Ah yeah,
Welcome to this week's Mindful Monday meditation practice and In this installment I would like to talk a little bit about,
Share and read a poem called The Guesthouse.
And you may well have heard of this it's pretty famous in the in the world of mindfulness and it's a pretty old poem and it is 13th century.
Poem is written by a Sufi Persian mystic.
Whose full name was Jalal al-Din Mohammed Rumi.
Has various names actually,
But interestingly enough,
He's kind of known as Rumi.
R U M I and the reason for that is that that is the Arabic word for Roman.
He lived most of his life in the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum.
Which was essentially where modern Turkey is now but it was originally and not actually a few years before his birth was part of the Byzantine Empire which is the which was the Roman Empire that kind of existed really after the after the original Roman Empire in Italy fell for a long period of time,
Up until 1453 actually.
So yeah,
So Rumi has his name simply meaning Roman,
Which is interesting,
I think.
Anyway he was a kind of yeah Persian poet mystic and he's one of these people who um His grave actually,
Or the location of his grave,
Is a place of pilgrimage for a number of religions,
So Christianity,
Islam,
Judaism,
Amongst others.
And because he had this kind of amazing kind of cross denominational appeal and this appeal to lots of different kinds of religions.
Lots of different kinds of people and he wrote a lot of poetry but this is perhaps his most famous piece and what I'd like to do really just a short practice today is to read this poem.
And then see what lands for you and it's certainly not my position to.
.
.
To tell you what this poem is about and it may be that it lands differently and has different explanations for different people and that's often the way right.
With words.
Poetry,
Literature and so forth.
I'm fighting you to get comfortable.
And whatever kind of posture.
Watch for you wherever it fills.
You are most supportive.
And may be helpful to close your eyes.
I'll do that for a few moments,
But I will.
.
.
Once I've guided a short kind of landing practice,
I'll read the poem and then invite you to stay in a bit of silence really for a minute or so,
A couple of minutes just to see what comes out well.
You notice and maybe that's in thoughts,
Feelings,
Emotions that may be related to the words that you See you later.
Yeah,
So it feels okay.
If it feels okay,
Perhaps letting your eyes close,
Letting your eyes.
.
.
Close but if not then maybe alluring the gaze or softening the gaze just taking a step back.
And step away from the busyness of whatever you may have been doing.
Taking a couple of deep breaths.
It may be possible to notice a sense of sinking Settling.
With each slightly deeper out-breath.
Maybe noticing a sense of that settling,
That sort of dropping down through the body,
Through the head.
Mouth,
The neck,
The chest and through the stomach.
Through the back pelvis.
Thighs.
And to the knees shins.
Why don't you speak?
Resting on the floor.
So this is the Guesthouse by.
.
.
Jaladunin.
This being human is a guesthouse.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy,
A depression,
A meanness.
Some momentary awareness comes.
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all.
Even if there are a crowd of sorrows who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture.
Treat each guest honourably.
They may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought,
The shame,
The malice,
Meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever camps.
Because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
I'll read that once more.
This,
Being human,
Is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.
A joy,
A depression,
A meanness.
Some momentary awareness comes.
As an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all.
Even if there are a crowd of sorrows who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture still.
Treat each guest honourably.
They may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought,
The shame,
The malice,
Meet them at the door laughing.
And invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever counts.
Because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
Yeah,
So.
.
.
Perhaps if your eyes closed or lower gaze,
Just taking a few moments now in silence.
See if you can stay as much as possible with the words Those words,
Some of the words.
See what lands for you.
Comes up for you and if you notice your mind wandering.
See if it's possible to come back to this moment this sitting here together this consideration,
This recollection of this poem.
The Guest House by Rumi now just bringing this short practice to a close Of course,
If you would prefer to stay up.
Sitting,
Practicing,
Meditating a little longer,
Then please do.
Now I'm hoping you've found this supportive.
And yeah.
Thank you for joining in.
Look forward to seeing you next week.
Bye for now.
