Chapter 1: What is hand meditation and its historical significance?
Welcome back. In today's meditation, we're going to work with a very ancient form of meditating. We're going to meditate on our hands.
Chapter 2: How do you assume the prayer posture for meditation?
In all of the traditions, there are various hand positions and postures that are associated with meditation. You may even have learned some of these yourself along the way.
Chapter 3: What techniques help bring awareness to the hands during meditation?
The most universal one, of course, is the simple prayer posture of placing the palms together and pointing towards heaven. But today, we're going to use the various connections between our fingers and thumbs as ways of recognizing the gift of the present moment and the divine presence working through the various connections that we have.
This provides us with another anchor, another way of entering as fully as we can into the mystery of meditation. And it also means that in the days and weeks and months ahead, knowing these postures, knowing these connecting points, allows us to bring meditation even into the busyness of our day without necessarily formally sitting. So let's begin.
Chapter 4: How can hand gestures enhance mindfulness in daily life?
Sitting into our meditation posture, we do so as normal, gently, with awareness. We can make a ritual gesture that is comfortable for us, that allows us to clearly delineate that we are entering fully into this time, into this space. Perhaps a bow or the sign of the cross or joining our hands in that prayer posture. We do whatever is comfortable for us, and then we sit.
Sitting with awareness, we touch into our feet and their connection with the ground.
Chapter 5: What does each finger symbolize in the context of meditation?
We feel the chair or the cushion beneath us, supporting us in stable awareness. We allow the spine to relax and to uncurl, the head carried gently over the shoulders, the shoulders hanging from the neck. Aware now that we can adjust our posture at any time, we know that we are not struggling with the body, but instead entering into stillness, into peace. Coming to the awareness of our breath,
Chapter 6: How does the meditation process promote peace and stability?
We greet the breath as that background music of our entire life.
Breathing in, we know that we are breathing in. Breathing out, we know that we are breathing out. Breathing in, we breathe in peace.
Breathing out, we breathe out all stress, all anxiety, all worry.
Chapter 7: What final thoughts are shared to integrate meditation into daily life?
Breathing in, we breathe in clear golden light, awareness of peace, stability in the present moment as a place of divine encounter and grace. Resting in the breath, aware of the breath, aware of the present moment. And gently, we allow our hands to lie palm up in our lap. Just for a moment or two, sensing into our open hands. We might feel the temperature of our hands, their warmth or coolness.
We might notice if we can feel our fingers or thumbs. Generally, most people notice that one hand is slightly more sensitive than the other, usually to do with which hand we write with or use most often. But again, if you can't feel any sensation, that's okay. What's important is the focus, your drawing of awareness to a point. As we rest with our hands open,
we can allow our hands to indicate an openness to the present moment, an openness to accepting reality as it is, an openness to the awareness of the present moment held in existence by divine love and peace. Gently then, we bring our index fingers and the tips of our thumbs to touching each other We allow them to touch as lightly as a butterfly landing on a leaf.
Even without looking, we are aware that we have made two circles. We can think of the circle as a symbol of infinitude, a circle of divine perfection. a circle that indicates the unending, infinite, eternal, and unconditional love of the divine presence. We are aware that we are enfolded within that circle, that we are never outside of this circle.
We are held in peace in every moment, in every experience, no matter what is going on within us, fundamentally, at the very deepest level of our being, we are held in peace and love. Gently then, we can allow our fingers and thumbs to detach, moving back to the openness that indicates our awareness of the present moment, in an open attitude of peace.
And then gently we bring our middle fingers to touch the tips of our thumbs. Feeling the contact there gently, lightly, again as lightly as a butterfly landing upon a leaf. The gentlest of touch. The middle finger is often seen as a finger of strength, even at times as a finger of aggression.
But in bringing the middle fingers to touch the thumbs, we can make a conscious decision to move away from aggression, to move away from violence of any kind, either towards ourselves or towards others. Violence of word violence of action, violence of thought.
As the circle we have made now expands, we bring into that circle of divine love and grace even those we find difficult to be with, even those who have injured us or hurt us or others. We do so seeking that they too might come to an awareness of divine love and presence, that they too might come to new beginning and change.
We allow this large circle to indicate all beings of all times and places, and we enfold them in the love and grace of the present moment. We can also, if you like, make a resolution to bring our strength, our courage, the strongest parts of ourselves, and to place all of that at the service of compassion and love, at the service of peace and grace.
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