Tuning into your inner wisdom: a meditation

As part of our ongoing partnership with Octopus Books, we are kindly able to share an extract from Ali Roff-Farrar’s new book ‘The Wellfulness Project’.

The Book

The Wellfulness Project is your guide to aligning body, heart and mind to create a blueprint for a balanced life. Take back ownership of your health and happiness by using mindfulness to identify which wellness practices suit you best, and by creating a unique personal wellness plan that will transform your life.

Who is Ali Roff?

Ali Roff Farrar is Wellness Director at Psychologies magazine, where she has interviewed world-renowned spiritual gurus, psychologists, doctors, and wise women and men including Deepak Chopra and Gabrielle Bernstein.

The Extract

‘I like to do this every morning on waking. I actually love to do it in the shower, which is a very mindful practice in itself. If you can, try to do this short meditation daily. Meditation at the same time each day can be helpful in keeping up the practice.

One

Close your eyes and take a deep breath to anchor yourself. Then imagine your mind is a pool of water.

Two

Drop a pebble into your pool (of awareness) – small, smooth and grey. The pebble represents a question: ‘How am I right now?’

Three

Let this question drop gently into the pool and watch it sink all the way to the bottom – to the edges of your awareness. Allow it to sit there for a moment.

Four

Observe the ripples that expand out from the centre of that pebble or question – concentric circles of answering thoughts. Watch each one without preference or bias, observing them get bigger and bigger until they eventually fade. As they disappear at the outer edges of your pool of awareness, let them go.

Five

Now drop in another pebble. This one asks ‘How do I feel?’ Ask it a few times if need be, and allow the question to sink slowly into your awareness.

Six

Again, bring your attention to the answering ripples of thought, without judgement or preference. Just notice, and let the answers go.

Seven

Simply stay with the feeling. If you find yourself getting caught up in the stories attached to the feeling, ask, ‘Where does this feeling live in my body?’ Stay curious only to the sensations of the feeling, not the stories or ‘whys’ that surround it. Simply observe, without judgement or needing to change anything.

Eight

Inhale, exhale. Feel a sense of loving kindness towards yourself and send yourself a warm hug of compassion if any negative feelings came up for you here. Open your eyes with your newly discovered awareness.