Guided video meditation: the blue coccoon

The ease and flexibility of a powerful practice

Photo by 🇻🇪 Jose G. Ortega Castro 🇲🇽 on Unsplash

I’ve been wanting to share this guided meditation with you for some time, and I decided to offer it this week as a ‘bonus’ post!

It’s called the ‘cocoon’ and I explain a bit about it in the 18-minute video, which comprises about 8 minutes of explanation and ten minutes of meditation.

I like this partiuclar practice because it is:

Easy: we don’t have to imagine anything more complicated than a great big mass of coloured light;

Powerful: we are harnessing the mind-body connection that already exists;

Flexible: we can use it to establish a wide variety of beneficial psycho-physical states.

By way of a taster, in this video I talk you through a radiantly blue healing cocoon visualisation.

If you’d like to take a deeper dive into healing meditations in Tibetan Buddhism, feel free to download my free booklet: Medicine Buddha – Unlock the power and purpose of your mind, which you can find here.

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While you are here, we’ve had some great news just in from Wild is Life/Zimbabwe Elephant Nursery (ZEN), whose work you support through this newsletter. 

ZEN takes care of young elephants who have been orphaned, usually in traumatic circumstances. The orphans need milk and a lot of love to survive, which ZEN gives them in abundance. They are also slowly integrated into a herd of fellow orphans, with the aim of being rewilded when they are older.

Over the years, ZEN has taken a number of elephants to their rewilding site at Panda Masuie.  Last year, a herd was relocated, during which their matriarch, Moyo, was injured. Getting her back to full health has been a very traumatic journey. But she has made it. And this week came the following wonderful news from Roxy Danckwerts, Founder of Wild is Life/Zimbabwe Elephant Nursery:

So very chuffed that Moyo was interacting with a wild bull yesterday. This is the first time that she’s had the courage and confidence to do this! Up until now, she’s been very wary of wild Ellie’s, most especially bulls. This is a giant step forward for her, on her rewilding journey! Very well done to the Panda carers who gave her the space to just be herself and to do things in her own time. Apparently he is a very handsome, polite and gentle bull! So proud of this fine young lady! (thanks to Ashwell for the photo!)

Moyo with her bull elie admirer - once an orphan who would have died, she can now roam freely and may perhaps even have her own calf

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From Panda Masuie comes this too:

Jack came back for a brief hello, after three years roaming wild and free!

Here’s a beautiful account of his visit by Simba Mupanwha from Panda Masuie:

Jack roamed in the bush, unseen, for three years. Jack's presence was known through the silence of the GPS tracking on his collar, yet his form remained a mystery. The wilderness embraced him, shaping him into a wild elephant, untamed and resilient.

Guided by the whispers of his journey, the elephant carers and rangers - Paradzai Mutize, Francis Ncube and Simba Mupanwha ventured into the thicket at Panda Masuie, hoping to catch a glimpse of the once vulnerable calf now thriving in his element. With bated breath, they sought him, hearts pounding in anticipation. Then, amidst the rustle of leaves, there he stood - majestic, strong, and free. A testament to the power of rehabilitation, he had transformed into a wild elephant.

In that moment, as we captured his image, a wave of joy washed over us. He had found his place in the wild, a testament to the success of the rehabilitation project and a beacon of hope for future elephants in the ongoing rehabilitation process.

''We celebrate it as a significant milestone. We are witnessing the successful reintegration of a rehabilitated elephant into the wild herds in Panda Masuie. It is our wish for every elephant in our care to be back where they belong. There is more hope for elephants like him…'' beautiful words from the leading elephant handler, Paradzai Mutize.

In our 10 years rescuing orphaned elephants, 13 elephants have been re-wilded, Jack being one of them!

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It’s David again, and I’d like to offer my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has joined me on this special journey to help the elephants, as well as so many other vulnerable and special beings!

May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness!

May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering!