SoulSmith Meditations Jiva Smith

This is a yummy practice of self-love that is valuable for everyone, but I often recommend it for people who need a little reminder of their own magic.
Without mindfulness, many of us buy the (made up) stories that our negative inner dialogue tell us. We come to believe we’re ‘not good enough’, ‘should have done more’, ‘can’t do anything right', or whatever your particular flavor of inner nasty is. Next minute,  we have forgotten to appreciate all the ways we are wonderful, trying our best, and being kind to one another.
This meditation is an antidote for that salty state of mind. It has two parts; giving love, and receiving love. First we give love to ourselves as a child, which can be easier than working with the current version of us. Then we get to receive unconditional love from our highest, most ideal future self.
I find it an incredibly cathartic meditation and hope you do too! This is one you can come back to whenever you feel the call for self-love. And if you are in a tough moment, it is a good one to work with each morning for a couple weeks to boost your inner immune system.
With love 💜
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Please enjoy this meditation on being here now.
The meditation has 3 main parts. First we settle and enjoy some subtle breath work. Then to a body scan focused on relaxing, opening and cultivating awareness. And finally to open the mind to sit in total awareness of being, and explore drifting between awareness of body and total awareness of mind.
This is a recent favorite of mine, inspired by meditations I love from Tara Brach, davidji, and Ram Dass that also help cultivate internal awareness.
I designed this meditation for our recent community call focused on shifting impatience towards acceptance and joyful effort.
A key quote from that talk was:
Impatience is an argument with reality - Rick Rubin
This was a powerful idea for me. When we are tense, or grasping with what is being experienced right in front of us, we are wrestling with reality.
It invites us to consider, can we wholeheartedly accept being here, now?
A takeaway exercise for outside meditation is:
* This week can you notice when you are feeling impatient?
* And ask yourself if you can fully accept where you are in that moment to try and shift some of those tender moments into more open ones.
Sometimes it will work, sometimes it won’t. All we can do is do our best and keep practicing…
I hope you enjoy this meditation. Let me know what you think in the comments.
Good luck!


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SoulSmith is a reader-supported publication. Just like public radio, all content is available to anyone who wants it. If it resonates for you, please consider supporting in whatever way feels good; become a paid subscriber, share it to others, or comment and engage with the work.
Like many skills, meditation becomes easier and more fulfilling with practice. And one of the easiest ways to do this is habituating it into your routine. 
This meditation I have recorded is designed to be a nice entry point for those of you new to meditating, or trying to rebuild your practice, or going through a life transition or difficult moment. It’s suitable for all levels.
My teacher davidji insists on making meditation as natural as brushing your teeth and has a great one-liner to help.
“RPM = Rise. Pee. Meditate.”
Basically habituate getting your first meditation of the day done first thing.
On a scientific level, studies have reported the first 30 mins of the day, and in particular the first few minutes after you wake up, are prime for being able to slip into alpha brain wave states, most conducive to deep meditation.
Then on a practical level, getting to the cushion before we open our phones and get drunk on dopamine - intoxicated by all the notifications, emails, texts, news and social media scrolling is incredibly helpful.
Here’s what I’m proposing: make a commitment this week, to rise, pee, then meditate as part of your morning routine and see how it feels. Comment on this post if you’re up for the challenge, and come back to let me know how you did at the end of the week.
When you feel ready, explore other meditations on this site or DM me some details about what you’re working on and I can suggest specific recordings for you. 
Good luck!


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SoulSmith is a reader-supported publication. Just like public radio, I intend for all content to be available to anyone who wants it. If any of this resonated for you, please consider supporting in whatever way feels good for you; become a paid subscriber, share it to others, or comment and engage with the work. 

I think about Metta meditation like a gateway drug into falling in love with your heart. 
Metta means ‘loving kindness’, and in this meditation the object is the feeling of pure love in your heart. Using your breath you expand that feeling as wide as your heart will allow (hint: much, much further than you think)
It gets gooey and cozy and feels really, really good. One of the reasons why Metta is a favorite mediation practice of mine.
This version is inspired by my teacher davidji. As I was working to awaken my own heart this is the meditation I kept coming to over and over again. In the process I built more trust and confidence that there is no limit to love, and my heart really can expand to include everyone.
If love towards self and others is something you want to work on, I recommend doing this meditation every morning for several weeks until the loving feeling starts to arise spontaneously outside meditation.
Enjoy! Much love 💜
P.S. This meditation and a conversation on love was the topic of our recent bi-weekly community call. If you’d like to be added to the invite, send me an email or DM, and keep an eye on the chat section in the Substack app where I will be sharing the invite before each call.


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Ho’oponopono is a really beautiful family healing ritual originating from Hawaii. Sharing my gratitude to the Hawaiian healers who created this practice, and for my teacher davidji who first introduced me to this as a meditation that I am sharing with you below
The translation, as I understand it, for Ho’oponopono is to “make right, right again”. Or correction. It is traditionally shared in extended family settings, led by a family elder, so I think about it like a deep family reset to clear the air, reconnect and make things right again.
The first time I did this meditation (and still when I practice it now, honestly) I end up experiencing major catharsis and crying often - which is not my usual meditative vibe! 
I wondered if perhaps this is because I am a Maori man, and feel deeply connected as an indigenous Pacific Islander. Or because of various family wounds still lingering inside me. I do know for sure that the more I do this, I have come to think it is the practice itself. It is deceptively simple, and really gets to the heart of emotions I don’t often abide in. I hope you love it too.
The practice itself cultivates repentance, forgiveness, gratitude and love. And this is done by repeating the following mantra in different contexts:
“I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you. I love you.”
In the meditation we will bring to mind past selves and family ancestors so please be gentle with yourself in the process if that is sensitive for you, and reply to me if you need support integrating. The goal is to shift from judgement toward love and gratitude for all those before you who did their best and helped you be here today, even if it doesn’t always feel that way.
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If you are going through a tough time with your family, I recommend coming back to this meditation regularly until more of those relationships feel they have shifted. If things are good, I like to come back every 2-4 weeks as maintenance. It works great in the morning, but also as a second sit, late afternoon, to wash off the funk from the day.
As always, questions and thoughts in the comments. I encourage sharing of any realizations or things that come up for you that might help other meditators in our community.


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