Celebrating The Balance Of The Equinox

Okay,

Welcome everyone to this meditation and it's the equinox.

It's the time of balance.

It's the time of the days being as long as the nights.

And certainly for me,

I'm more likely to have celebrated the imbalance,

The longest day or the longest night.

And this time my heart is drawn to celebrate the equinox,

Equi.

And as I have said before,

You may have heard me say before,

Can we bring a balanced attitude to whatever feels out of balance?

Can we see both sides of everything that life is giving us and not make it a conflict that just welcome the contrast?

So as we go into this meditation in celebration of the equinox,

Let's see if we can make our breath balanced.

Can we make our inhale the same length as our exhale?

And just count for yourself.

I'm not going to dictate the length of breath.

We all have different lengths of breath.

I've practiced some jigong this morning and since then my breath has felt quite long,

Quite deep.

So I'm not going to imprint what my count is,

But just in your own time count your breath in and count your breath out.

And just notice whether it's easy to find a balance,

Whether it's natural for you to give and receive the breath in equal amounts or whether your natural state is to be slightly out of balance.

Perhaps you find it easier to give the breath in the exhale than it is to receive the breath on the inhale.

Just notice now.

Notice how it is for you.

And perhaps extend that noticing,

That curiosity to your general attitude towards giving and receiving.

How easily can you give?

How easily can you receive?

How balanced are you?

And maybe that changes from day to day.

Maybe it's not a steady pattern but it would be worth noticing.

It would be worth being curious about.

And let's imagine that we are ready to receive.

Let's walk ourselves into a state of readiness.

We could imagine an avenue of trees,

A pump,

The trees touching their hands above your head,

Making us remember childhood games,

Dancing with bluebellies or dancing a reel with Scottish country dancing and hands held above your head and you passing through.

And even that passing under those hands is a receiving source and allowing of yourself to be the one that passes through,

The one that is covered by others,

The one that is having space held for.

But on this journey let's imagine we are walking through these trees that are bending over forming an arch.

But there's plenty of space for us to walk through.

The path is clear.

There's no obstructions.

We don't have to be particularly careful with any rough ground.

We can walk through easily.

But this path,

Walking along this path feels very nurturing.

And as we're walking along this path,

Having this sense of already receiving attention,

A yearning starts up in our hearts,

Something that we are so keen to receive,

Perhaps because it will make us become something in our hearts or we feel like this will help us on our way,

But for whatever reason we have a yearning.

And as we walk along,

We can look in our hearts as we are walking and whatever we are yearning through starts to become alive.

For us,

We have a sense of what it is that we are yearning.

And we keep on walking through this beautiful arch,

This avenue that has been created for us.

And this avenue is the perfect length because as we come to the end of this avenue,

We have a sense of what it is that we are yearning,

What it is that we would like to receive.

And perhaps as we're walking along,

We find it difficult to put words to what it is that we want,

But we know that we want something.

And when we get to the end of this avenue,

We can have that certainty.

So we keep on walking back.

And we start to see ahead of us that this avenue's archway is going to end.

And we have a sense of excitement of allowing ourselves to receive whatever it is that we feel in our arms that we need the most.

When we come to the end of the archway,

There is an opening.

Brass.

The sun is shining.

And we take some steps forward and we realize that there is a bird that is running through this opening.

And we have a sense of anticipation of being ready to receive whatever it is and that that receiving is coming closer.

And we sit down beside the burn stream and we enjoy the warmth of the sun on our skin and we turn our attention back to our breath.

And we just notice again,

We're curious again as to whether there is balance between the breath in and the breath out.

We just notice without judging if there's an imbalance,

We're just curious.

Perhaps in this moment,

The breath in is longer than the sense of being needy.

And just make an effort,

Set your intention to balance your intention,

Just to give yourself a foundation to reach for a balance elsewhere otherwise.

So on your own count again,

Just breathing in.

Perhaps you get to six or seven,

Eight.

And exhale to the same number.

And inhale just in your own time.

Giving and receiving.

And you realize that as you sit by this water,

This running water,

We realize that for you to receive whatever it is that you are yearning to receive,

You need to give something up.

