Guided Meditation: What is your true nature (hint, you are good)

This week, we'll do a practice called whole-body smile, designed to uncover a sense of joyful ease underneath all the heaviness, brain fog, and worry we carry every day. This exercise taps into what's called the natural state, which is an effortless, peaceful state of being available to us at any time because it is an inherent quality. The more you practice finding this state, the more it becomes you default state of mind. But whether you are a long-term spiritual seeker or totally new to meditation, it will still be a nice afternoon spent sitting and smiling for no good reason.

Many people meditate to grow their attention span or gain clarity, but the possible benefits can go far beyond this, including changing your relationship to pain and suffering (creating a “frictionless” experience) and even healing of trauma. In these hour and a half sessions, I will guide us through sitting practice on a different theme each week. Themes will include:

What is your true nature? (hint, you are good)
Compassion in a world on fire
Why Meditate?
Mindfulness in movement
Meditation with no willpower required
Full healing of trauma: no dream too big.

Chairs are available for up to 15 people, or you can bring a mat or cushion if you prefer. We might sit outside in the shaded patio area if the weather is nice.

Read more about Open Heart at [openheartofallbeings.com,](http://amritamandala.com,) or find us on Facebook or Instagram.

Your instructor:

I’m Lindsay Kriebel, an instructor (skt. acharya) with Open Heart Sangha. I’ve practiced with Open Heart for going on 5 years, following 10 years of throwing every self-help solution I could find at addiction, depression, and social anxiety. It’s taken me this long to see that complex problems can’t be solved by more overthinking. Simple solutions like developing compassion for myself and others work exactly because they are so basic. When I’m not seeking spiritual realization, I’m a librarian, seeking information for law students at the University of Arizona.