Meditations and Contemplations
Meditations and contemplations for coming home to ourselves.
“Only through creating a clearing in the dense forest of our outer lives, can we become familiar with and friendly towards our inner lives.”
Al records and uploads a new meditation or guided contemplation each month. Some are recorded in studio, whilst some are recorded live on retreat or in his programs.
All recordings are uploaded to the beautiful platform, Insight Timer. A number of his ‘most popular’ and ‘most recent’ recordings are below.
A Simple Morning Meditation
How we meet ourselves in the morning sets the tone for how we hold ourselves throughout our day. We have the chance to catch ourselves in the morning and build the capacity for mindfulness and move with intent, positivity, joy and peace, inviting in a day of inspiration and fulfillment.
Washing Away the Holding Onto
This practice is dedicated to cultivating the ease that results from letting go. As we explore the tension, anxiety, stress or any form of suffering we experience in our lives, we can trace it back to our natural tendency to ‘hold onto.’ By learning to let go and to ease into the murky water of the unknown, we begin to become more in rhythm with the very nature of our lives – constant change.
Seeing and Being Seen With Compassion (A Loving-Kindness Meditation)
We have a yearning to connect, to be in relationship, to be seen and met in our humanity. Through acknowledging, coming to accept and be compassionate for our own suffering we begin to cultivate the capacity to hold others in this same way.
Befriending Ourselves (A Compassion Meditation)
See the framing article here.
A guided practice of cultivating compassion for ourselves. We are often the last person we turn to for support, acceptance and connection. Yet, we begin to learn that we are the only ones who can be expected to repeatedly show up for us in the ways we need. It’s our journey to become our own best friend, to be able to hold ourselves in all of our joys and sorrows.
A Simple Breathing Meditation
Befriending the breath is one of the simplest tools we have to find our way back to clarity, compassion and presence. For as long as we are in our bodies, we have access to that which gives us life – our breath. Through building an intimate connection with the breath, and coming to know some of the subtle characteristics of the breath, we build capacity to better connect in wherever we are.
Choosing To Pay Attention (A Mindfulness Meditation)
Our ultimate freedom, is the ability to choose; to choose where our attention goes, and the meaning we make of the moments in our lives. In this meditation we explore our ability to choose where are attention goes by exploring the dilation and contraction of our attention. Whilst being able to choose where our attention goes can be useful, it’s important to not use is to simply avoid difficult emotions. We also touch on the practice of RAIN, as a model to compassionately investigate further into the habits and patterns of our mind.
Creating a Clearing to Listen-In
In our search for meaning, for purpose and direction we can tend to get caught looking beyond and outside of ourselves. Whilst the world around us may hold many clues and signs that guide us, you might find that the most true, aligned and authentic answers were always waiting for you beneath the surface. In this practice we create a ‘clearing in the dense forest of our lives’ to listen to the whispers from within.
To access more of Al’s meditations, follow him on Insight Timer.
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