Hi,
It's Julie Potichur for the Balanced Mind Meditation Center.
So your body feels upright and dignified,
But relaxed.
If you've ever wondered what that means,
I imagine feeling my sit bones on what is supporting me and then I imagine sort of like a beam or a rope going up my spine,
Out the top of my head and continuing up so that your chakras are open,
Your spine is reaching up and at the same time your sit bones are really grounded down.
So that's how I imagine you being upright and dignified.
Now let's close our eyes down or a gentle downward gaze if that makes you feel more safe and we're going to start by taking three breaths together longer on the exhale.
So breathing in for four and breathing out for six.
Right now.
On this last one,
Suck a little more air in at the top if you can and then let it out with a sigh.
Okay.
All right.
Really smooth and relax your eyes.
Smooth your eyelids.
Your eyes are either closed completely to minimize distractions or you're just in an unfocused downward gaze.
Your breath is natural.
Relax your forehead.
Relax your eyebrows.
Release your jaws so that you relax your jaws and with your mouth open,
Relax the inside of your mouth and the root of your tongue.
You can even move your tongue around for a minute.
Really let your jaws go.
And then when you close your lips,
Allow your teeth to remain parted.
Now imagine a slight smile to the outside corners of your lips.
Let your breath be natural and drop that smile down into your throat,
Your neck,
Soften.
Letting your shoulder blades move down your back as you drop your smile into your heart.
Letting your abs release,
Releasing your hips into what's supporting you.
Letting your thighs and your knees relax.
Your calves and your ankles and your feet.
And then allowing relaxation to go from both shoulders down your arms,
Past your elbows and your forearms and your wrists and into your hands.
Now soften your hands and see whether you can feel your hands from the inside out for a moment.
Resting your awareness on your hands.
Are they chilly or warm?
Are they clammy or dry?
Are they vibrating or kind of dull?
You may want to place a hand or hands where you find it soothing for a couple breaths just as a reminder that you're giving yourself this care.
You're practicing for yourself and also in community this love.
Placing your hands on your lap when they're tired.
And now imagining yourself really rooted into the ground.
These roots are coming from your feet or from your sit bones or both.
You're really strongly rooted.
These tendrils going down through the chair and through the floor and through the foundation and into the bedrock,
Into the soil.
There's nutrients going up and you're rooted and strong going down.
Up above the soil there's an incredible garden.
You're a tree allowing the wind to blow on your leaves and branches and bark and allowing the rain which is coming down to gently wash your leaves.
And the ground that you're rooted in is an incredible garden.
Just like what we plant in our mind,
In our human head,
In our brain,
There exists in this garden incredible flowers and grasses and even weeds.
And when you look out from the tree you see honesty and love and kindness and gratitude.
You see creativity and hope and humility.
You see fairness and forgiveness and perseverance and you see all these core values in this garden that you've planted based on what you rest your awareness on.
What you believe in,
You see hope,
Judgment,
You see teamwork.
And it's raining just this beautiful gentle rain now washing off these buds and leaves and flowers so that they're in balance.
The best kind of love.
Spirituality and balance.
You see you've planted humor there.
It's being gently rinsed so it's just the right amount of humor.
And you're resting your awareness on your breath looking out to see all this gorgeousness and complexity that you've created,
That you've planted in the garden in your mind.
Looking down from the top of your tree you can see it's just perfect.
You feel safe and happy and comfortable.
2 And now you can imagine your human self sitting at the base of this tree.
You've got an umbrella,
You're not getting wet,
You're warm enough,
You're sitting on something soft.
Just hanging out,
Following your in-breath and your out-breath,
And looking out at this garden you've planted,
Of all good things.
It's so beautiful.
If your mind wanders,
You are coming back to sitting under this tree gently re-relaxing,
Looking out at this incredible pasture that you've created with living things that represent values that you hold so dear.
Could be bravery,
Gratitude,
Love,
Honesty,
Spirituality.
It'll be your unique.
Your unique environment.
Forgiveness,
Perseverance.
Beauty.
Just taking it all in.
The safety and the wholesomeness.
Now the sun's coming out.
So you can see the raindrops glistening in the sunlight.
And they start to dry.
The air is warm,
Not hot,
Just perfect.
Whatever perfect temperature is for you.
As you gaze out over this incredible garden that you've created,
Staying in your meditation,
I'd like you to take in these words and if they sound far away,
That's fine.
Just let them roll through your mind.
The Breather by Billy Collins.
Just as in the horror movies,
When someone discovers that the phone calls are coming from inside the house.
So too I realized that our tender overlapping has been taking place only inside me.
All that sweetness,
The love and desire.
It's just been me dialing myself,
Then following the ringing to another room.
To find no one on the line.
Well,
Sometimes a little breathing,
But more than not nothing.
To think that all this time,
Which would include the boat rides,
The airport embraces and all the drinks.
It's been only me and the two telephones,
The one on the wall in the kitchen and the extension in the darkened guest room upstairs.
That was The Breather by Billy Collins.
What we think in our minds,
Where our minds take us,
The stories we tell ourselves,
What we plant in the garden of our minds,
We have so much control over.
Wiggling your fingers and wiggling your toes.
And when you hear the sounds of the chime,
Listening all the way through before coming back into this space.
Thank you for listening.
It's Julie Potichur from the Balanced Mind Meditation Center.