Perhaps when you hear that as a sense of disappointment or annoyance,

Or perhaps as a recognition that of course that makes sense.

Everything has to be in balance.

So as you sit by this running water,

Just allow yourself to relax into a sense of I don't know,

Or relax into a certainty,

Whichever state you're in,

And allow a sense of whatever it is that you need to give up,

To come to you.

Maybe it's an attitude.

Maybe it's a resentment.

Maybe it's a way that you have of speaking to yourself or others.

Maybe it's the desperation for whatever it is that you want to receive.

Just allow yourself to sit there and allow whatever bubbles up,

However much sense or no sense it makes to you.

Allow the breath to be in balance and allow whatever it is that you need to give up to bubble up to the surface to become clear to you.

Even if it makes no sense and it's not what your brain thinks should be the answer at all.

Just trust yourself,

Trust that balance of the breath.

Trust your heart that is yearning for the receipt of something.

Trust that your heart knows what it has to give up.

Just allow whatever is there to bubble up.

And perhaps if nothing is coming to you,

Then what you need to give up is the need to know,

The need to know what the answer is.

However you play it,

Your Stella and whatever is there to bubble up.

Fear of,

I don't know.

If that's what's coming up,

Then there you go.

You're not giving up the I don't know,

Give up the fear of the I don't know.

And just keep on returning to your breath,

The balance of your breath breathing in and breathing out.

Whatever has come to you,

Imagine,

Imagine holding it in your hands.

Imagine forming it.

Imagine the energy of whatever it is that you need to give up being held in your hands.

It's like you're holding a squishy ball in your hands that contains whatever it is,

The essence of whatever it is that you need to give up.

And if you're ready to give it up,

Lean over the water,

Open your hands and let it drop.

Let's go.

Reach down further and put your hands in the water.

The water is cool,

Refreshing,

Clear.

It's running over your hands,

Making your hands feel so,

So alone.

Drop your hands in the water and lift them out gently and allow the drops of water to fall.

Cup your hands together again,

Make that ball and you realise.

Breathing in,

Your hands are now holding the essence of what you need to receive.

And breathe into that,

Breathe into the balance of that,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Holding this precious,

Precious thing in your hands.

And bring your hands up to your heart and just place them one,

Two,

On top of each other and just allow yourself to absorb whatever it is that you have received.

And breathe into that,

Allow your breath to steady you in that receipt.

Breathing in to your own count and breathing out.

And allow your hands to return to your lap again.

Your heart is absorbed,

Is gift.

And you can stand up now from beside the burn and walk back.

You walk back across the clearing,

Come back into the tunnel of trees.

And during this walk back you notice how easy it is to breathe evenly,

How easy that balance is to give and to receive.

And this time this walk back is again the perfect length,

It's the perfect length of time for you to absorb and breathe into the experience that you have.

It's long enough for you to offer your thanks to the trees,

To the palm,

To your own excitement,

To offer thanks to your own willingness to go on this journey.

Offer your thanks to that water that received and gave.

The journey back is the perfect length for me to absorb all this and to give sincere thanks.

When you come to the end of the avenue of trees again,

You step out and somehow the light is a little brighter,

It almost makes you blink.

There's a feeling of something having shifted.

And there's a celebration within you,

Even just for those moments,

Of having touched a very deep sense of balance.

And just start to walk out of this journey,

You can keep a finger on the pulse of that balance,

Be curious about it.

Just notice for this moment,

The next moment,

The next moment,

How easy it is or difficult it is to hold that sense.

You've had this experience,

Magnus,

As one of your experiences that you can build yourself up.

And just start that walk up to the surface,

Allow yourself to become more aware of your physical surroundings,

Your seat,

Your shoulders,

Your feet,

Maybe just rotate your shoulders a little bit to help bring you back into what we would call the real world,

If all of it is real.

So bring yourself back into your room,

Your car.

And feel free to rub your hands together,

Rub your hands on your face,

Whatever helps to make that transition.

And in your own time,

Just bring yourself completely back.

When you're ready,

You can open your eyes.

Welcome.