This is Mary Maddox with MeditationWaysus.
Com.
This episode is a guided meditation for the equinox.
The meditation was recorded live with my guided meditation group.
Let's get comfortable and close our eyes.
Let's take a minute just to be here.
Notice that having closed your eyes,
There's some settling that happens.
An opportunity for everything to settle down from what you were doing before.
So you can just be present and notice what's happening right here and right now.
We'll do a meditation for the equinox,
Recognizing that time of year when dark and light are balanced.
Time to reflect on change and the balance that's ultimately at the basis of change.
So whether we're in the northern hemisphere or the southern hemisphere,
The equinox is the same all around the world.
A balance of dark and light.
Here we're moving into autumn and on the other side of the world,
They're moving into spring.
For us,
The days get shorter and the nights longer.
And in the southern hemisphere,
The days will be getting longer and the nights shorter.
And six months from now,
We'll be back at an equinox.
And starting that process in the other direction.
And at the time we can sit back and look at how things shift in life.
The pairs of opposites shifting from joy to sorrow,
Sorrow to joy,
Pain to pleasure,
Pleasure to pain.
Life just keeps cycling.
And underneath,
If you take it all as a whole,
There's balance.
So let's take some nice deep breaths.
Take a deep breath in,
Filling the lungs,
And relax into the exhalation of the breath.
The cycle of the breath,
Bringing in oxygen,
Fresh air,
Vitalizing our tissues,
Our bodies,
And breathing out carbon dioxide and what we don't need.
And then the earth and the earth's atmosphere and the plants on the earth,
Everything balances it all out.
Constant cycling,
Constant change happening automatically.
It all happens automatically,
Just like breathing.
So let's take one more nice deep breath.
Relax into the exhalation of the breath,
And then just notice how the breath goes on its own.
Automatic.
Easy,
Open awareness of breathing.
The equinox is a balance point.
There's a point,
A moment,
When things shift,
Just like the breath,
A moment when the breath turns the corner from inhalation to exhalation,
Exhalation to inhalation.
Every moment is a turning point.
Noticing everything that's being experienced in this moment,
Letting go of any resistance,
Any attempt to change anything.
Open to life as it flows,
Open to what happens automatically,
Knowing that if there's happiness,
There will be a time of sadness,
If there's sadness,
Happiness will come.
That every moment things are shifting,
Changing.
And so,
Not holding on to anything.
Holding on stops the life energy from flowing.
Resistance blocks the life energy.
Relaxing into what is reveals that energy of life that changes day into night,
Night into day.
Inhale into exhale,
Exhale into inhale,
One season into another.
Relaxing into change,
Relaxing into that cycling of life.
Finding your own balance point,
Your own center in that relaxation.
See if you can notice the life energy that's present,
The life energy that's constant in all the change,
Bringing change and remaining changeless.
Allowing thoughts,
Emotions,
Sensations to be present and come and go,
Noticing what's there all the time along with that.
You can feel it in your body.
Perhaps you can notice some fine vibration,
Some hum,
A sense of aliveness.
Perhaps you can discover it in the breath.
Perhaps you can discover it when the breath seems suspended between inhalation and exhalation.
Perhaps you'll notice it as your own awareness,
The wakefulness that's present.
The wakefulness,
This life energy in which everything is happening.
This energy that can be located in every moment,
Every season,
365 days a year,
Throughout the cycle of the day,
Day and night,
Night and day.
All of it happening in that wakefulness,
In that energy that feels alive in your body.
Simply noticing that,
That aliveness.
Sometimes our attention will be grabbed by a thought,
Strong emotion,
Maybe some sensation in the body or a noise in the room.
And then noticing that automatically we let go,
Come into the present moment where that aliveness,
That awakefulness is present.
So we'll have a couple of minutes now to just be with this.
Just be with that aliveness,
Coming back to it,
Favoring it when other things are going on.
Thank you.
You you Easy,
Open awareness of whatever is happening in this moment.
Realizing the aliveness that's present.
So we started with the theme of the equinox.
And we found the aliveness we found.
The foundation of that balance of that change.
Equinox representing balance,
A balance point at the junction of a change.
We can start anywhere and locate that aliveness in our own consciousness.
So no matter what we're doing for the rest of the day and the night,
We can always come back to this.
Always come back to presence.
So now we'll begin to come out of the meditation.
Giving your attention to your body,
Noticing your breathing,
Feeling the weight of your body,
The physicality,
Noticing your location.
You might want to gently start to move,
Stretch.
You can take some deep breaths.
Take your time and only when you feel ready,
Open your eyes.
