SGM June 2012 Meditation of the Month: “Anchoring a New Consciousness”
Press the play button or click here (right click + save target as) to download the audio file
Press the play button or click here (right click + save target as) to download the audio file
Introduction and Monthly Summary
Welcome to our SGM June 2012 “Meditation of the Month.” I’m Kevin Schoeninger. Thank you for joining in our mind-body practice.
This month we’ve been exploring the Four Step Process described by Drs. Pratt and Lambrou in their book, “Code to Joy.” (Harper Collins, 2012) The purpose of this process is to help you:
1. Identify the limiting beliefs that create a fog of distress in your life making you feel anxious, doubtful, angry, or afraid.
2. Clear your Personal Energy Field.
3. Repattern your Consciousness with your personal code to joy.
4. Anchor this new consciousness in your mind and body.
These are the four steps of the Code to Joy technique as described by Pratt and Lambrou. For more details about their specific process, along with a wealth of fascinating case studies, I highly recommend their book to you.
In my experience, I’ve found that many systems of personal development and spiritual growth use some variation of these four steps. Though they may be phrased differently and different techniques might be used to accomplish each step, these four steps are a well-used and effective model for what is required to shift your consciousness and create better life experiences. So, I hope you’ve found Pratt and Lambrou’s framing of these steps helpful to you so far this month.
To summarize this month’s Messages:
In Weekly Message One, we explored how to identify your limiting beliefs, along with the life events, feelings, and self-talk associated with them.
In Weekly Message Two, we practiced three simple techniques for clearing your personal energy field.
And in Weekly Message Three, we dissolved all associations with those limiting beliefs, constructed a statement of self-acceptance and empowering belief, and then reinforced that new consciousness by imagining images and scenes from your ideal life.
If you haven’t yet taken the opportunity to go through those Weekly Messages, they remain available to you.
In this week’s “Meditation of the Month,” we’ll explore how you can anchor that new consciousness firmly in your mind and body, so it becomes your new baseline experience—a dependable outlook that will help you live a happier, more loving, purposeful, and successful life.
Pratt and Lambrou offer three suggestions for this fourth step:
1. Focusing on images and scenes from your ideal life while applying an “anchoring hold.”
2. Focusing on breathing alone while applying the anchoring hold.
3. Focusing on a personal symbol of balance while applying the anchoring hold.
The anchoring hold is something that I first learned about in Reiki training. You might also know it from cranial-sacral therapy or some other energy healing modality. It’s quite simple and can be highly effective.
To apply the Anchoring Hold on yourself, place one palm on your forehead, while cupping your other palm over the back of your head, over the point where your spine enters your skull.
Using the anchoring hold activates the Mind Center of your personal energy system, which helps you to put things in proper perspective and program yourself for better possibilities. Using the anchoring hold while imagining positive scenes, images, or symbols is a powerful way to anchor them in your consciousness.
In this week’s meditation, we’ll imagine a Core-inspired scene related to the new empowering belief you want to install or to an experience you want to grow in your life. We’ll also anchor a personal symbol of balance related to that experience.
Your personal symbol of balance is a simple image that represents the feeling of the new consciousness you want to install. For example, your symbol could be a heart to represent loving relationships, a peace sign for inner peace, an animal that represents a soul quality you’d like to possess, like a lion for courage, or a religious symbol that has strong meaning for you . . . The purpose of your personal symbol of balance is that it immediately evokes the feeling of the experience you desire. Ideally this symbol is simple, attractive to you, and easy to remember.
So, to prepare for this meditation, I’d like you to call to mind a scene, event, or detailed still picture that represents an experience that is important to you right now. If you’d like to continue with scenes or images related to the new empowering belief from last Week’s Message, that’s great. This will build on the steps we’ve worked with so far this month. If you have another experience that you’re inspired to experiment with, that’s fine, too.
So, go ahead and take a minute to bring to mind, write down, or sketch an important experience that you would like to grow in your life. Let’s call this your “Core Inspiration.” It’s something that appeals to you on a soul level. What is an important experience that your soul would like to grow in your life? What is a scene, event, or picture that represents that experience to you? If you are listening to the guided audio, you can pause for a moment to ask your Core for inspiration.
Now, what is a simple, easy to remember, symbol that represents that experience to you? Remember, your personal symbol of balance is something that evokes the feeling of the experience that you desire. Besides using it in meditation, you can use it anytime you need to, to bring you back to what important to you. Take a moment and ask your Core for a personal symbol of balance.
Meditation is an opportunity to practice the new consciousness that you desire. No matter what meditation method you use, you could incorporate the anchoring technique at the end of your practice session to reinforce the new consciousness that you’d like to grow in your life. In the following meditation, we’ll practice two minutes of cross-hand breathing as a simple meditative technique to shift into a relaxed state, then we’ll use the anchoring hold in the three ways suggested by Pratt and Lambrou.
You can listen to the guided meditation in Part B of the recording above. It’s timed for 10 minutes. Let’s practice together now.
Guided Meditation Script:
“Anchoring Your Core Inspiration”
To begin, find yourself a quiet private environment and a comfortable seat. Tell anyone who needs to know that you are taking a little quiet time.
We’re going to begin with two minutes of cross-hand breathing. So, if you would like to, cross your left ankle over your right ankle.
Now, place your left hand across your chest so that your fingertips rest on the right side of your collarbone. Cross your right hand over your chest so your fingertips touch the left side of your collarbone. Breathe in through your nose while bringing your tongue up to touch the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth. Breathe out through your mouth while letting your tongue rest behind your lower front teeth. Continue breathing in this way for two minutes . . .
If, at any point, your mind wanders, it’s O.K. Gently return your attention to cross-hand breathing. Breathe in through your nose while bringing your tongue up to touch the roof of your mouth just behind your front teeth. Breathe out through your mouth while letting your tongue rest behind your lower front teeth. Continue breathing in this way . . .
Now, let’s move into the anchoring process. Place the palm of one hand on your forehead and cup the palm of your other hand over the back of your head, covering the area where your spine enters your skull.
As you hold this anchoring position, call to mind either a still image or a scene of an important experience that you would like to grow in your life—your Core inspiration. Imagine and feel any details that make this scene or image enjoyable and vivid for you. Make any colors bright, any sounds sweet and strong, and any other sensory details rich and vibrant. Have fun playing with this experience. Feel what it is like to be present in that scene in whatever way feels right to you for the next minute.
Now, if you need to, you can shake out your arms and hands to release any fatigue or tension from applying the anchoring hold. Then, continue the anchoring hold as you focus your attention on breathing for the next minute.
Now, if you need to, you can shake out your arms and hands to release any fatigue or tension from applying the anchoring hold. Then, continue the anchoring hold as you focus on your personal symbol of balance. Remember that your symbol of balance can be anything that is easy to remember and that evokes the feeling of your Core inspiration. Focus on your personal symbol of balance for the next minute. . .
Now, rest your hands palms down on your thighs. Take a couple nice deep breaths, imagining and feeling that your in-breath fills up your whole body. As you exhale, imagine and feel as if your whole body empties out.
And now, feel your body as a whole from the inside. Feel the entire space inside your skin.
Record the image of your personal symbol of balance in the front and center of your mind and record the feeling of it in every cell of your body, so you can remember and return to that image and that feeling, at will, at any time.
Slowly open your eyes and take a moment to write down anything that is important for you to remember from this meditative experience.
You’ve done well.