Welcome.
I'm so glad you're here.
This meditation is about something every single one of us is living inside of,
Whether we talk about it or not.
Uncertainty.
We tend to treat uncertainty like a problem to solve,
A feeling to push through as quickly as possible so we can get back to solid ground.
But here's the truth.
Certainty is rare.
It's fleeting.
Most of life,
If we're honest,
Is lived without knowing exactly what's coming next.
So today,
We're not going to try to escape the reality,
And with it,
Uncertainty.
We won't fix it or force our way back into feeling sure about everything.
Instead,
We are going to practice something different.
We're going to practice becoming comfortable.
With uncertainty.
The practice will help you unclench and unwind whatever tension you've been holding against the unknown.
You're going to remind yourself something that's easy to forget when the future feels foggy.
That you are guided,
You are supported.
And things have a way of working out even when you can't yet see how just yet.
The old saying remains true.
We can only connect the dots looking backward in time.
Find a comfortable position,
Seated or laying down.
Wherever you are right now,
Let your eyes soften closed or simply look down and in front of you.
Let's begin with a breathing pattern that helps the nervous system settle when things feel uncertain.
We'll call it rectangle breath.
It's four counts in,
A hold for two,
Four counts out,
And a hold for two.
We'll take a regular breath in and out,
In through the nose.
And out through the mouth,
Letting the body settle just a little bit as you exhale.
Exhale 3,
2,
1.
Hold 2.
Breathing in.
Holding at the top.
Exhaling out.
Holding at the bottom.
Take a regular inhale in through the nose and out through the mouth.
And let your breath return to its own natural rhythm.
Nothing to control,
Just notice the breath moving on its own steady pace.
Notice what moves in the body when you take an inhale in.
And then exhale out.
Let your breath be your anchor,
Something you come back to continuously throughout this entire practice.
Now bring to mind whatever uncertainty you're currently living inside of.
It might be something specific,
A decision,
A diagnosis,
A relationship,
A question about money or work,
Or even the direction of your life.
Could also be something less defined,
A general sense that you don't quite know exactly what's next.
Notice if there's a place in your body that's been holding tension around this.
Maybe it's your jaw or your forehead.
Maybe it's your chest.
Maybe your stomach,
The place where so many of us carry the bracing of not knowing.
Perhaps you felt that pit in your stomach feeling,
A feeling of tightness around your solar plexus,
Right in the center of the torso.
And it might also be worthwhile to notice the energy around your heart.
It's both physically and energetically.
You can take a couple of deep breaths and notice the energy that surrounds the heart,
That's in front of it,
Around it,
And behind the heart.
And as you breathe here,
Notice if there's a bracing pattern.
And if there is,
It would make complete sense why it would be there.
Throughout this practice,
We want to turn towards the sensations that you're noticing in the body with compassion.
That means as you notice a new feeling or sensation,
Before trying to change it or wishing it wasn't there,
You just turn toward it,
Notice it,
Observe it.
Maybe even welcome it with gentle self-compassion.
Somewhere along the way,
Many of us learned that uncertainty meant danger.
That not knowing what something to fear is.
Rather than something to simply be present in.
Our nervous systems got very good at bracing against the unknown,
As a bracing could somehow make the unknown more known.
If the sensation of bracing feels unfamiliar to you right now,
Imagine if you've ever hit the brake very suddenly and what the feeling that creates in the body is like.
So many of us are living in that state chronically without even realizing that it's there in the background of life.
The thing about bracing is it doesn't generate certainty.
It just creates exhaustion.
Let's practice letting some of that tension go now,
Gently,
Without forcing an outcome.
Take a breath in.
As you inhale,
Notice wherever you're holding tightness in your body.
As you exhale,
Let just a small percentage of that tightness go.
You don't need to release all of it.
Even a little softening around these edges is enough for right now.
The way I think of it is,
Let's not ask too much of any one round of breath that we take.
But look for that cumulative soothing effect from staying with this practice and your breath.
For minutes at a time.
Breathe in here.
And exhale.
Letting your jaw relax.
Taking an inhale in,
And with the exhale now,
Letting your shoulders drop any amount.
Taking a breath in.
This time on the exhale,
Letting your stomach soften.
Use a few intentional rounds of breath here to fill up fully.
And as you breathe in,
Let the inhales illuminate any tension.
And as you breathe out,
Softly letting it go.
Take some time here.
As you take these breaths,
Notice that you can still be inside uncertainty and also be soft.
Those two things are not in conflict.
You don't have to be tense in order to be safe.
Next,
I want us to create a new relationship with not-knowing.
I want to offer you a different way of thinking about uncertainty.
Uncertainty is not the exception to a normal life.
It's the actual texture of most of our life.
The certain moments,
The ones where we know exactly what's coming and exactly how it will turn out,
Are rare and they pass quickly.
What that means is you have already lived through far more uncertainty than certainty.
You've already done this,
Over and over,
More times than you can count.
Think for a moment about a time in the past when you didn't know how something was going to turn out.
A job,
Relationship.
A health concern.
Amu And somehow,
You found your way through it every time.
You didn't have to know how in advance.
You simply moved forward one step at a time,
And the way appeared.
This has been true before,
And it's allowed to be true again.
You don't have to see the whole staircase to take just the first step.
The only requirement is trust.
Let yourself rest for a moment in the idea that you are guided.
This doesn't mean every detail is already decided,
Or that you have to figure out exactly how things will unfold.
It simply means you're not doing this entirely alone.
Something in you,
Call it intuition,
Instinct,
Intelligence,
Has been quietly guiding you through every uncertain chapter you've already lived.
And it hasn't stopped now.
Let yourself rest too in the idea that you are supported.
By people in your life.
By your own resourcefulness.
By whatever you believe holds this world together,
Larger than any one outcome.
You don't have to carry the uncertainty alone,
Gripping tightly or trying to manage every possible version of how something could go.
You're allowed to set some of that down and trust that you'll be met,
Step by step,
Exactly when you need to be.
Let's call this Living Life with a Loose Grip.
Things have a way of working out.
Maybe not in the exact shape you originally pictured,
But in a shape that,
Looking back,
So often makes sense.
For these next few breaths,
Simply practice resting right here inside the not knowing without trying to solve the situation.
Take a breath in.
And exhale,
Letting your body soften around the uncertainty instead of bracing against it.
Breathe in.
And exhale,
Trusting that you don't need the answer right now in order to be okay right now.
Breathe in.
And on the exhale,
Notice how much energy becomes available when you stop fighting the current and simply let yourself be carried by it.
You are safe inside the uncertainty.
You are guided through it.
You are supported,
Even in the parts you can't yet see.
Take one more full breath in and let it out slowly all the way out you don't have to leave this meditation with the answer you came in looking for.
That was never the goal.
The goal was simply to practice being at ease without one,
Even briefly,
So your body remembers that ease and uncertainty can coexist.
You will carry uncertainty again tomorrow and the day after that,
The same as you always have.
And you will keep finding your way through it,
The same as you always have.
Take a bigger breath here,
Filling up fully with energy.
And a soothing exhale out,
Feeling and embodying that sense of trust.
When you're ready,
Gently wiggle your fingers and your toes.
In your own time,
Let your eyes flutter open coming back.
