Stilla Meditation

Our mind is preconditioned to focus on the negative and uncomfortable. It's a good survival mechanism that works well. But it can become a little much some times and we forget to enjoy what is there to enjoy. In this session we experiment if it is possible to enjoy comfortable sensations in our body.

If you were an alien from outer space and your consciousness was magically beamed into this human body. How would you experience your body then? In this meditation we focus on beginners mind by experiencing the body as for the first time.

Gratitude can be found in the smallest of things, but some times it can be difficult to connect with gratitude. One trick is to imagine what your life would look like without the thing you want to be grateful for. For example the breath. What would it be like if you couldn't take your next breath? If your next exhalation would be your last. Very soon you would experience panic and within just...

You don't need to do anything to experience what is already here, because it's already here. In this meditation we play with just allow what is already here simply be as it already is.

You are not your body. You are not your opinions. You are not how much money you have in the bank. You are not your achievements. You are not your name. You are not you age. You are not your place of birth. You are not... so many things that you often take yourself to be. In this meditation we explore what it is that you are.

Turn towards what is already here, in your body and in your mind. Hold it close and intimate. Make yourself soft towards it and let it in. Let it touch you. Love it if possible. This is not a metaphor or a poem. It's a manual, an accurate description of how to feel what you are feeling.

Counting the breath gives the mind something to do while meditating. This makes it easier to stay present and aware instead of drifting off into distractions.

You carry many labels and rolls that you take to be who you are, such as your job-title, your relationships (mother, brother, friend), your opinions, your beliefs and your body. But beyond all of that there is the fundamental truth that you Are. You exist. Completely independent of all of those labels. In this meditation we explore the subjective experience of "I am"-ness.

After only a short time without the breath, nothing would be as important to you as taking the next breath. In this session we practice receiving the breath as the precious gift that it is.

It touches me to think about the gentleness of awareness, how it holds everything in its silence, without discriminating or pushing anything away. This is love.

The Vietnamese Zen master, Thich Nhat Hanh, remind us to sit with a half smile. Just like our posture, our facial expression affect the mood chemistry in our body and can help us embody a soft, calm and open attitude. In this meditation we experiment with that as we scan through the body.

The body is always in the present moment. Resting in it by simply allowing it to be as it is can be a great way to restore your energy.

The more we try to be peaceful the more we stir the water of the mind and the less peaceful we will be. By just letting go we find the peace that is already there in the background already.

We can use the breath to better feel the body and also to help the body relax. This is what we try in this session.

In this session we go over the whole body, relaxing each part and towards the end we fill it up with new energy with restorative breathing.

Kindness is such a powerful antidote to stress and self criticism. Most of us have an inner voice that can be quite harsh and if we would hear someone speak like that to someone we cared about we would stand up and defend them. But for some reason it is more difficult when it comes to ourselves. Today we practice kindness as a counter weight to this harsh inner voice.

Meditation can be a bit of a paradox, because we clearly practice in order to get something. To feel more calm, have more peace of mind, deal better with anxiety or stress. And at the same time, the practice itself is about Not trying to achieve anything specific or get anywhere. Inner peace arises on it's own when we stop trying to achieve it.

The body carries our history, both the good and the bad. This can lead to tensions that we carry around. In this session we scan the body and help it relax by reminding it that it is safe and ok to do so.

At the ground of our experience there is the silence of awareness. It surrounds everything and permeates everything. Let's rest in it.

When we practise coming back to presence again and again we strengthen it becomes easier to do during our day and with time our thoughts become less sticky.

By practicing body scan you will become better with noticing the signals that you body is sending you. In this way you can become more aware about what you want and need so you can act in alignment with yourself.

Many of us have a tendency to make ourselves smaller than what we are. In this meditation we play with occupying a bit more of our inner space in the room, paradoxically.

Awareness is like a blank canvas where all of our experiences show up. In this meditation we notice the breath moving in this space of awareness.

If your body is working reasonably well, you have so much to be grateful for. In this meditation we scan through the body and give it some well needed appreciation for all that it is doing for us.

Nurturing an inner atmosphere of compassion and kindness by meeting the breath and whatever comes up with an inner smile.