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Hope Guided Meditation w/ Dr Michael Sapiro - Connecting Minds Podcast image

Hope Guided Meditation w/ Dr Michael Sapiro - Connecting Minds Podcast

Connecting Minds
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117 Plays5 years ago

This Hope guided meditation is from the end of our conversation on the last episode of the Connecting Minds podcast. 

Enjoy!

Watch the full episode in video: https://youtu.be/NL6STpEe6RY

Shownotes here:  https://christianyordanov.com/07-michael-sapiro/

It's a great honour and privilege to present our guest today, Dr Michael Sapiro. We talk about why we suffer and how to use his ACORNS methodology to help us through it. We end the episode with Michael's Hope guided meditation!

Michael Sapiro, PsyD, is a clinical psychologist, Dharma teacher, writer, meditation researcher, and former Buddhist monk. He is on faculty at Esalen Institute, is a Fellow at the Institute of Noetic Sciences, and is completing a study on time travel, hope, and love with Dr. Julia Mossbridge of The Institute for Love and Time. Dr. Sapiro completed his postdoctoral fellowship in advanced psychology at the Boise VA Medical Center where he specialized in rural health, PTSD, and combat trauma. Dr. Sapiro is often on podcasts, and teaches nationally on the art and science of transformation, expanded human capabilities, self-care, and nondual meditation for personal and community growth. His work integrates meditation practices, psychology, noetic sciences, and social justice, and is dedicated to personal awakening for the sake of collective and planetary transformation. He can be found at michaelsapiro.com.

Links to Michael’s resources and social media: 

Website: https://www.michaelsapiro.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr_mike_boise/

Guided meditations: https://www.michaelsapiro.com/resources/#meditations

Link to essay mentioned: https://medium.com/@drmichaelsapiro/down-play-or-walk-away-how-my-dog-socialized-me-to-be-wiser-and-kinder-during-covid-19-5b06bfc0ea0a

Topics discussed on this episode:

  • Mike’s background and the work he does as a clinician and researcher.
  • The non-dual teaching.
  • Why are humans suffering so much? Craving, contention, ignorance.
  • Recognition is a medicine.
  • Practicing love, compassion and forgivess is an antidote to contention, anger and hatred.
  • What are our true needs that our destructive behaviours are trying to fulfil?
  • Self-awareness is the first step.
  • ACORNS: From Awareness to Action – An awareness and compassion-based model for living a life of wisdom and ease
  • Awareness
  • Calm
  • Open-hearted
  • Reflect – clarity of situation, what needs are not being met?
  • Now what? Ready to problem solve..
  • Skillful action – take the action you just discerned as wise
  • Applying ACORNS to tough issues such as grief, loss of a loved one, or our own mortality.
  • The power of loving kindness.
  • Psychedelics can give us a glimpse into the oneness that we all are.
  • Individual awakening and the radiating presence and love it brings facilitates healing and transformation for others.
  • The Bodhisattva vow.
  • We end with the Hope Guided Meditation.
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Transcript

Settling into relaxation

00:00:00
Speaker
I invite you to find a comfortable position to sit in, shoulders back and down. Let your body begin to rest onto or into whatever is supporting it. And this is a good time for us all as a group to take a deep breath and sigh.
00:00:33
Speaker
Take another deep breath in and sigh. So rest your mind and your body as the body rests on the chair, the couch. Bring your mind's attention into the body from the inside out.

Body awareness and sensation focus

00:01:05
Speaker
Drop your mind into your body as if getting into a warm tub or under the covers. Bring your mind's attention to the chest or the heart area and feel the body around your attention.
00:01:45
Speaker
Bring your attention closer to the skin where the air touches skin. And feel the pocket of air around the body.
00:02:20
Speaker
Just feel the body's experience, shimmering, shaking, cool, hot, all the sensations of the body. And now bring your attention back inward toward the breath.
00:02:48
Speaker
Begin to soften and slow the breath. And tell yourself mentally slow and steady. Slow and steady.
00:03:17
Speaker
Feel the breath through the nose, throat, lungs into the belly. Notice as the breath goes from the belly, lungs, throat, and out the nose. And just breathe slow and steady into the body.
00:03:56
Speaker
soft, slow breath. As the mind wanders, as it tends to do, gently bring your attention back to the body breathing.
00:04:29
Speaker
And now bring your attention up to the mind. Imagine sitting in the mind, looking out toward the eyes, toward the infinite space of imagination, keeping your breath slow and steady.

Empathy and love for past self

00:04:42
Speaker
And in your mind, imagine a time in your past, it could be two days ago, a week or some years, where you were struggling, you were challenged. Don't go to your worst memory, just something where you were struggling.
00:05:02
Speaker
And picture yourself. What were you feeling? What was your experience like then? And imagine yourself looking at you now from the past looking here, looking at one another.
00:05:34
Speaker
And in your mind, tell yourself, I see you. I'm sorry it was so difficult. I'm sorry it was so hard. I'm here for you. And imagine loving on yourself
00:06:03
Speaker
in any way that you'd like. How would you show yourself love? What messages do you have for your past self?
00:06:33
Speaker
And feel your body's response now here as you offer yourself love. So say goodbye to the past self. And come back into this present moment, the body breathing.

Gaining insight from future self

00:07:07
Speaker
And now pivot toward the future in your mind. Imagine a time in the future, days from now, weeks, months, or years. Well beyond your experience now. See if you can imagine your future self. What are you doing? The best version of yourself.
00:07:36
Speaker
The self that has been through so many experiences and challenges and is wise and healthy. Imagine that self looking back on you now here. What does that self have to say to you?
00:08:14
Speaker
Imagine that self looking at you, radiating love back to you here. So say goodbye to the future self and return to the present where the body is breathing.
00:08:43
Speaker
And just rest in the present moment.

Returning to present and mindfulness

00:09:08
Speaker
Just feel the loving presence of awareness
00:09:15
Speaker
your own spacious awareness. And take a deep breath here. Exhale slowly. Another deep breath. Exhale slowly.
00:09:46
Speaker
And without losing this embodied mindfulness, gently open the eyes. So for those of you still with us, this was a good time to just reflect a little bit on what you saw, felt, learned, if anything,
00:10:15
Speaker
Take notes, journal, take a few moments to be with yourself before rushing back into doing. Just take some time to be. Be present. It's a precious opportunity to be with yourself. And if you'd like, extend this kind of attention, loving attention toward others you meet today.
00:10:43
Speaker
Thank you for practicing. I hope you enjoyed it.