11-11 Meditation For Remembering Yourself Through All Seasons

For everybody,

If it's your first time or if we haven't done meditation before yet,

My name is Quazi and it's nice to be here with you all today.

You know,

It's the fall.

I hear we're tuning in from different places in the world.

I'm coming in from the Midwest,

Saginaw,

Michigan.

And,

You know,

I'm really glad to have this time with you all to,

Like,

Just take some time to catch a vibe.

Hopefully restore anything that might have got,

You know,

Kind of tumbled,

Like the leaves are getting tumbled these days if your energy,

Your spirit,

Your mind is kind of moving like the leaves.

You know,

It's nice to just at least take a little bit of time to settle things down.

So we'll do that today.

First things first,

Just allow yourself to get comfortable,

Get into a settled position.

If you haven't yet today,

Just take a look around your room.

Right.

Just kind of look up,

Down,

Look around and just ensure for yourself you feel like you're in a safe,

Comfortable space.

Right.

A space you're probably familiar with.

The past couple of years,

Maybe you got really familiar with that room that you're in.

So once you feel like you've got a sense of that room,

You can choose to close the eyes or relax the face.

The eyes might naturally eventually close on their own.

We can take a few breaths just to get settled in.

Maybe the first breath you take in this moment is you acknowledging the time that you're taking,

The start of our journey for today.

So watch it move in and watch it move out.

And let that be a reminder that things are always flowing.

There's always a flux.

And the subsequent breath that follows,

Maybe you dedicate that breath to the space,

Your coworkers,

Colleagues,

Friends,

Even other people in the building that you may be in.

And just wishing the best for them as well.

Putting that best foot forward for you and trusting that that can be abundant.

Trusting that that wishing well can also extend to everyone.

And we might even take a breath just putting it out there for our future self.

The version of us that is in collaboration with coworkers,

Family,

The city that we're in.

For when times get a little bit tough,

We'll send that breath forward,

Future forward.

So that we might be reminded down the road that we also have some breath,

We have some support there.

We'll find a little bit of stretching around the neck area.

So the spine can get really long,

Really tall,

Really proud.

And you've already seen the room that you're in,

So maybe visualize that space and visualize yourself sitting in that space.

Of all the billions of people on earth,

You are the only person sitting in this exact spot that you're in.

Your footprint is unique in this way.

Taking time to acknowledge our own self,

Our own place in the world,

Physically.

If there's any tension along the forehead or the jaw,

Simply noticing it might allow it to relax and settle.

If there's any tension around the eyeballs,

Around the eyelids,

Any small muscles in the face that might have been held,

Might also start to soften here.

As we start to find movement,

Your breath could be as simple as in and out through the nose,

But it also could be as big and as full as a vibrational sigh.

Really allowing ourselves to honor whatever the body is feeling like today.

With the spine long,

You can drop your right ear towards your right shoulder,

Creating a little bit of length along the left side of the neck.

Noticing that slight pull,

That sensation.

Let's gradually bring the head back on straight.

Just allow a breath or any changes in the body to show up.

We'll do the same side a few more times.

Again,

Right ear,

Drop it towards your right shoulder.

Just getting a sense of that movement and also that direction of movement.

Maybe you remind your left shoulder to relax away from the head that's falling in the opposite direction.

Good.

Head can come back on straight once again.

If you ever need to lick your lips or take a dry swallow to clear your throat,

This can be another way to clear off just subtle engagement that you may no longer need.

Again,

Right ear towards the right shoulder,

Lingering for a breath in and a breath out.

Outside of having any preconditioned,

Predisposed injuries around the neck,

You can use your right hand and just kind of rest it on the left side of your head,

Just to give it a little bit of extra weight to fall towards your shoulder.

The hand is a gentle guide,

Maybe firm in its approach,

But still allowing breath to be the main factor in terms of movement.

The breath moving in and the breath moving out.

Slowly relaxing the hand down by your side,

Your head can come back on straight.

And you might even let the shoulders draw backwards,

Allowing the center of your chest,

Which we often call our heart center,

To shine forward.

Good.

We'll take another breath in here,

And another breath out.

Drop your chin towards your chest so the back of the neck gets to elongate,

Creating a little bit of roundness around the top of the shoulders.

In this moment,

The chest is slightly hollow,

Slightly caved in,

Just allowing it to happen,

Allowing the neck to relax,

Allowing the heaviness of the head to be let go.

Moving with the breath,

You can take an inhale here.

And when you exhale,

Roll your head back on straight back to center.

A few more times here,

Chin to the chest.

Head on straight.

Again,

Chin to chest.

