This meditation uses the breath and the word Peace in a contemplative way.

As we say the word and breathe, our awareness contemplates its meaning.

And over some time, we may find many meanings arising.

We welcome them all.

And find our way back to the bigger holding space that exists within each of us.

· Take a moment to settle into your body. Finding a way to sit or even lie down.
· And begin to scan through your body, noticing the sensations that are present now,
· Maybe there is some tightness or tension that you notice, or other sensations …warmth, coolness, tingling, maybe areas of pain or areas that are feeling free and light,
· As you continue to scan your body, let this be an invitation to arrive fully into your body
· And take 3 deeper breaths in and out
· What is the pace of your breath? Is it slow or fast? Is it deep or shallow?
· Where do you feel your breath the strongest?
· In your nostrils, or your chest, or in your abdomen? Or all over?
· Wherever you feel the breath the most distinctly, direct your attention there. And simply be with your breath.
· (few moments of just observing your breath)
· Begin to move your attention down to the center of your chest- as you rest your awareness in this center
· Quietly, inwardly say the word Peace, Peace, Peace….
· Breathe in – mentally saying Peace
· And then Breathe out -mentally saying the word Peace
· Continue with this for some time
· Inhale Peace – Exhale Peace
· (spend a few moments here inhaling/peace – exhaling/peace)
· You may find as you say the word Peace – things begin to arise in your awareness about Peace
· Welcome anything that arises
· Emotions may come, thoughts may come, body sensations may come, images may come
· Allow yourself to notice, feel, and recognize and then come back to the breath –
· Inhale Peace – Exhale Peace
· As you continue with this – begin to tune into a stillness at the center of your being that is holding all that arises with love
· A loving observer that is the witness to your experience
· (Pause)
· When you are ready, let go of the word Peace. Let go of the breath.
· Now sense your ears and listen to the sounds in the environment – sounds close in and far away
· (Pause)
· Then feel your body again sitting here – notice the places where your body connects to the ground beneath you, where you contact the seat you are sitting on
· As you feel ready, slowly open your eyes and just look around the room for a moment.

This meditation came to me through a variety of sources. In most recent years, I re-learned it from Kenneth Sorenson, a Psychosynthesis Psychologist practitioner and teacher.

It is very brief. Feel free to add it into you already established meditation practice or use it as a way to strengthen and/or develop particular beneficial qualities.

My suggestion is to use this practice with one quality for a given time period. Until you feel that that quality has strengthen. Then feel free to tune in again and see if another quality emerges.

I have practiced this meditation for years and have found many different qualities that I have needed at different stages of my life.

I hope you find it as supportive as I have.

Let’s begin

• Take a comfortable seat or you can lie down for this meditation.

• Once you get settled, close your eyes and deepen your breath.

• Taking some slower and deeper breaths in and out.

• As you breathe, bring your attention to the middle of your chest. Maybe even placing your hands there one on top of the other to sense this area more strongly.

• Take a moment to just feel the center of the chest area as warm and open. Breathing here for a moment or two.

• Now visualize a sun in this middle chest area. A bright, luminous radiant sun warming and brightening this area.

• As you imagine this sun here radiating, think about a positive quality that you most need right now. It could be integrity, courage, love, inspiration, peace, joy…whatever you feel you could use the most in your life right now.

• Continue to breathe deeply as you imagine this bright luminous healing sun in the center of your chest and tuning into the quality you chose. Realizing that this sun has the ability to transmit this quality to you.

• You may begin to feel chosen quality as a gentle energy inside of you. At first this may be subtle but with daily practice it can become stronger and more available.

• Stay here as long as you like maybe even moving from here into a longer meditation.

• When you are ready, open your eyes.

One of my favorite meditations practices to do in the Winter season is a meditation incorporating the Gayatri Mantra, one of the oldest mantras of the Vedas.

Gayatri means “she who protects”. It is a reference to the Divine Mother, who offers her guidance and protection to all of us as her “children”. The Gayatri Mantra is a chant and an invocation of light and illumination. It is to be a request to align our own intelligence with this luminous, inspired presence . The mantra is said to vitalize our life force in its fullest expression in body and mind. It can support vibrancy, confidence, inner and outer strength, creativity and deep devotion. The Gayatri Mantra can help us transition from darkness to light.

Mantras are used for many reasons. They are used for healing, for protecting, for inspiration and for both calling in a particular energy or for clearing energy. My own experience with the Gayatri Mantra is so positive that I have shared it often with many yoga students throughout the years as an important aspect of their ongoing yoga path.

“Om I meditate on the radiant and most venerable light of the Divine from which issues forth the triple world – the bhu, bhuvah, and svah – earth, ether and Cosmos (heaven). May the Divine light illuminate and guide my intelligence.”

There are many beautiful translations of the above. Here are a couple of my favorite ones:

The eternal, earth, air, heaven
That glory, that resplendence of the sun
May we contemplate the brilliance of that light
May the sun inspire our minds.
-Translated by Douglas Brooks

Everything on the earth
In between, and above
Is arising from one effulgent source.
If my thoughts, words and deeds
Reflected this complete understanding of unity,
I would be the peace I am seeking in this moment.
-Translated by Donna Farhi

Instructions for meditation:

• Chant the Gayatri Mantra 3 times; out loud is preferable.
• As the sound fades…. tune in to your breath….and begin to visualize a golden
  orb…like the sun… way above you….shining its radiant light downward …. feeling that golden light flow into the crown of your head.
•  As you continue to breathe in this light, see it flow down the center and into your third eye ….seeing it’s radiant essence there…. and then allowing this light to travel slowly down to the center of the chest into the Heart region.
• There, feel the golden rays of the sun spreading out through your whole body and mind…as a Blessing of Vitality, Joy and Peace. Breathe that light into every part of your body, your being. Imagine its radiance even spreading outward into your Aura.
• Give a moment of thanks to all of the ancient ones who have given us these
  sacred teachings.
• Then, at the center of this golden orb, which rests at the Anahata chakra (heart
  center), begin to mentally repeat the gayatri mantra. Recite it as if the sound is
  emanating from your heart which has merged with that luminous light. Sense the mantra, the light and your heart center as one. From there, let the sounds of the syllables resound in your entire being.
• You can mentally (inwardly) chant the mantra with this heart center focus a few
  times…then be quiet and just focus on breath and being. Then repeat if you feel
  moved to. Going back and forth from saying the chant and sitting quietly and
  absorbing the effects.
• Then release the chanting and just rest in the awareness of your breath and the
  stillness.