I begin my morning ritual with meditation.
So find a comfortable place to sit.
This guided meditation is a way for us to open,
To ground,
To connect with ourselves and our body,
And to connect with our heart.
We do this practice not to have any particular experience,
There's no goal per se,
Other than to come into attunement to what's here now,
To what wants to be known,
To be held,
To be touched,
To really slow down and listen to the wisdom that's already within us.
Gently close your eyes and just allow yourself to fully arrive into this moment.
Allow your attention to fall and settle down at your feet.
Direct your energy and awareness toward the ground,
Feeling your feet on the ground.
Notice any sensations you may be aware of in your feet,
Or at those points of contact where your feet meet the ground.
See if you can just sense your feet and notice the difference between thinking about your feet and actually sensing them.
Just be curious about this.
It can take some practice.
You might imagine roots growing out from the bottom of your feet,
Going down into the soft mud,
Extending into the womb of the earth,
And any sensations you feel by way of that softness,
The gooeyness of the mud,
The warmth,
The rich soil,
The life here.
Just open to how you're being supported and held,
Exactly as you are,
Without having to change,
Or heal,
Or understand anything,
Or be or feel a certain way.
The earth isn't waiting for that.
Her holding is unconditional.
Life is not waiting for you to be different,
Or to have some different experience.
It's not waiting for you to be held.
No matter what's going on in your life right now,
You're being held by the earth.
Just sense that rootedness through your feet and down into the ground.
And when you notice your awareness moving back upward into thinking,
Just be curious about that.
What's that like as a perfectly valid and natural part of the meditation?
It's not the meditation gone wrong,
Or somehow you failed,
But recognizing the dynamic nature of awareness with gentleness and curiosity,
And just bringing your attention back to the ground,
To the body,
To this meditation.
And you might press your left foot gently into the floor as a way to further ground yourself.
Just notice any sensations there,
A tingling or aliveness,
An openness,
Heat or cold,
Pressure,
Or even a numbness.
Now your right foot,
Pressing it gently into the floor,
Just noticing any sensations that are there as you are rooted in the ground.
Held in the mud and the womb with your energy and awareness directed towards the holding field of the earth.
And now allow yourself to let go of your awareness,
And let go of the holding field of the earth.
And now allowing your awareness to move up and out of the earth,
And your feet,
Coming into your legs and to all the muscles there.
Allowing them to be filled with life energy,
Which is your attention,
Your curiosity,
Your curiosity,
Just feeling,
Sensing,
Listening to the quality of your experience here and the aliveness of your legs.
To even bring some compassion to your legs and the muscles for everything they've given you,
Provided to you for all these years.
Now including your belly,
Allowing your awareness to move up out of the earth and your feet,
Through your legs,
And coming to rest in your belly.
See what it would be like to soften your belly.
We often hold our bellies in,
Especially in our culture,
Without even knowing it,
To protect ourselves and our sacred core.
Just allow this softening and felt sense of letting go to touch and wash through you.
Your belly is a wisdom field with its own brain of over a hundred million neurons.
Place one or both hands on your belly,
Opening those compassion pathways with touch,
As a gesture that says to the belly,
I'm here,
I'm present,
I'm listening.
We hold so much in our bellies,
Unmetabolized grief,
Sadness,
Rage,
Even unfelt joy,
As well as our power,
Our presence,
Our center.
So just take a few minutes and connect as deeply as you're able to the wisdom and information in your belly.
Sensing,
Listening,
Feeling.
Now continuing up to include your heart.
This vast center of connection,
This vast center of connection,
Openness,
And warmth.
The very center of your entire being.
The organizing center and location of love in the human body.
Just take a moment and feel your heart.
Remember it.
Honor it.
Let it know that you're aware of it and listening.
So just take a few nourishing,
Cleansing breaths into and out of the heart,
Allowing that sacred life energy to move in and out of your heart center.
If it helps,
You could visualize the energy moving in and out as a soft yellow light.
Gently place one or both of your hands on your heart as a way to acknowledge it by way of touch.
Deepening your connection as a gesture of presence and care.
And so now including the earth,
Your feet,
Legs,
Belly,
Heart,
All contained and held within the warmth of your awareness.
Just rest here fully open and alive and listening to the wisdom of your body and nervous system.
Whatever visitor arrives into this open,
Warm field of awareness,
An emotion,
A thought,
A feeling,
A feeling,
A thought,
A feeling,
A thought,
An image,
A memory,
A feeling.
Each is welcome here as a guest of the nervous system,
Perhaps an ally helping you to find your way home to wholeness,
Aliveness,
To truly being here.
So let's just spend a few more moments together,
Allowing the meditation to dissolve and to just rest in that warm,
Spacious,
Compassionate awareness.
And as you're ready,
You can just allow your eyes to open and fully come back into the room that you're in.