Real subtle here,

Just give yourself a light smile in the face,

Just to stretch the corners of the mouth,

And just take a moment to breathe into that corner.

And when you exhale,

Allow the face to relax again.

Allowing the cheekbones to relax quietly and inwardly to yourself,

Maybe harvesting in this fall season,

Harvesting a little bit of joy or comfort,

And the fact that you have some time,

You have all the time,

To really be easy with yourself and explore.

Allowing the mind to move at the pace of the body.

Let's bring the left ear to the left shoulder,

Creating a stretch along the right side of the neck.

And this is a whole different side,

So it might feel like a new experience.

The breath possibly moving very freely on its own,

The same way the waves of an ocean move.

You could observe the breath as a wave.

Bringing your head back on straight.

You might imagine you're anchored right in the center of your experience.

Whether it be the movement of the breath,

Or the waves of your consciousness,

Aware of your space here.

Your left ear to left shoulder once again,

Trusting that as you hold the position physically,

The movement of air,

The movement of energy that's carried by your breath,

Carried in the air,

Is finding its way,

It's working its way through the nooks and crannies,

Through the knobs and the creaks and the cracks of the body.

Good,

When you're ready,

Head can come back on straight.

You'll be sensing that space underneath the armpits where the ribs end,

All the way to that space above the navel where the ribs begin.

Long spine,

One more time,

Left ear to left shoulder.

If it's okay with your neck,

You can use your left hand to hold the right side of your head and just give it a gentle weight.

These delicate muscles around our neck,

They hold some of our most vital parts.

Let's stay here for a whole cycle of breath,

In and out.

Gradually,

Your hand can relax down by the sides,

Head can come on straight.

And then the head can lift,

Dropping your head back towards your shoulders,

Your chin up towards the sky.

You might notice the size of the jaw,

The back of the ears,

The front of the throat.

Again,

You could lick the lips or take a dry swallow,

Just clear out any knots.

Taking another breath in here,

On the exhale,

Head can come back on straight.

Good,

Head drops back once again,

Chin towards the ceiling.

And then head can come back on straight.

Moving with the breath,

You can inhale and let the head lift up again,

Staying there for your exhale,

Just to relax the neck,

Relax the head back.

Gradually,

Head can come back on straight.

Then maybe even wiggle the ears a little bit away from your shoulders.

Turn your head right to left as if you were shaking the head.

No,

No,

No.

Maybe you're saying it's a good note,

It's like I'm no longer letting this tension stay here,

Or it could just be simply feeling that movement of left to right.

And then to leave it on a good note,

You can nod the head up and down,

Uh-huh,

Uh-huh.

Maybe it's a choosing yes to something that really divinely serves you.

Got last thing here,

You can roll your head from one ear to the next.

If it feels good to go in a circle,

Go in a circle.

If it's better to go in a half circle,

You can take it front to back.

And then you can drop the head back and do the opposite side.

Imagine your breath was being mixed in with this movement.

Once you feel the bottom of your exhale,

Your head can come on relatively straight.

Take a moment here with the arms rested to ball your left hand into a fist,

And just feel the clenching of your left hand.

This might even travel its way up to your bicep.

Maybe you're able to let the left shoulder blade pull itself back just by,

You know,

That engagement,

That squeeze of your fist.

Give yourself a big inhale.

Imagine you were inflating the left arm.

As an exhale,

Relax the hand down or relax the grip.

Right hand,

You can clench the right hand,

Letting that bit of pressure be applied.

It can be interesting to note that while no one else may know that you're holding this tension,

Squeezing this tension,

You would know it and you would feel it.

Take an inhale to fill up the space,

The whole right side body really.

When you exhale,

Release that tension.

If there's anything below the surface that you've been holding on to,

Something that maybe no one else would necessarily know,

You can also invite yourself to release these spaces as well.

The inner voice can maintain its sense of stillness.

It can continue to be an observer.

Maybe even saying to itself,

Breathing in,

I know that I'm breathing in.

And breathing out,

I know that I'm breathing out.

Letting this awareness of breath be a full body experience.

While the lungs may control the movement of oxygen,

Let the flow of energy be something that travels from the crown of the head,

That awareness,

Down the body,

Up the body,

From left to right,

And also from right to left.

Remembering that the breath can move 360 degrees,

365 days,

And about 18,

000 times in a 24 hour period.

We have this time to catch a few of those waves,

Catch a few of those clouds.

So if there's a place in your body that you feel could use some healing,

Allow the energy to be in support of that healing.

It could be sending awareness to the toes,

The circulation around the feet,

The circulation in the fingers,

It could be the circulation in the hands.

It could be to open up space in the chest,

Which holds our heart,

Our physical heart.

