The Most Powerful 10 Min Meditation: Who Am I? | EP 83

Summary

Healing + Human Potential Podcast: Episode 83 – "The Most Powerful 10 Min Meditation: Who Am I?"

Release Date: April 8, 2025
Host: Alyssa Nobriga

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Introduction

In Episode 83 of the Healing + Human Potential Podcast, host Alyssa Nobriga presents a transformative guided meditation titled "The Most Powerful 10 Min Meditation: Who Am I?". Drawing upon her extensive background as a licensed psychotherapist and seasoned coach, Alyssa leads listeners through an introspective journey aimed at uncovering the essence of their true selves beyond societal labels and personal histories. Inspired by the teachings of Dorothy Hunt, this meditation invites individuals to engage in an embodied inquiry, fostering a deep connection with their innate being.

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Guided Meditation Process

1. Settling into the Present Moment

Alyssa begins by encouraging listeners to find a comfortable position, whether seated or lying down, and gently close their eyes. She guides them to take slow, deep breaths, inhaling through the nose, holding the breath briefly, and exhaling to release tension and worries.

"Find a comfortable position, gently letting your eyelids fall shut, taking a nice slow deep breath in through your nose, holding on the inhale, just sipping a little bit more breath in and releasing any tension or worries."
— Alyssa Nobriga [00:00]

She emphasizes the importance of grounding oneself, becoming aware of bodily sensations, and allowing any existing tensions to dissolve.

"Just become more present to the sensations that are still holding on in your body right now. Maybe there's some tension in your brow, your belly."
— Alyssa Nobriga [01:02]

2. Deepening Awareness

As the meditation progresses, Alyssa invites listeners to deepen their presence, feeling the support of the chair or bed beneath them and expanding their awareness to the aliveness within their hands and feet.

"Just feeling the aliveness that's pulsating through your hands and your feet, letting it expand in your awareness and just letting go."
— Alyssa Nobriga [01:52]

3. Embarking on the Self-Inquiry

The core of the meditation involves a series of probing questions designed to strip away layers of identity constructed from memories and external labels. Alyssa instructs listeners to answer these questions based solely on their present experience, without referencing past information.

"I'll be asking you a series of questions that you're just invited to answer for yourself based on the experience that you're having right now without going to memory to find the answer."
— Alyssa Nobriga [02:15]

Examples of these questions include:

• "How many toes do you have right now?" [02:33]
• "What shape are you without memory?" [04:02]
• "Do you have a name based on your direct experience right now?" [05:31]
• "Who are you?" [06:09]

Each question is carefully designed to shift focus away from constructed identities towards a more fundamental sense of being.

4. Letting Go of Constructed Identities

As listeners engage with these questions, Alyssa guides them to observe the impermanence of thoughts and labels, highlighting that these definitions are transient and do not constitute their true essence.

"All images, ideas and judgments of who you are are only passing stories that come and go."
— Alyssa Nobriga [06:41]

She further encourages letting go of these layers to experience a state of pure awareness.

"Without any of these ways we've identified ourselves. What's still here deeper than all of those?"
— Alyssa Nobriga [07:11]

5. Discovering Pure Being and Spacious Awareness

The meditation culminates in guiding listeners to recognize a vast, spacious awareness that exists beneath all thoughts and identities. Alyssa emphasizes that this state of being requires no effort—it's an inherent aspect of self.

"This awake, vast spacious awareness. There's nothing you need to do to be more of what you already are. Just notice this peace and freedom underneath all the thoughts and identities."
— Alyssa Nobriga [08:19]

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Integration and Closing

As the meditation draws to a close, Alyssa gently invites listeners to transition back to their external environment, carrying with them the sense of inner peace and expanded awareness cultivated during the session.

"In a few moments I'm going to invite you to very gently and slowly begin to open your eyes to..."
— Alyssa Nobriga [10:32]

She advises embracing the present moment without reverting to habitual labels and conditioned responses, thereby sustaining the connection to one's true self.

"We start labeling things from our past conditioning. But whether the mind is active or not, there's a deeper, spacious awareness that's always available beneath the surface of thought."
— Alyssa Nobriga [10:43]

Alyssa concludes by reinforcing the accessibility of this expansive awareness, encouraging listeners to recognize its presence even amidst returning thoughts and memories.

"Letting in the sounds and the sights of the environment around you and just begin to feel into your own experience how it's possible to be here even when things, thought and memory return."
— Alyssa Nobriga [11:23]

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Key Insights and Takeaways

• Present-Centered Awareness: The meditation underscores the importance of anchoring oneself in the present moment, distinct from past memories or future anticipations.

• Self-Inquiry as a Tool for Awakening: By systematically questioning constructed identities, individuals can peel back layers to reveal their authentic selves.

• Transcending Labels and Stories: Recognizing the impermanent nature of thoughts and societal labels facilitates a deeper connection with one's true essence.

• Innate Spacious Awareness: Alyssa highlights that beneath all layers of identity lies a boundless awareness, accessible to anyone through mindful inquiry.

