust, Anger, and Pride). As we open more to living from the presence, our ego lashes out. Our attack thoughts, whether geared towards ourselves or others, can go into full force at this time. We lose the false sense of security that being somebody promised us. We also lose the ability to manipulate, control, or should ourselves and others. Our ego is not ready to let go and has no intent on doing so. All of our upsets can be boiled down to the ego fighting for its very existence. Thus, letting go of this anger and the urge to attack is a key part of our liberation.

letting go of pride

This is the final session in a series of six releases on letting go of the six core emotional states (Apathy, Grief, Fear, Lust, Anger, and Pride). As we awaken, the ego can continue to co-opt the light we’ve discovered to prevent our full liberation. A rigid sense of pride may kick in as we start to feel ‘spiritually accomplished’ or superior to others. Arrogance is insidious because it can attach to other emotions as well; we may be prideful about our grief or righteous in our anger. The cosmic joke is that we are no more holy or special than anyone else. It is only the ego that would see this quiet redemption as lacking and try to drum up artificial excitement. Pride about how far we’ve come only keeps us stuck where we are.