It also could target the emotional heart,

The spiritual heart.

Maybe there needs to be some healing from that place that we love,

The place that we love from.

There can be this internal heat that we allow to build up,

Even as the world externally gets colder.

There's a space three inches below the navel.

Maybe you treat it like a small flame,

It being one of those points of energy in the body.

Maybe it's an intentional choice to breathe in a way where that flame,

That low flame,

Gets to rise,

Creating light in the solar plexus,

A source of confidence,

All the way through the roof of the mouth,

Through the space between the eyes,

Through the crown of the head.

The source of that flame could run deep,

As if the wick of that flame traveled through the seat,

Through the floor,

Even connecting to the Earth's equator.

The parts of your body that are touching the floor connected to the Earth.

And the space above our head,

Connecting to the space,

Maybe to the heavens above.

The sense or your logic around connection,

Something you can feel in this moment.

Trusting your intuition,

Trusting that what you feel is so.

Giving the body the trust,

The ultimate trust that it can maintain.

Allow your mind to rewind back to the first of January.

2021.

Remember that sense of winter.

Maybe imagine the seasons,

Maybe even imagining the falling of snow,

The movement of wind,

The cloudiness of the sky.

Allow that to develop into the warming of spring.

The melting of snow,

The falling of rain,

The growth coming back from the trees.

Allowing that to develop into the fullness,

The maturity of summer,

The heat.

Those same trees that were once bare,

Full and green.

As you breathe life into yourself,

Think of the life that was sent back into those trees for.

Notice the changing of those leaves from green back into a yellow,

An orange,

Something different about it than spring.

Without fear or attachment to the emotions,

Acknowledge the aging of the earth,

The fall season,

The nostalgia.

Maybe you can feel the taste of melancholy,

The slowing of activity,

Both internally and the energy that you sense around.

Also welcome in the sense of comfort,

Of harvesting.

And also the building up of security,

Whether it be the warmth of your home,

Placing on a jacket,

Sipping a warm drink,

Bundling up next to a loved one,

Human,

Animal or otherwise.

For a moment here,

Allow yourself to even.

Let go of the sense of life,

The anticipation of winter,

The coldness,

The void,

The emptiness.

Release holding on,

Allow your detachment to be natural to the season.

Allow yourself to stay in this space.

Just gently come back to that light that lives just below the navel.

Just gently remind yourself of the room that you are actually in,

Of the room that you've checked out for yourself earlier in your meditation.

And let there be a reminder that even as the mind can travel in so many different ways,

If we ever feel stuck in a void space,

We are actually still here and we are still OK.

So with some actual intention here,

Let's take a moment to vocalize the breath,

Shush out the breath,

Use the breath as a way to close out the visualization.

Give it an S.

H.

Sound.

Use an inhale that pulls that sense of fire from within up to the surface.

Give yourself an exhale.

Let it go.

Pull yourself into the intention of January 1st,

2022.

Breathing it in.

Exhaling your intention,

Moving into the spring,

Reminding yourself the jackets will come off again.

The weather will get lighter again.

Breathe yourself into the summer.

Things will be vibrant,

Bouncy,

Maybe even too hot or a second or two.

Now come back to the fall.

And through the winter.

And through the spring.

Through the summer.

Through the fall.

Through the winter.

Through the spring.

Through the summer.

Through the fall.

And the continuation in some ways will be forever.

Even as the changes are also forever.

And though we will be experiencing it just for the fullness of a lifetime.

We'll always be at the center of our experience for the high points,

For the low points and for all the points in between.

You can take a moment here to let the hands come together.

They can either stay in your side or you can bring them to the center of your chest,

Whatever resonates with you.

And remember yourself for taking time when you have and for even making time for when you don't.

To stay connected to the right now moment.

If our mind goes too forward or too backward idly,

Things can get stuck.

But if we allow ourselves to look backwards and to look forward as a tool,

As an intention,

Then maybe it helps us use this present moment to be in the present moment with a sense of gratitude.

And really,

You may even acknowledge to yourself that my mind may travel from here to there throughout my day.

And I know that it is as natural as a function of my mind as the seasons themselves changing.

If there is ever a moment in which I lose rain,

Lose control over this traveling,

I'll take time to quiet the body,

Push out the breath.

Come back to this forever space of right now with new breath in.

And allow things to flow with the breath out.

When you're ready,

Letting the shoulders relax,

You might slowly open the eyes.

Maybe blink them a few times.

Need to find any movement,

Go ahead and find it.

I just want to say thank you for taking this time to go on this journey together.

Hopefully something we did has some value for the rest of the season and all of those great things.