Hello meditator,
Thank you for joining me for this Dhumavati centered meditation.
Now if you don't know,
Dhumavati is a goddess in the Hindu pantheon.
She is a crone goddess,
An elder goddess,
And she is the goddess of disappointment of old age.
She is the goddess of widows,
Of being alone,
Of loss,
And she's also with that the goddess of thought-free meditation,
Of those void states and transformation.
She is the goddess that lets go of everything to ascend.
Her name Dhumavati means smoky one and she is often depicted as an old crone woman with graying wrinkled skin,
Stringy hair,
A sagging body,
Sitting on or surrounded by crows,
Almost as a wise bag woman.
So today we are going to use the energy of Dhumavati to let go and release,
To bring ourselves just for a few moments into that transcended thought-free void meditation,
Just for a moment or two hopefully,
And to let go of the things we just don't need,
Whatever is negative in our lives.
So start by getting comfortable here,
Letting the breath flow in,
Letting the body just rest,
And start to scan the physical body.
Start to notice any areas of tension or worry,
Any areas of tightness,
And just start to picture those areas in the physical body as areas of almost smokiness.
Start to see almost a cloud of smoke around that area in the body,
And I'd like you to inhale and almost draw the breath into that area of tension or smokiness,
And as you exhale picture that smoke traveling out of the body,
Picturing that smoke billowing away from you,
That formless puff of smoke traveling out with each exhale,
Taking away that tension,
That stress,
That holding in the body.
Picture with each exhale that smoke traveling out and just going further and further away,
Eventually dissipating as smoke does.
And you can do this as many times as you need to,
Even if you need to pause the recording.
Breathe out as much tension and tightness in the body as you can,
And once you've let that all go,
Let's start working on our mind and our emotions and our memories,
And I want you to think of a situation that's causing you some disappointment or a sense of loss.
Maybe you didn't get that promotion you're looking for,
Or things just didn't work out in your favor.
Just think of a situation,
It could be recent or maybe it was a long time ago,
Think of somewhere where you still have that sense of disappointment,
Of loss,
And just start to call that to mind.
And let's just start to look at that and maybe notice the physical body,
Maybe your breathing gets a little heavier as you think about it,
Maybe your jaw a little tighter.
Just really thinking about the qualities of the situation where you felt some disappointment and some loss,
And just start to take the energy of that situation and start to turn that situation into smoke.
You might picture it in your mind's eye,
You might just sense the energy,
And we're gonna do a similar practice.
When you're ready,
I want you to take a big inhale,
And I want you to practice feeling that smoke travel out with your exhale.
Inhale and exhale out that smoke,
Saying to yourself,
Let go.
Good.
Again,
Inhale,
Fill up that situation,
Exhale,
Send it back out,
Let go.
Good.
As many times as you need to.
Inhale,
Exhale that smoke,
Let go.
And after you have breathed out all of it,
Just rest in this stillness,
Just rest in this void.
If another thought comes in,
Just turn it to smoke and say,
Let go.
Even if we need to do that over again.
Let go.
And just allow yourself to float in this void,
In this space of letting go.
Let go.
And when you're ready,
Just bring your awareness back to the feeling of yourself resting on the earth,
Knowing that it's always here to support you,
That you are grounded and you are strong.
And even in the face of loss and disappointment,
We can let go.
We can give ourselves permission to not carry around these feelings,
This loss.
We can give ourselves permission to sit with it and let it go.
Anything that no longer serves us,
We can let go.
And when you're ready,
Gently bringing yourself back,
Perhaps fluttering the eyes open and taking a stretch as we are ready to move through our day.
Thank you,
Meditator,
For joining me for this Dhammavati meditation.
Namaste.
