Preparing for Meditation

This week, I would like to share some thoughts on meditation, along with a guided imagery. To prepare for meditation, you may wish to do some yoga stretches to loosen your muscles and tendons before sitting. Find a comfortable place to sit where you won't be interrupted for at least 15 minutes. You may choose to sit on the floor or in a chair. It is important that your back be straight so all your organs can align in their right and proper places and the energy of life can move freely with your breath.

We come to meditation for the purpose of establishing our conscious union with God. To begin, you may choose to play soft music or read something inspirational to quiet your mind. With eyes half-closed, find a gazing point in front of you. The imagery for this week is of a garden. It is a beautiful flower garden, ado
ed with all your favorite flowers and trees and shrubs.

There may be butterflies and birds in your garden, perhaps a bird bath or babbling brook. This is your garden, so imagine it however you like it. Now imagine yourself as a young child, a happy child, full of joy and laughter. See your young self enjoying the garden. Enjoy the beauty of it, the wonder of it, the smells of it, and the radiance of it. Explore your garden with the interest and exuberance of you as a joyful child.

You may begin to realize you are the child and you are the garden. You are both and all in this moment of concentration and contemplation. You, the child, now chooses a particular flower in the garden and focuses on it. You find that you become one with the flower and the child beholding the flower. A butterfly lights on the flower. You are one with the butterfly, even as you are one with the flower and the child.

What joy and peace you feel at the recognition of oneness with all things in the garden. Take your time, move slowly through the garden, noticing the flowers, the trees, perhaps a turtle or a frog, maybe baby birds, or an earthworm. Whatever is growing and living in your garden is also growing in your awareness. Pause here for some time in the silence of the garden.

When it seems appropriate, or when your mind grows tired of focusing, tell your garden and your child good-bye for now. Thank them for being there for you and with you. You promise to visit again soon. Gently begin to return to the time and place where your body resides by wiggling fingers and toes and lengthening and deepening your breath.

Refreshed and awake, you continue on with your day, carrying the peace and joy you found in the garden with you.