Meditation (February 2008)

Imaging the future      

We often need to call upon our powers of imagination to create the possibility for something different. This is because our habituated patterns of sensations define for us the limits of what we can experience. Unless we have experienced something as possible, we tend to discount its existence, even if it is staring us in the face.  So, for example, a sincere gesture of love shown us (which we may be starving for) may be shoved aside with our insistence that it isn’t really meant or probably has unsavory strings attached.

Creating an internal environment of true receptivity, then, for that which we most need and want is important.  This exercise helps to ripen the field for fulfillment of that which you most long for – because it is something you have not yet experienced.

The following section can be read bit by bit as you follow the directions; read in its entirety first to yourself. It may also help you to read this into a tape recorder and then listen to it.  Allow a pause after each sentence-section, and a longer pause where indicated.  

Seat yourself in a comfortable position with your journal and pen nearby.

Allow yourself to sink more deeply into yourself.  Bring your focus onto your breath.

Follow its rhythm – breath in – breath out at your own pace.

Gently bring your awareness floating down more deeply into yourself on your breath.

Pause

Now be aware of the internal space and sensation in your body of that which you are longing for.  Notice the familiar sensations there.  You might seem to be a certain age.

Pause

Very gently now, imagine what it would feel like if you were getting what you are longing for.  What would that feel like?  You might imagine a particular someone saying something you’ve always wished you could hear.

Take it in.  Allow any resistance to melt away, and completely give yourself over to what it feels like – in your body – to get this need met.

Pause

Stay in this state as long as you like, noticing anything at all that comes up.

Pause

Now, gently, gently, as you continue to feel these sensations of getting your needs met, come back to this room at this time and make any notes to yourself that you would like to, to anchor your experience.

It is recommended that you write down a few notes to yourself since many of the images that come up in these sessions can become quite dreamlike after a while and you may want to have insights you’ve gained recorded and available to reflect on at a later time.

At times, particularly stubborn areas of resistance come to the surface in doing this exercise.  If that is the case, I recommend that you do another exercise, “Embracing the place of resistance,” which will be the subject of the March eZine meditation.


This meditation is taken from the book, “Mindful Eating” by this same author.

A listing of CDs and books available by Mary Ann Wallace, MD can be found at www.maryannwallace.com