Host Lola Wright leads you on a guided meditation on appreciation.
“Allow yourself to feel the good that is here now.”
To financially support the on-going availability of our live events, classes and this very podcast, visit us bodhicenter.org/giving, or text GIVE to 773-770-8577. No contribution is too small and no contribution is too large.
For more information on Bodhi Center, please visit us at bodhicenter.org.
For more information on Lola Wright, please visit her at lolawright.com.
Transcript
This podcast is electronically transcribed. Please excuse any errors or omissions.
Lola Wright: House of Bodhi with Lola Wright will be at City Winery in Chicago’s West loop neighborhood on Tuesday, February 4th. Start off the new year with a powerful and inspiring experience of community. An experience of moving your body, stirring your soul, provoking your mind. It’s an experience with phenomenal music provided by the Bodhi House Band. Always incredible guests that come through and an inspiring message by me. House of Bodhi really is a loving nudge so that you and I can shift out of our fear-based patterns of scarcity, lack and limitation, into higher sates of consciousness where freedom, creativity and the aliveness are renewed. Order your tickets now at bodhicenter.org. I look forward to seeing you soon.
Lola Wright: Hello! Welcome to, And This Is Bodhi. I’m your host, Lola Wrght. All of this month we are on a short break between seasons one and two of the show. During this break, I’ll be sharing shorter meditation episodes with you here every Wednesday. We’ll be back in February with more interviews, talks from me and so much goodness. Speaking of which, this is a great time for you to help us shape what’s to come. I’d love to hear from you. Send me an email at podcast@bodhicenter.org. What are you struggling with? What are you navigating through? How can this best serve you?
Lola Wright: Alright, so I’m very grateful to be here with you. Very grateful to enter into a practice of meditation. This practice is intended to be very accessible for you. If you are new to the practice of meditation, you need not to worry. So with that in mind, I just invite you to take a deep breath, find yourself in a comfortable position.
Lola Wright: I encourage you to sit up straight within an erect spine and a supportive seat. Begin to bring your awareness to your breath. Still your body. Close your eyes. Create some spaciousness between your ear lobes and your shoulders, allowing your shoulders to fall, your belly to soften, perhaps placing your hands in the open and receptive position in your lap.
Lola Wright: For today’s meditation, I want to invite you into the practice of appreciation. So often we’re accustomed to experiencing appreciation in relationship to an object, usually outside of ourselves. In today’s practice, I want to encourage you to sense in to the experience of appreciation that is available to you at the center of your being. Without any stimulus, without any object. You actually have the capacity to generate a profound experience of appreciation merely for this now moment. So invite the breath to deepen, the body to become still, the mind to quiet. If you notice any kind of racing, allow that to be as it is. Bring your awareness to your breath and trust the breath to move you more deeply into presence.
Lola Wright: As you breathe in deeply through your nose and out through your mouth, begin to place your awareness on your heart center. Imagine with every breath there’s a kind of warming in your physical body, so you allow the presence of appreciation to begin to amplify.
Lola Wright: Invite your breath to deepen.
Lola Wright: You may notice the tendency of the mind to want to associate someone or something in your life to this experience of appreciation. But for now, would you be willing to just allow appreciation to be enough.
Lola Wright: Appreciation of this now moment, appreciation of the breath that moves through your body. Appreciation of your awareness, sensing in to your physical body, your emotional body, your mental body, who you are as you are in this now moment is enough.
Lola Wright: And that is worthy of appreciation. So you move your breath more deeply into your body. Begin to allow the circumstances and conditions that are so highly seductive in your life to melt away.
Lola Wright: Begin to notice that what we have is this now moment and in this moment all is well. In this moment you are enough. You have enough. This is enough.
Lola Wright: Breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. You may be willing or interested in now expanding your awareness of appreciation.
Lola Wright: See if you can tune in to the world around you, allowing it to serve as a mirror oven for your appreciation. Perhaps notice a living plant in your midst. Sense a loved one. Acknowledge relationships that are important to you.
Lola Wright: Appreciate the material comforts of your life. As you bring your awareness to the appreciation of objects, begin to notice how temporary they are. Objects in your life will always change. Relationships, possessions, reactions and responses come and go. Allow them to be as they are sensing into the appreciation that is you. Honoring and accepting the objects before you exactly as they are realizing they are ever changing.
Lola Wright: If you allow yourself to sense into appreciation invite the release of attachment to things remaining a particular way.
Lola Wright: Begin to open your mind, your heart, your body, into a new paradigm of appreciation. An appreciation that goes beyond conditions. An appreciation that goes beyond transaction. An appreciation that is deeply rooted at the center of your being. An appreciation that requires nothing in return. Begin to allow yourself to feel the good that is here.
Lola Wright: Now I invite you to take a deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth, perhaps wiggling your fingers and your toes shifting ever so slightly in your chair and beginning to bring your awareness back into this time and space. Turn in the corners of your mouth up so that you can begin to have a felt experience of appreciation for no reason what so ever.
Lola Wright: Who you are as you are in this now moment is enough and it is worthy of appreciation.
Lola Wright: As always, I love to know what you thought of this episode. Email me at podcast@bodhicenter.org or find me on Instagram and Facebook @lolapwright, and of course find Bodhi @bodhichicago. And a reminder that all of bodies’ programming is made possible by our amazing supporters, our sponsors, our contributors, and you. If this work is meaningful for you in your life, I’d love for you to text the word GIVE to (773) 770-8577 or visit bodhicenter.org/giving. This podcast is produced by Katie Klocksin with editorial guidance from Bodhi’s creative producer Tyler Greene. I’m your host, Lola Wright. Music for this episode is provided by Blue Dot Sessions. Our theme music is provided by independent music producer Trey Royal. Remember to take a deep breath, who you are as you are is enough.
