The Awakening Meditation
created by Alexander Bell

This is a transformative and deeply enjoyable 40-minute active meditation which has been carefully designed to help shake up and release the contraction which is held deep in the tissues of the body, enabling us to experience the profound peace, freedom and joy that comes from allowing our life-force to circulate freely.

This meditation has a cumulative effect, and each time it is performed our capacity for inner freedom expands significantly as we release deeper held tensions and enliven our being in a balanced and sustainable way.

Although you might feel quite self-conscious at the beginning of the meditation, this will change as your attention moves more deeply into the experience and you let yourself go with it.

This meditation is best performed at Sunset or anytime after, in a quiet and spacious place, either alone or with others. The music is there as a rhythmic template to encourage and enhance your movement, and is best played at a volume loud enough to block out all outside noises.

Instructions:

1. Create some space
2. Close the curtains
3. Light a candle
4. Turn off the lights
5. Start the music
6. Close your eyes.
8. Notice your body...

Let your neck, shoulders and arms hang loose and heavy and keep your knees relaxed.

As the rhythmic percussion of the music begins, start shaking your body up and down very gently in time with it, while keeping your feet flat on the floor. Let your body take it's time to synchronize itself with the shaking rhythm of the percussion (not the beat), so that it feels effortless. The shaking will develop a momentum of its own, so just let yourself go with it. If at any point during this first stage you feel tired, this means you are trying too hard. Relax your body, and allow the shaking movement to be more subtle, but still vigorous.

After 15 minutes the music will fade out and a new rhythm will begin. This is the time to allow every part of your body to move however it feels. Let your body dance if it wants to. Again, give your body all the time it needs to tune in to this new rhythm and respond effortlessly. If there is no desire to move, it is fine to just listen very closely to the music.

After 15 minutes the music will fade to silence, and some special gentle music will begin. This is the time to lie down (or sit) and rest your body while feeling the deep sense of aliveness inside. Simply be aware of the gentle rhythm of your own breathing, and if you get distracted, just return back to the awareness of your breath.

After 10 minutes, the music will fade to silence, and some very quiet music will fade in slowly to help bring you back to the here and now. This signifies the end of the meditation.