Awaken A Deep Sense Of Courage And Release Self-Doubt

So you can listen to this practice wherever it is you find yourself today.

You can be sitting down or laying down or even stretching and doing things if that's what you got to do and hopefully wherever you're at when you listen this will still be helpful to you in some way.

So if you'd like to listen to this in a still position you can feel free to take all the time you need to arrive there and allow yourself to fidget and adjust stretch or move in whatever ways feels good in your bones muscles joints and just doing your best to not think about the movements at all but more letting your body move you in the ways that you can intuitively feel good just following those yummy sensations you get when you do some neck rolls or side body bends or cat cow motions with the spine so there is no rush whatsoever you can continue to move throughout this practice whenever you feel the need to you're not messing anything up if you need to adjust yourself at any point but if you would like to listen to this in a still position and are ready to come there then you may do so just feeling that the spine is nice and straight in whatever position you've chosen and if you're in a space where you feel safe and would like to you can allow the eyes to gently close at any time if they aren't already now mark your arrival into your practice today and into your body today with a full and intentional cleansing breath as you take in a long and slow inhale in through the nose and just letting yourself fill up to every corner and edge of you and when you are full just pausing for a moment to really experience that sense of fullness and without straining as you need to slowly let all of that go exhaling bit by bit and gently pulling the navel toward the spine at the bottom of your exhale to really push that last bit of stagnant air out of you as you again pause for a moment to now experience this sense of emptiness and allow your next breath to come to you as it is needed and so you can breathe just like this for as many rounds this feels good and helpful for you but not worrying about the length of your inhales exhales and pauses on either side but just letting them be exaggerated whatever that means for you right now so when the body naturally stops inhaling seeing if you can open up your belly to take in a moment more of air and get really full and when you would naturally roll over to the exhale seeing if you can hold off for an extra moment to stay in that fullness more intentionally and when you exhale and even when you think you're empty seeing if you can push a tiny bit more air out of you to really empty yourself and again pause for an extra moment than you might normally as you allow your body to take in the next inhale just communicating to your body to your nervous system that now is a time that we are slowing down intentionally slowing down the process of our breath slowing down our awareness right along with it as we observe this process and at any time if you haven't already you can let go of this control altogether let go of this guidance over the breath and allow yourself to step back and up in the mind into the role of the observer or the witness and seeing if you can simply observe the fact that your body is breathing rather than having any direct impact over the rhythm or depth of your breath but reminding yourself how the breath is our one bodily function that can be either voluntary or automatic so releasing that voluntary guidance we just had over the breath and now stepping back and observing the automatic process that is your body breathing you just as your body breathes even when you are in a deep sleep just like the waves rolling up along the shoreline having a seat on the beach and just watching as the waves come and go not trying to change anything about the rhythm or the size of the waves but just observing as they come and go and know that sometimes watching your breath in this way without having any impact over the breath seems very straightforward and simple and like a somewhat easy task to do and other times this feels nearly impossible to watch your breath without influencing it at all so just know that wherever you are today is perfect and exactly where you need to be and know that each and every time you show up for a meditation practice or any healing practice any practice where you tune in to how you are doing right now you will have different findings because we are constantly changing just like everything else in this world so not holding yourself to any harsh expectations of how you are expecting to feel or how you would like to feel but instead coming at this from a curious perspective becoming curious on how you are feeling in all aspects of that remind yourself that this is not a thinking or a doing process but one of listening observing and feeling and it is natural for the mind to wander to try to drag you to the past thinking about anything at all before this moment or even wander to the future and trying to multitask and maybe plan for the day ahead just know that the moment you acknowledge the mind is thinking or the mind is wandering that alone automatically brings you back to that role of the observer and sometimes if there is a very active mind or repeating thoughts that feel nearly impossible to let go of then we bring our attention to the physical and rather than tell our minds to stop thinking which won't really ever happen we can tell our bodies to physically relax and so we can let your attention come to your mouth and just notice any sensations you feel in the mouth in the jaw and the lips in the throat even and as your body exhales allow your mouth to soften even more and just allow your jaw to hang into place allow your tongue to release from the roof of the mouth just allow your lips to rest on one another as the corners of your mouth soften and feel how this softness we've created in the lips and the mouth naturally allows your chin to relax a bit more your nostrils letting this wave of softness naturally spread outward and upward as your cheeks relax a bit further your ears the eyelids and all those tiny little muscles that are along the lash line that scrunch up when you squint even feeling those soften as the corners of your eyes just get a little bit wider simply with this release of tension even feeling your eyeballs resting in their sockets as you allow your gaze to be soft wherever it is you are looking whether the eyes are open you're looking at the world around you maybe looking into the backs of the eyelids or maybe peering up into the forehead or rolling back even further peering into the skull wherever it is that your eyes happen to be looking just softening the gaze allowing yourself to see everything rather than one particular thing as you