(gentle music)
- [Instructor] With this guided meditation script,
we will learn The Mother Meditation
which is a classic Tibetan Buddhist compassion practice.
(inspiring music)
So before we begin,
it's helpful to get grounded by noticing
how we've brought mindful awareness so far to our day.
Check in with how you're feeling
right here and now in the heart,
the mind, body, and breath.
What's the energy like in your environment,
the space around you?
And then bring to mind why it is that you chose this topic,
The Mother Meditation.
What was it that drew you in,
and do you already have certain expectations
or positive or negative stories
that you're telling yourself regarding the topic?
Notice how you feel right now, physically in your body,
and notice any emotions that are present or arising.
Remember that many others are feeling
the same way that you are,
and remember that all of this could change at any moment.
So we'll keep this in mind as we go through the meditation,
and then also we'll keep in mind
how it is that we might apply
what we learn here today in this practice
to our day-to-day life.
So we'll begin with The Mother Meditation.
Sit comfortably in a quiet place
where you can be free from distraction.
As you breathe out, let your hips feel heavy in your seat,
and as you breathe in, feel a subtle sense of lifting
up through the crown of your head, sitting taller.
Let breath guide you into a natural
and neutral position with your spine.
Stay present with breath as you close your eyes
and breathe gently, slowly, and quietly
in and out through your nose.
Allow for the energy around you and within you to settle,
and yet at the same time notice an alert awareness,
clarity, a luminosity,
and as you sit here with breath,
open the mind to the possibility
that you've been here before.
Open to the possibility
that you have lived countless past lives,
infinite past lives,
and in each of these past lives, you had a mother,
meaning you've had infinite past mothers, infinite,
and so it would only make sense
that of all the beings now in this world
each one of them has at one time been your mother.
Maybe in a past life,
maybe in the last life,
maybe in a life 1 million years ago,
but everyone,
everyone, if you've lived infinite past lives,
and they have too,
everyone has at one point been your mother,
and as your mother,
these beings have cared for you.
Every single one of them has cared for you,
loved you, cherished you.
These mothers spent several months of their own lives
carrying you through discomfort in body and mind,
through all sorts of hardships.
They did their very best to ensure your healthy birth,
and then once you arrived in this world
as a helpless, completely dependent human child,
your mothers, because of their love for you,
fed you from their own body,
kept you warm and swaddled you,
soothed you, and held you.
Each of your mothers did their best to ensure your survival.
As you grew older,
your mothers taught you so many things.
How to feed yourself, how to dress,
how to tie your shoes, how to speak.
Every part of who you are today
is thanks to your mothers.
It's thanks to your mothers who did everything they could do
with what they knew and with what they had available
to ensure your success.
So open yourself to a deep sense of gratitude
for the care, and kindness,
and love of your countless mothers,
and then notice how your mothers,
everyone you see around you today,
notice how each of them are hurting in some way.
Just like you, your mothers experience hardship and pain.
They live in this samsaric existence
unsure of where to turn for help,
making mistakes that cause them future suffering.
But here you are.
Meditating, learning and growing.
Becoming more mindful, more aware,
and more openhearted with every breath.
If there's anyone that can save
all your mothers from their pain, it is you.
So open yourself, again, to that deep feeling of gratitude,
gratitude for your mother, aware that everyone you see
in this world was once your mother,
and as your mother sacrificed so much for you,
gave you so much love,
and because of your deep sense of heartfelt gratitude,
generate a wish.
Generate the wish that you could repay your mothers.
Repay them for their kindness.
Repay them for their unconditional love and their care,
and understand that there's no one
more capable of carrying out this wish than you are.
You can be the one to repay all your mothers.
You could be the one to lead them home
away from their pain and suffering.
You could be the one to show them
what a world of compassionate, loving, caring,
and kind people looks like.
You could be the one to show them
how to walk this path towards freedom.
So say the following wish silently to yourself.
May I be the one
to repay all my mothers for their compassion,
their kindness, and their love.
Not just thinking this wish with your head,
but feeling it within your heart, within your body.
Feel this wish in your heart, in your body,
this wish of gratitude.
Your heart full of kindness,
your heart full of infinite love.
May I be the one
to repay all my mothers for their compassion,
their kindness, and their love.
And then carry that wish
in your body,
in your heart,
in the breath itself, and in your mind,
committing to act upon this wish
to treat everyone you meet with loving kindness,
and then slowly open your eyes.