This meditation can change your perspective. It can give you a sense of place in the universe. And it can simply be fun to do.

How to Practice

1. Get outdoors where you can lay down on your back and see the sky at night. Choose a clear night when the moon is not in the sky. Just you and the stars.

2. Use your whole field of vision. Relax your focus and just see as much of the sky at once as you can. Become aware, in an open, relaxed way, of how vast the heavens are.

3. Rest in that for a while. Sink into it. Relax your body, letting any tension slowly seep away.

4. Breathe in the stars. Breathe them out. Let the sky fill you as you fill the sky. Let the process open you up to the realization that your source self just as vast, just as clear, just as beautiful.

5. Stay like this for as long as you feel comfortable. A minute might be enough for you. You may want to linger for an hour.

6. When you get up to leave, notice how you have to make an inner shift to re-orient yourself to the ordinary world.

Variations:

Imagine that you are looking down at the sky and that you and the earth behind your back are poised to fall downwards into the pool of the sky. Or, to add a bit more fun, try this at a still lake or pond. Stand by the water and watch the stars reflecting on the still surface of the pond. It can affect your sense of the texture and solidity of the pond. It can also seem as though the sky is everywhere around you, not just upwards, but everywhere.