Hi,
This is Heidi Reeves.
Let's begin by letting the ground take your weight.
You don't need to hold yourself up right now.
Find a position where your body can soften toward the earth lying down,
Seated,
Or resting close to the ground.
Let gravity begin the meditation for you.
Bring one hand to your chest and one to your belly.
And take a slow breath in through your nose.
For the count of 4.
And exhale gently for six.
Again,
Inhale through your nose for a count of four and exhale gently.
For six.
Inhale softly and a long,
Slow exhale.
And let those exhales move through your jaw.
Through your shoulders,
Your belly,
Your hips as you begin to feel your body settle.
Notice what it feels like to be supported,
Not mentally,
Not physically,
The earth beneath you.
Holding your weight.
The south is the direction of the serpent.
She's an ancient embodied archetype.
She has no distance from the earth,
No separation,
Just this full contact,
Belly to belly with the earth.
And this is where we begin on the medicine wheel.
And the direction of the south of the serpent.
We begin here in the body,
In the physical realm.
In the place where the nervous system truly learns whether it's safe to soften.
So bring your awareness slowly.
Into your body now.
Notice the places that are holding tension.
The place is gripping.
Working harder than they need to.
And without changing anything,
Begin a slow scan from the soles of your feet to the crown of your head.
Just noticing.
Where does the body feel open?
Where does it feel dense?
Tired.
Body remembers.
What the mind has moved past.
A moment from years ago can still live quietly.
And the shoulders and the neck.
A grief.
What you thought you had carried can still be resting in the belly waiting.
Not because you haven't healed.
But because the body protects.
What once felt like too much to hold.
Take another slow inhale and let the exhale become even longer.
Our nervous systems soften through safety,
Not force.
There's nothing to fix right now,
Nothing to figure out Only this breath,
This body,
This moment Imagine the serpent.
When the old skin tightens,
She releases it,
She lets it go naturally,
Simply because she has outgrown it.
And the Earth knows how to hold what we no longer need to carry.
Let that information settle somewhere inside you And with your next exhale… Allow something to soften.
No need to analyze.
Just let the breath loosen,
Whatever is ready to loosen.
And let the body become a little heavier.
Take a deep inhale in.
And as you exhale,
Let the earth sink in.
Receive some of what you've been holding.
And stay here for a few breaths.
In through the nose.
Long exhale out,
Body heavy,
Earth steady beneath you.
Exhaling.
Anything that you've been holding,
Anything that's heavy.
Now,
Gently ask yourself,
What story have I been carrying?
That was never fully mine.
And notice what happens.
In your body when that question arrives.
And notice if there's a shift.
A softening,
Something that quiets And take one final deep breath in and a slow breath out.
Feel the ground beneath you.
Feel your body here in this present moment.
And know that you belong here.
You belong here because you're human,
Because you are alive.
And the earth has held humans through grief.
Change.
And fear and love.
Lost and becoming for thousands of years and tonight the earth is holding you holding you so sweetly.
Begin to deepen your breath.
Bring movement back into your fingers and your toes.
If you're lying down,
Gently roll to one side.
And take your time returning.
And as you move back into your day,
See if you can carry this with you.
More presence,
Less holding.
.
.
Or trust.
Serpent teaches us that healing doesn't always arrive through effort.
Sometimes it'll arrive through allowing.
And through softening enough to let the old skin.
Fall away.
Thank you for being here.
