A Guided Meditation for Healing His compassions never fail; They are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness! (Lamentations 3:22-23) Let’s begin by realizing that the mind controls the body. Flex your right arm, if you will, then hold it to a count to five. 1-2-3-4-5. Now, relax it. Your mind caused your arm to flex, then it caused it to relax. Your mind knows how to do all sorts of things. Your conscious mind may not be aware of all those things. But your mind knows how to do them. It knows how to regulate your heartbeat and breathing, for instance. It knows when and how to digest food. Sometimes that’s not so easy. You don’t exactly give your mind the best food to work with, do you? But the old mind keeps plugging away. One thing we all know: the more relaxed we are, the better our mind works. Lots of football teams are good during the regular season. When the playoffs come and the pressure mounts, though, they fall apart. Why? Are they different players in the playoffs? No. It’s the tension. They can’t just relax and play in the playoffs the way they do in the regular season. Champions keep cool. So today practice keeping cool. It’s not so hard to do, really. Your mind already knows how to do it. It knew how to relax your arm, after you gave it the order to flex. Relaxation is getting out of the way. It is letting the mind do what it already knows how to do. It is using a gift God gives to let us live free, peaceful, meaningful lives. So let’s begin again. Sit back in your chair. Make yourself as comfortable as you can. Become aware of the way your breath flows in and out. Hear the sounds in the room . . . Allow the muscles in your face to relax . . . Feel yourself become calm, like a clear mountain lake on a quiet, cool day. Now imagine yourself floating gently with the current in the lake, perfectly still and serene. The current carries you toward the most beautiful, peaceful place you can imagine. The farther it carries you, the more peaceful you become. Let that peace deepen until it fills you completely. Let it increase with each number, as you count slowly 1-2-3-4-5. Right. Now you might feel yourself very relaxed. You might say to yourself, ‘Yeah, this is all right.’ It feels good. Yet it’s going to feel even better. First, though, count to five and bring yourself back up to normal awareness. Reestablish contact with the “normal” world. But don’t worry about a thing. We’ ll get even more relaxed afterwards. Here we go, coming back up. 1-2-3-4-5. Now, you’re here again. Take a deep breath. Look around. Then settle back in your chair. Let yourself relax again. You find that your body immediately reaches the level of relaxation it had before. Now you can go even deeper. Imagine now that there’s a beautiful, peaceful light, shining right above the top of your head. Your eyes may roll up ever so slightly to see it. In your mind you see it. It is incredibly beautiful, incredibly peaceful. You know that as soon as it touches you, your whole mind and body will be filled with light. You know it’s not just any old light. It’s the Light, the Light of the world. The Light begins to move. It touches the very top of your head. There might be a slight quiver, a little tingle, as it begins to move. It touches the muscles in the top of your head, moving down to your forehead. Your forehead may be a little tight, a little tense, but the light gently warms it. The light gently relaxes. It moves down into the muscles of your face – your eyes, your temples, your cheeks, your lips. It moves into your mouth. Your tongue relaxes, unclenches from the roof of your mouth. Then the light moves into your jaw and into the muscles of your neck and shoulders. From there, it passes down your upper arms to your elbows. It moves into your forearms and the wrists of both arms. So peaceful. So relaxed. It moves through your hands to your fingers, down to the very tips of your fingers. The light now moves down from your shoulders into your upper body, front and back. The chest muscles relax. Breathing becomes just right, just what it needs to be. The light moves into you stomach. It relaxes the muscles of your lower back. It gently reaches into your hips and through them into your thighs. Those large muscles relax. They’re so peaceful. The light moves into your knees, down into your lower legs. Your calves relax, your ankles, your feet. It moves slowly down your feet, soothing, relaxing. It reaches your toes, then moves to the very tips of your toes. Your whole body, from the top of your head to the tips of your fingers and toes, is filled with this wonderful, relaxing, healing light. It feels so good. You may say to yourself, ‘I could stay here a good long while!’ And it gets even better. Get ready to count from 1 to 5 again. With each number, let the light rise from the tips of your toes, where it now is, all the way through your body, to the very top of your head, then back down. Each time it passes up and down, you will relax twice as much. You will feel so peaceful, so at ease. 1 . . . up to the top, then back down. Such peace. 