This is a real-world meditation for when things get too heavy in life.
It may not sound like a traditional meditation or something you're used to,
But I kindly invite you to stay,
Especially if you too,
Like many of us,
Have grown tired,
Worn down,
Or disillusioned by too much forced positivity.
In this space,
You are welcome to arrive with all that you carry exactly as you are.
So let's begin.
Take a deep breath in and a deep breath out.
And I invite you to let this breath sit alongside everything else that you may be holding at this time.
Let it sit alongside anger or fear or anxiety,
Even rage.
Let it sit alongside pain,
Injustice,
Sadness,
Confusion,
Or helplessness.
If life feels like a ravenous mess right now,
I invite you to sit yourself down in the middle of that messiness.
Open your palms up to the sky and take one deep breath in and out.
You can close your eyes.
You can bow your head.
You can float a palm to rest over your heart.
And here,
In company of all of life's heaviness,
I invite you to stay and breathe.
Don't expend energy in trying to keep some emotions away.
They will arrive regardless.
They will come knocking at your door,
Asking to be allowed inside,
To be felt and welcomed as company.
Let them.
Let them sit with you in life's messiness and invite them to breathe alongside you.
With no expectation,
No fixing or saving.
Let your belly soften.
Let your heart soften too.
And for one singular moment,
I invite you to let go of trying to figure things out.
Just let yourself be in that space where answers are few.
I know it's scary.
I know it's hard.
I know it's unfair.
And I know it's lonely.
I'm here too.
Many of us are in this liminal space where we're wrestling with finding clarity and finding surrender.
For one singular moment,
Let go of trying to figure things out.
And whatever fills that space,
Let it sit with you.
And let your body respond,
Maybe in tears,
Maybe in deeper breath,
Maybe in gentle sways or words.
It's okay to not know.
It's okay to feel lost.
That sensation won't feel good,
But it also won't stay forever.
What does stay is you with your breath in your body,
Making space for all that you desperately hold in your mind.
And you can do hard things,
Dear friend.
But right now,
We're putting that struggle down for a moment.
We're surrendering to all the things we've been trying to push back into the closet because it's just too hard to keep it locked away every day.
So breathe and stay.
And feel the ground hold you and let your body soften to the harshness of life's winter.
And if you don't know how,
Stay with the feeling of that too.
All of us are learning.
All of us are stumbling.
You are in good company and there's nothing to rush.
Let this moment be as it is.
If it's loud,
If it's distracting,
If it's filled with anger,
Let it be that without effort in forcing it to be something quieter or prettier or more perfect.
The only perfect moment is one where we show up as our real selves,
Honestly,
Authentically,
Carrying all of our bags from past lives and experiences,
Trusting that we belong.
There's nothing to prove here,
Nothing to clean or purify,
Nothing to put away while you go fetch something better.
Just breathe and stay.
Breathe and stay.
Before you open your eyes or move your attention back into your space,
I'd like to offer this.
There is space in your practice for the brutal realities of living,
Of being human in a form that isn't always happy or joyful.
That space lives in your breath and it lives in moments when you stay in your body and stay with yourself exactly as you are.
Struggle and pain are guaranteed.
They don't go away.
They don't brighten in the light of positivity,
But they do settle in the grace of acceptance.
Life won't always be hard,
But when it is,
For one singular moment,
Stay with it,
The reality of it,
And loosen the grip of trying to lasso the storm.
Take a deep breath in and a deep breath out.
And I invite you to let your breath stay alongside everything else that you may still be holding at this time.
In all that you are,
You belong.
Be well.
