Have you ever had that experience in meditation where, just for a moment, your thoughts calm down?

When you are resting in your true, authentic self?

Whenever I’ve had such experiences, it feels like I’ve transcended my usual ego self and stepped into a deeper reality.

A sense of self where I feel fully whole and complete.

Our true self can feel transcendent - beyond space and time. Connected and whole.

Why? Because consciousness doesn’t have a size or shape.

The nature of consciousness itself is transcendent.

Fortunately, the transcendent self isn’t just a nice idea.

Transcendent (adjective) - beyond or above the range of normal human experience.

It turns out, according to research in Acceptance and Commitment Training, reflecting and appreciating your more transcendent or flexible sense of self is good for your mental health and for a flourishing life.

(This component is also linked to perspective-taking and here is an example of research on it).

When you explore beyond your usual assumptions of who you are, your sense of self is more flexible.

You are then better able to cope with the challenges that life throws at you.

And better able to free yourself and create space between you and your self-judgemental thoughts.

A sense of your transcendent self gives you flexibility and resilience.

Today’s meditation gives you space to explore your transcendent self.

Here’s a full transcription of this meditation. Please note, that this is for personal use only. You’re welcome to share it on social media if you tag @shamashalidina.

If you wish to use this exact meditation in your classes or professionally, join our Academy. Thanks!

Transcendent Self Meditation Script

Good morning and welcome to our daily meditation time together

let's begin by making sure our bodies are in the right posture for us today for our meditation

most likely sitting or lying in the posture you normally use

A habitual choice and I encourage you to at least move a little adjust and just check it's as comfortable as you can be. Maybe stretching out your legs

you can stretch your back

you can take a nice slow deep breath in and out

as you roll your shoulders in one direction

and then roll them back in another direction

and going down your shoulders and arms and gently opening and closing your hands if you can

rolling your wrists in one direction and then the other

and then checking in with your neck

and stretching it by just leaning your head to your head

to your left, down

and then leaning to your right with your head

feeling the gentle stretch in the muscles in your neck

these gentle stretches are all part of the mindfulness and meditation experience

then you can open and close your jaw, move your jaw around

you could try

gently smiling celebrating your presence here

check your nose is clear enough so you can breathe comfortably

you can even move your eyes whether your eyes open or closed you could look to the left up above look to the right and down

and then just be mindful of the muscles around your eyes

inviting them to be at ease

and then raising and lowering your eyebrows and just checking if your forehead is frowning or not

going around the sides of your head the back of your head

and then with another slow gentle deep breath or two just having an awareness of your whole body as you sit here

and as you turn your attention to your body and turn your attention to the present moment

notice all the different sensations there both the pleasant ones and those that are not so pleasant or even painful

notice this whole range of sensations in your body and see if you can allow them to be all there in what we call our consciousness or awareness

and see if you can meet these sensations with a sense of warmth a sense of kindness

just as you have all these various sensations in your body

knowing that you're not meditating alone there's our community meditating here together with us

we also have various sensations pleasant unpleasant may be painful

so sending some kindness and warmth to them too

and beyond that people meditating all the time all over the world

so you're acknowledging that you're not alone in this practice of meditation

you're practicing together cultivating awareness of your body

of sensations

and you wishing a compassionate awareness to all those around the world meditating at this moment including our community right here

and also being compassionate to yourself

as you hold these present moment sensations in your awareness

noticing all present moment experiences including sounds

and in the present moment there can also be

certain emotions that you're going through

to notice those emotions in the here and now is mindfulness

see if you can notice and accept whatever feeling is here right now without any need at all to try and change it

and as always there'll be thoughts that come and go like clouds that come and go in the sky

like waves that rise and fall in the oceans

part of nature it's natural the thoughts will come and go

but they come and go in the open sky of awareness

right from the moment when you are a young child you've been observing and watching and noticing

and as you went through the years to an older child to a teenager to

a young adult and beyond there's been this part of you that's been aware of thoughts aware of feelings aware of your surroundings

and yet transcended them all

you can call that part of you your transcendent self or observing self or

any other words you wish to use

and this deepest part of yourself

you can think of as pure perfect and complete

whole

one

as it's always in the present moment

it's beyond time

more timeless

because it's the observer of space

it doesn't have a shape or size it's beyond space

this transcendent self is not just within you

it's within everyone

it's what connects us you can think of it like that

ultimately the same awareness

you can see it shining in the eyes of a baby beautiful flower a wonderful sunrise

and in moments when you felt connected

you felt at one with your surroundings

so let's continue to practice together now community as one transcendent self and beyond

from the perspective of being always and already hull already home already complete with nothing else to achieve but to just be

your mind can go to all sorts of thoughts and yet behind those thoughts is this shining light of awareness

it's a mysterious energy

so let's take a step back into that transcendent awareness that we all have

making peace with however our meditation was today and celebrating the fact that we had a go we showed up

even if we had a moment of awareness

that's valuable and worth it