The Castle - Creating Strong, Healthy Boundaries

This audio really has come about as a result of all the requests I've had from clients to make it available.

It's really for anybody who has difficulty in centering and grounding themselves.

This really is a challenge for most of us because it's so easy for us to get sucked up into our busy minds,

Into anxiety and stress,

Or even alternatively to get sucked outwards into drama,

Into what's happening in the external world.

And suddenly we lose all sense of ourselves.

We lose all sense of power and we find ourselves thinking things and doing things and saying things that really we didn't intend to.

So if you're one of those,

And I guess most of us if we're honest are a bit like that at least some of the time,

Then this is for you.

So as usual we begin by closing our eyes wherever you are,

And I'm presuming you're not driving a car.

You've found a nice quiet place.

You've switched off mobiles,

Anything at all that would distract you.

And you're allowing yourself this short space of time as a practice to ground and center yourself.

So with the eyes closed we find a very relaxed position within the body.

Notice how your body is as you begin the journey inwards.

Notice how your body is breathing.

Notice the chair if you're sitting on a chair.

Notice your weight on the chair.

Or if you're lying down,

Your weight pressing into the earth.

Allowing your energy to draw inwards and downwards.

This is all as the precursor to any practice.

And so with your eyes closed,

Looking inwards and downwards,

I want you to get a sense of yourself.

Sitting or lying,

Wherever you are,

Pulling all of your energy inwards and downwards.

And letting your whole energetic system relax.

Activating what we call the parasympathetic response.

Where the body knows how to relax if only we would let it.

And as you deepen into this place,

Take a breath and let yourself sink even deeper.

Take another breath and go deeper still.

It's almost like your center of awareness is deeper within.

Perhaps somewhere down in the belly area.

There is a spot just below the navel which in certain traditions is called your center.

Or your hara or your dantien.

Notice what it's like to focus on that point just below your navel.

Letting your breath wash in and wash out.

Your tummy moving in and out.

And what I'd like you to do now is to bring to mind something that really hooks you.

Perhaps an anxious thought,

A person you don't like,

A situation that you really feel you can't handle.

Just bring it to mind briefly and let it go and come back to breathing.

All the way down into your center,

Into your one point just below the navel.

And as you sit here now,

I want you to begin imagining that you are a castle.

We know what a castle looks like.

It is strong,

It is imposing.

It's something that really rises out of the earth.

And it has certain features which I'd like you to become really aware of.

Imagine yourself sitting in the center of the castle,

In the area that is called the keep.

The keep was an area where basically if the castle was attacked in any way,

It was the last place of refuge at the very center.

Put yourself in that very center point of this castle.

So you've gone in the door of the keep,

You've closed it and locked it behind you.

And perhaps you've gone up a few steps and you're looking out through a very,

Very small window.

The windows usually were slits which just allowed whoever was inside to look out and see what was happening.

So here you are,

Sitting in the very center of your own castle and you're looking out from the keep.

And what can you see?

You can see out over the rest of the castle.

You can see out to the fields,

The plains,

Life itself that's happening out there.

And you feel very safe and you feel very secure.

And now I want you to bring to mind again that same thought you had a few minutes ago.

Something perhaps that is really annoying you,

A person,

A situation you can't handle,

Some very anxious thought patterns,

Whatever they may be.

I want you now to place them out beyond the castle,

Out there on the plains,

In the fields,

Whatever way works for you.

But there's a situation or there's a person or there's a thought pattern.

But you're sitting safely and securely in your castle.

Notice what it's like for you to sit in a place where you can see and connect with what's happening externally.

But you don't have to leave the castle to engage with it.

Now of course what happens in life is that things conspire to want to get in to our energy.

And so perhaps this situation or event or person or thought pattern wants to get in.

But notice that you don't have to let it in because you're a castle and you have many defences.

Looking out over the ramparts you notice of course that there's a moat,

Quite a wide moat surrounding the castle which is you.

And you have a drawbridge which is pulled up so nobody can access or get in to the castle unless you choose to let that situation or person or even thought pattern in.

So you have a drawbridge,

You have a moat,

You have ramparts that are inaccessible.

So you choose what you let in.

So for instance if you're going to meet somebody that usually sparks you in some way,

Take this meditation with you.

It's very simple really,

All we have to do is prepare and we take even 30 seconds to remind ourselves,

I am like a castle,

I am sitting in the centre of the keep,

This person is out there on the plain,

My drawbridge is up,

There's a large moat around the castle,

The doors are reinforced.

And so the person,

Yes you can deal with them,

You can engage with them,

But they don't get in to your energy.

You see them as out there,

They're not even a threat in any way,

Shape or form.

Now of course there are some people that you want to let in,

But again this is your choice.

So if somebody approaches and you really feel,

Yeah I'd love to get to know this person better,

I trust this person,

I don't have any past dynamic that gets activated.

Well then perhaps we let the drawbridge down and the person comes in to what we would call the courtyard area of the castle.

But you're still in your keep and the person is closer than those you keep out on the plain.

And so you engage with the person,

You're chatting with the person,

Perhaps you're having a laugh,

A drink,

Whatever it is,

But you don't need to leave yourself at all.

So that's really the second level of engagement.

The first level is that you know,

Some people perhaps or some situations,

We need to make sure we have a little bit of distance in a sense between us and them.

Energetically at least.

It doesn't mean we can't love them from this place within,

From this centred place,

But we don't need to engage in a way that we leave our centre.

And then the second stage of course is perhaps people that we feel a little bit more comfortable with and we're more secure with the situation.

And so the drawbridge is down and yeah,

We're a bit more light hearted,

We're having a little bit of fun,

Isn't that great.

And then the third stage is for those very few people that you're really intimate with,

That you feel totally 100% absolutely comfortable with.

This can be your lover,

Your partner,

Your children,

Perhaps members of your family or perhaps not.

And so sometimes you invite a person or persons into the keep with you.

And it's a very intimate place and it's reserved for very few.

It's a lovely image to carry around with you because the castle is very strong.

The castle feels very secure.

And because of the three levels of engagement,

You get to choose at what level you want to engage.

And it's particularly good when certain people in certain situations tend to spark your own inner drama and you get sucked into stuff that you don't want to get sucked into.

In those situations,

Stay in your centre,

Stay in the keep.

Don't even invite that person or situation into the courtyard.

Keep your drawbridge up and locked.

And they stay outside.

And then as you notice the usual pattern being sparked within you,

You simply breathe and stay in your keep.

And you notice the need to react or the need to defend or even the need to think fearful thoughts.

And you notice it all from the place of this keep which is grounded,

Which is centred,

Which is deeply connected to and part of the whole castle rising out of the earth.

A very strong image.

Carry this with you.

Simply by remembering this little meditation.

And the best way to remember is to use some anchoring technique.

So simply by pressing your thumb and middle finger together on your right hand.

Tips of your thumb and middle finger are pressed together on your right hand.

And you remember now,

Ah,

I remember what it felt like to be a castle,

To be strong,

To choose at what level I want to engage.

I feel grounded,

I feel centred.

And I feel connected.

So that's it for now.

Be well.

Be flexible.

Be at peace.

Www.

Mooji.

Org