Settle into a comfortable position,
Whether that's seated or lying down.
Allow your hands to rest wherever they feel natural.
Perhaps that's open on your lap,
Or perhaps just gently resting over your heart,
Or anywhere else that feels natural and comfortable.
And again,
If it feels comfortable,
An invitation to softly close your eyes,
Or you might want to lower your gaze to somewhere steady,
A candle,
A still point in the room.
There is nothing you need to do right now,
Nothing you need to manage or contain.
This time belongs to you.
Take a slow breath in,
And a long easy breath out.
Letting each exhale carry something with it.
The effort of the day,
The weight of keeping it all together,
Any part of you that has been held very tightly.
You can loosen your grip here.
We begin by honouring the four directions.
Turning first to the north,
The direction of earth,
Of roots,
Bones and deep ground that holds us.
We honour the part of us that has endured,
That has stayed standing through everything.
The quiet unshakable foundation beneath all that we feel.
Turning to the east,
Direction of air and new beginnings.
Of breath,
Clarity,
And the part of us that is still willing to learn.
We honour the part of us that keeps asking questions,
That refuses to stop seeking understanding,
Even when the answers are uncomfortable.
Turning to the south,
The direction of fire,
Of passion,
Courage,
And the heat that lives at the centre of us.
We honour our inner fire tonight,
All of it.
The warmth and the heat,
The creativity and the fury,
The joy and the anger.
All of it fire,
All of it valid.
Turning to the west,
The direction of water and feeling.
Of depth,
Intuition,
And the wisdom that lives beneath words.
We honour everything we feel,
The full spectrum of it.
Not just the feelings that are easy to share,
But the ones that we have learned to hide.
And finally we come to the centre,
The place where all directions meet.
Your body,
Your breath,
Your whole self,
Here in this space.
Take one more slow breath in,
And out.
Now,
Gently,
I want you to think about anger.
Not to perform it,
Not to relive anything painful.
Just to notice,
Where does anger live in your body?
Perhaps it sits in your chest,
A tightness,
A heat.
Something that presses against the inside of your ribs.
Perhaps it lives in your jaw,
In the set of your shoulders.
Maybe in the place where your breath gets shallow when something happens that is not right.
Just notice,
Without judgement,
Your body knows where it keeps this.
Now,
And this really is an invitation,
Not an instruction.
Can you bring something to mind?
Something small,
That has made you quietly angry.
Not the biggest thing,
Not the deepest wound.
Something manageable,
Something that perhaps has simmered.
A moment when you swallowed something you perhaps wish you hadn't.
A time when you made yourself smaller to keep the peace.
A thing you have been told you shouldn't feel.
Just let it be present for a moment.
Without needing to do anything with it.
And now,
Ask yourself,
What might that anger be protecting?
Because anger rarely arrives without reason.
It tends to show up when something we value has been crossed.
When a boundary has been ignored.
When we have felt unseen,
Or unheard,
Or told we are too much.
Anger is not the enemy.
Anger is information.
It is pointing to something that matters to you.
Something worth paying attention to.
Something that deserves to be heard,
By you first of all.
Take a breath,
Into wherever you feel it in your body.
Not to inflame it,
But more just to acknowledge it.
To say,
I see you.
I hear what you are trying to tell me.
I am not going to make you disappear.
But I am going to listen.
Stay here for a couple of minutes.
With this quiet,
Honest presence.
An invitation here,
Perhaps to bring your hands to your heart space.
Or place them somewhere that feels nourishing and comforting for you.
Perhaps think about how our own touch can show us kindness and compassion.
Tenderness,
Warmth.
And know that there is a place for anger.
That we don't need to hide it.
To make it feel small,
To minimise it.
It's there to give us that information.
When you are ready.
I'd like you to start to begin to feel the space around you.
The surface below you.
Maybe where your body makes contact with the surface.
Perhaps bringing in some gentle movement.
Wiggling your fingers,
Wiggling your toes.
Notice the sounds,
The warmth.
Returning to your breath.
Noticing your inhale and your exhale.
And the pauses in between.
And perhaps lengthening your exhale just a little.
And moving on from this practice,
This meditation.
Carrying with you the beginning of a different relationship with a part of yourself.
That has been waiting for a long time to be welcomed home.
Namaste.
Namaste.