allow your eyebrows to soften even further and as your hairline softens back just feeling the full width and depth of your forehead and maybe even almost seeing all of the muscles that exist in your face remembering all the muscles that exist in the face that create every expression you've ever made and imagining that those muscles are just ungripping from the bones and releasing back into the support of your skin feeling this sense of stillness with the face a sense of acceptance releasing any need to hold yourself in any particular way and remind yourself that it is safe for you to trust your body in your own anatomy and trust that when you let go everything will be held exactly where it needs to be without any of your doing or direction your body functions perfectly every moment of every day of your entire life just perfect enough to keep you alive and the simple fact that you are able to hear the words i'm saying and feel whatever is here for you to feel is the proof of that no matter what pain and suffering your body has put you through through disease or ailments or other outside circumstances circumstances beyond your control regardless of all of that you have made it to this point in time you have survived because you are alive right now and remembering the pure gift that that really is and know that you are worthy of this gift of life simply because you have it there is nothing you need to do to prove yourself or to prove your worth to prove your worthiness but you can remind yourself that the simple fact that you have this body and you are alive means that you are worthy of it and instead of trying to earn this life and this love that we all naturally possess we can flip that narrative into showing our gratitude for this life and love that we have through our actions through sharing the love that we already possess within us remembering that you have a direct line of connection to the source that all of life and love comes from because you are alive you are an extension of that source or force or whatever it is you believe in and so it is impossible for you to run out of love and life as long as you are alive and instead of going out into the world around us and trying to earn more of this love and validation appreciation from things outside of us we can instead tune in to that infinite supply we have to it within our own hearts and share that with the world around us and watch how that will naturally allow it to expand and multiply and remind others of this innate connection they have as well and so you can just let some attention come to whatever part of your body is making contact with the ground beneath you and allow your pelvic floor to lengthen and widen into that surface and simply allow yourself to be held by the earth that is beneath you and by the force of gravity all around you trusting that when you let go and allow yourself to be held you will be held exactly where you need to be you will not float away and you will not be crushed but you will be held just as you need to be maybe even feeling that same sensation you might feel when you exhale into the arms of someone that you love deeply or even an animal that moment when you exhale and allow yourself to be loved feeling that same sense with the earth and gravity even if it's just for a split second releasing yourself into the love that is all around you with your awareness resting on your stomach now allowing all the muscles of your abdomen to be soft and with each gentle breath that your body takes feeling almost a hugging sensation of the muscles on your abdomen hugging tighter your organs maybe even feeling the sense of a heartbeat that exists in your stomach as you now remind yourself of a deep deep sense of courage that you possess right here in your gut there may be layers stacked on top of this courage of fear and doubt but know that even beneath all of this all of these layers that life adds onto us beneath all of it exists a true and deep sense of trust with yourself with your gut instincts with your intuition and the more or sometimes the more we listen to the world outside of us we can question those instincts more and more but the more we listen to the world inside of us and learn to decipher the sensations we feel the more this trust will grow the more layers we can shed of self-doubt and fear so just know that simply by remembering that innately at your core you do trust yourself you do have accurate instincts just by reminding yourself of that truth even when it doesn't feel like it even when you don't feel that way just by knowing it is there allows it to grow a little bit more and being so kind to yourself when you make mistakes when you question your instincts and do the opposite knowing that that is part of the process in order to find the path that we belong on we often have to veer away from it to re-find our center so just be so kind and patient with yourself through this journey of life we will make mistakes and that is a part of this process of life we are not meant to be perfect beings and do everything right all of the time or else we would not be human but as humans we are simply meant to experience the human experience in the full range of what that means and a really helpful analogy i like to remind myself of is one that comes from hellenistic astrology where the moon is the representation of our physical body our bones muscles joints skin and everything in between our body is matter just like the moon the moon is simply matter it does not give off its own light it does however reflect the light of the sun which is the representation of our soul that spark that is within us that animates our body the spark within us that brings our body to life the life that is within us and there are times when the moon is full it is reflecting all the light from the sun it is bright it is whole and it is capable of shining light for others in the darkness and then there are other times where that exact same moon is a new moon and it is totally in the shadows not reflecting any light whatsoever but it is still there it's just in a state of darkness for a phase and then there are all the phases in between the new moon and the full moon and we don't get mad at the moon for not being full all of the time in fact the moon can't be full all of the time nor should it be the moon is simply meant to move through the phases of life the phases it's meant to move through and we are the same way we are not meant to be full and bright and motivated connected and feeling good all of the time we are simply meant to move through the phases that life presents us with as much grace and patience as we can and sometimes that is zero grace and patience and that's okay too but we can allow ourselves to let go of that extra heaviest layer that all of us put on ourselves with these