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Notable Quotes

• "Do you have a name based on your direct experience right now?"
  — Alyssa Nobriga [05:31]

• "None of us have the experience of completely disappearing. Something's still here."
  — Alyssa Nobriga [08:19]

• "This awake, vast spacious awareness. There's nothing you need to do to be more of what you already are."
  — Alyssa Nobriga [08:19]

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Conclusion

In this powerful 10-minute meditation, Alyssa Nobriga expertly guides listeners through an introspective journey to uncover the essence of who they truly are, free from the constraints of memory and societal labels. By fostering a deep sense of present-moment awareness and challenging ingrained identities, the meditation serves as a potent tool for personal awakening and the realization of innate human potential. Whether you're new to meditation or seeking to deepen your practice, this episode offers valuable insights and experiential learning to support your journey towards self-discovery and inner peace.

Transcript

[A]

Welcome back to the Healing and Human Potential podcast. This is a special episode where I'm going to guide you on an embodied inquiry into the truth of who you really are. And so, rather than giving you more concepts, this is an invitation to discover for yourself what remains when you question all your identities. It's a meditation inspired by Dorothy Hunt and let's dive into it now. So go ahead and find a comfortable position, gently letting your eyelids fall shut, taking a nice slow deep breath in through your nose, holding on the inhale, just sipping a little bit more breath in and releasing any tension or worries. Taking another slow deep breath in through.

[B]

The nose.

[A]

Holding on the inhale and releasing, letting go. And just become more present to the sensations that are still holding on in your body right now. Maybe there's some tension in your brow, your belly.

[B]

And just releasing it, Letting.

[A]

Yourself really be held by the chair that supports you, the bed, wherever you.

[B]

Are.

[A]

And bringing your attention more fully present to this moment. Just leaning into what's actually here now.

[B]

Outside your mind, in your body.

[A]

Just feeling the aliveness that's pulsating through your hands and your feet, letting it expand in your awareness and just letting go.

[B]

Resting more fully in this moment.

[A]

And I'll be asking you a series of questions that you're just invited to answer for yourself based on the experience.

[B]

That you're having right now without going.

[A]

To memory to find the answer. And so based on your present experience.

[B]

Right now, how many toes do you have.

[A]

Without relying on an image of the past to tell you, Just tuning into your direct experience in this moment.

[B]

Find out.

[A]

If you don't go to.

[B]

Memory to tell you what's your address.

[A]

Explore what's here and now to discover the answer fresh in this moment without.

[B]

Going to the mind to tell you where were you born?

[A]

Without referencing a past image to show.

[B]

You an answer, what shape are.

[C]

You?

[A]

Do you have a shape without memory?

[B]

We can find any shape from memory.

[A]

But is it available to you right now based on your present experience, beyond the pattern of the mind, Projecting a past or anticipating a future just here now? What job do you have without memory? What color is your skin?

[B]

What color are your eyes?

[A]

All these ways that we've defined ourselves without the benefit of a past, are they here now? If you don't go to a memory.

[B]

To tell you what's your name?

[A]

Do you have a name based on your direct experience right now?

[B]

How old are you?

[A]

When all these things aren't here because of not going to memory to tell you what's your Actual experience.

[B]

Who are you?

[A]

What are you? The answer won't come in thought. So instead of looking for an answer in the mind, just discover what's here.

[B]

Behind the thoughts or in between the thoughts.

[A]

All images, ideas and judgments of who.

[B]

You are are only passing stories that come and go.

[A]

But what do they come and go? They're not actually here when you're not thinking them into existence.

[B]

So who are you? When you're not referring to a thought to tell you.

[A]

What'S piercing through your eyes right now, even with them closed, notice what's noticing without labels telling you who you are with a name, an occupation, an address, a shape or even gender. Without any of these ways we've identified ourselves.

[B]

What's still here deeper than all of those?

[A]

When all those fall away, what's still remains. What's still present underneath all of them. None of us have the experience of completely disappearing. Some something's still here. This felt sense of I am not I am Joe or I am Sarah, just I am. Now drop the I and drop the am. Be here as what you truly are. This awake, vast spacious awareness. There's nothing you need to do to be more of what you already are. Just notice this peace and freedom underneath all the thoughts and identities. Perhaps you've felt, even briefly, what it's like to simply be this open space of awareness. And in a few moments I'm going to invite you to very gently and.

[B]

Slowly begin to open your eyes to.

[A]

Take in the images of the world around you from this same vast presence.

[B]

So often when we open our eyes.

[A]

We start labeling things from our past conditioning. But whether the mind is active or not, there's a deeper, spacious awareness that's always available beneath the surface of thought. So go ahead and gently open your.

[B]

Eyes from this place.

[A]

Letting in the.

[B]

Sounds and the sights of the environment around you.

[A]

And just begin to feel into your own experience how it's possible to be.

[B]

Here even when things, thought and memory return.