2 . . . up again, and down. Yes. 3 . . . moving as naturally as your breath. Your mind knows just how to heal your body. 4 . . . the light touches any place inside that needs healing. That’s right. 5 . . . up, then down again. You are in a place of great peace. Such peace. Such stillness. “Be still,” the Lord says, “and know that I am God.” Relax in that stillness for a few moments. Let yourself enjoy. Now. I know how peaceful it is there. Yet let’s come back up to the ordinary for a moment. Don’t worry. We only come back up so we can go even deeper into God’s peace. Count to five. As you do so, come back to ordinary awareness. Now, take a deep breath. Look around. Get comfortable in your seat. Okay. Now, let yourself pass all the way back into that sense of peace. It’s much easier to do now. Your mind already knows the way. Deep, deep, into peace, into stillness, into such wonderful relaxation. Count to 5 and let your peace become even deeper than before. Now, see yourself in front of a beautiful building. It has white marble walls. The light sparkles out of it. There are steps leading through perfect, white columns. Inside the building you see a beautiful glow of rainbow color. You see the colors of the sunset – pink, purple, blue, all the shades of gold. You know this is no ordinary building. You just pause a moment outside, soaking up the purity, the peace, the beauty. You hear a loving voice say, “The Lord is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him.” That’s where you are. You are at the entry of God’s holy temple. You feel so much at home there. You feel so welcome there. Such incredible love is there. You know it’s perfectly okay for you to go in. You begin to walk up those steps. Each step you take, you feel more and more love. Take each step lovingly, knowing each step is holy. Now you are on the main floor. You see God’s throne, beautiful and brilliant. You see the rainbow light filling the Temple. And you see God. You never imagined God was so beautiful! Your eyes meet. You never knew anyone could love you so much! One look is enough! And God invites you to come near. You come near. Each step the love, the awe, the peace, fills you more and more. You know God knows everything about you. Yet you feel only peace, only love. You come closer. There are five steps up to where God sits on the throne. You climb the steps slowly. You feel incredible awe. You kneel. God takes you into God’s arms. The very touch fills your whole being with healing. You melt into God’s embrace. You enjoy. You feel such peace. Just stay there a moment or two. Now you hear a peaceful voice saying, “What is it that needs healing, child?” You answer, in the silence of your heart . . . God hears. God’s hands touch the top of your head. You feel God’s love flowing through you. You feel God’s love taking root deep inside you. You feel old hurts beginning to heal. You feel old pain beginning to dry up and blow away, like leaves in the wind. God gives you a wonderful gift. God says, “I have placed my healing love inside you. My healing love works through you to heal you. My healing love works inside you, even when you are not aware of it. My healing love works from this place of peace. Day by day, my healing love makes you better and better.” Such peace! You know the words are true. You pause a moment. You let that healing love begin to work. You know you can trust it. You trust it the way you trust that the sun will come up in the morning. You just know. It feels so good. Let that healing love work inside you now . . . And now it’s time to come back into the world. It’s so peaceful where you are. You know you don’t want to go. Yet you know you can always come back here. You know the way now. You know God’s healing love goes with you wherever you go. So you say your goodbyes to God for now. You want to say thanks, but you know God already knows. God knows how thankful you are. You feel such peace. You feel a gentle Spirit lifting you up. It carries you back from the throne. You feel perfectly content, perfectly safe, in the Spirit. The Spirit carries you outside. The Temple disappears as the Spirit carries you into the clouds. Your peace and joy only deepens. You feel yourself coming back to this place. The Spirit says ‘I will count to 5. When I get to 5, you will be back in your everyday life. Yet you will remember the peace. God’s healing love will work in you. God’s light will shine through you to others. And you can come back here anytime you need to. 1 . . . You begin coming back. The peace, the joy, seem even deeper. 2 . . . God’s healing love is solving any issue you may have inside. You will find the solution you need, when you need it most. 3 . . . Your mind is even better now at finding peace, finding healing. 4 . . . You’re almost back. Yet you realize that God’s incredible love is still with you. 5 . . . Back here, fully aware, and you find yourself once again in this room, ready to live God’s love. Amen. John Cunyus is a freelance writer based in Dallas, Texas. His work may be viewed online at www. JohnCunyus.com ©2006, John G. Cunyus All Rights Reserved. |