Floating Through the Universe
February 2019
Floating
This meditation first takes in the size of the universe. It is based on imagining you are able to leave your physical body and travel through space. Anyone who has seen the recent Dr Strange movie will have seen how Dr Strange is able to project his astral body out of his physical body and float around. This is partly based on that.
Sit still and in a comfortable position - usually best with your feet on the floor and your hands resting on your knees, but suit yourself. Breathe slowly and let your mind concentrate on nothing - which is easier said than done, but have a try.
Then when you are ready imagine that your mind is able to float outside your body and let it float over your head. You can still see your body below you - the top of your head, your hands on your knees and so on.
Then imagine you have floated up to the ceiling and can see everyone and everything in the room from up top - any other furniture there is in the room and the tops of everyone's heads.
Then go a little higher and float outside the building and imagine looking down on it.
Then float higher still and imagine you can see the section of London you are in - maybe you're near the river or a famous building so imagine being able to look down on it.
Then go up a little higher. Imagine you can see all of London. The bend of the river, the parks, the buildings, all of it. Then go up higher and see the south east of England. See the coast line and the cities, the winding Thames, the sprawl of London, the coastal resorts and so on.
Go up higher and see all of Europe. The shape of the leg of Italy, the square of Spain nearly touching Africa, the Greek islands dotted across the blue Med which is all enclosed by land.
Go further out and imagine you can see the Earth like the famous photo from the Apollo mission. The planet as a circle with the blue of the oceans and whites of cloud formations hanging in space against the blackness behind.
Then zoom out further and see the solar system. All the planets from tiny Mercury to the hugeness of Jupiter which is itself still dwarfed by the size of our life-giving sun.
Then go out further to the see the galaxy. The spiral of the Milky Way. The millions of stars that are inside it and any planets are now so small you can't even register them.
Then go out again and see several galaxies, elliptical galaxies and more whirlpool galaxies. You're millions of light years away from the Earth now and are at the outer edge of the universe. You have passed where the universe is and are now where the universe is expanding into. Look back and see the entire universe in front of you. Millions of galaxies, billions of stars and planets and all of space is in front of you.
Think about how vast this all is and how small you are in it. Yet in all of that vastness there is no one else who is you, no one ever born on earth either in the past or in the future to come can occupy the space you now occupy and think the thoughts you now think. In all the universe, you are a unique spirit to yourself and there will never be another being identical to you. Then slowly and calmly come back to yourself.
Anyone can do this and I have often floated outside of the tube I have been on when going to work or coming home to this exercise. After doing this I always feel a great sense of inner calm.