intense expectations of those voices that say well i should be grateful i should be motivated i should be happy and instead when you catch those should thoughts remind yourself that whatever you are feeling is exactly what you should be feeling because you're feeling it even when those feelings are really bad and painful and that heaviest layer of our suffering is usually our resistance to what we're feeling especially when there is deep physical pain or emotional pain in the body it's the constant distractions and running away from what we're feeling and trying to drown out anything that's bad and cover it up with love and light but if we can notice our tendency to do that if we are doing that we can exhale into the pain exhale into all the shit that life gives us and remember that absolutely everything is temporary the only thing we can count on in this life is that everything changes especially how we feel and our mind can often successfully trick us that how we are feeling right now is how we've always felt and how we always will feel but logically we know that will never be true ever everything is changing all the time even the flowers move through stages of growth blooming and death and decay and they're not meant to be in beautiful full bloom all the time and so just exhale into who you are right now the stage of life you are in right now and knowing that it will change too and that can be a great comfort to you if you're in a phase of life that is painful you can just allow yourself to do all the comfort things and do whatever it is you need to do scream punch a pillow run around whatever it is that you need to do to release what you're feeling you can allow yourself to do that because it is temporary it will be over you will feel joyful once again and that same fact can also be a great comfort to you if you're feeling really good and if you're in a very positive phase in your life and you can allow that to be permission for you to fully soak it all in and make the most of it and release any feelings of guilt you might feel for feeling good when others in your life are suffering and instead use the light that you are feeling to give warmth and love to the people around you who might need a little bit extra trusting that when you are in the darkness others will shine light for you to remind you that it is only temporary and you will feel whole once again so you can continue to feel all that is here for you to feel as you just listen to the following words written by young pueblo in his book clarity and connection and allow anything that feels like it resonates with you to soak in a little bit deeper and not worrying about the rest letting go does not mean you have given up and it does not mean that you no longer care it just means that you are releasing the attachments of the past that get in the way of your happiness and mental clarity letting go is the unbinding and disentangling of old behavior patterns that pull you into unnecessary mental tension and worry when you can be okay with things not having gone a certain way life begins again making peace with the past opens you up to love and adventure and allows you to apply the lessons you've learned with the new calmness many of us do not realize how much we are actually suffering until our awareness starts to expand we do not see that our happiness has a ceiling created by the sorrows and traumas we have repeatedly suppressed we do not realize that our reactions to life's difficulties stop us from seeing things clearly and place limits on our ability to produce more creative solutions we do not understand how powerfully our past grips are present so much of our internal struggle comes from not embracing change tension decreases when we understand that change is happening at every level from the atomic to the biological to the mental a human being is composed of moving parts and our identity is no different it is a dynamic phenomena similar to a river flowing moving expanding roaring weaving all the time with power and all the time with the potential to change do not limit yourself to a static understanding of who you are release your conditioned boundaries and be free may all of the times that someone has made an incorrect assumption about you activate a new sense of humility and patience in your mind that stops you from doing the same thing to another person in the future being okay with not being okay does not make things automatically better but it does stop you from adding more tension to an already difficult situation being okay with not being okay helps you let go so just take the next few moments to really allow every word you've heard today to settle imagining as if every word you heard was a little speck of glitter in a snow globe and now is the time where we set the snow globe down and allow the glitter to settle allow the air to clear and just reminding yourself that anything at all that you heard today that really resonated with you or struck a chord with you or rang true in some way trusting that those feelings can sometimes come when we hear on the outside what a part of us already knows to be true on the inside and so just allowing those truths to be enhanced within you so you feel a little bit more confidence to act on your own intuition trusting that you already know exactly what it is you need to do whether that is anything at all and all of us may come across people in our lives that try to convince us that they know us better than we know us or that they know what's best for you or that they are needed for you to have some sort of connection maybe that you need a translator for from you to spirit or something like that and just know that you never have to give that power away to anyone else and if anyone tries to convince you that they know you better than you know you you can just let that be a cue for you to turn your attention back inward and remind yourself that that is impossible you are the only one who is spending every single moment with you inside your own mind and heart and dreams and the people we love can teach us things about ourselves that are new and maybe it feels like they know us better than we know ourselves but if that is used in a way that is causing you mental tension or harm just know that you don't have to give that power away and you can reclaim that power at any time you are your own best teacher there is nobody out there who will be able to teach you more about yourself and your passions and your purpose than what quiet time with yourself can teach you and you do not need any translator between you and whatever spirits or source or force you believe in you are innately connected to all that you need to be connected with and the more you trust yourself and your own intuition and instincts the more this will grow and so if it feels like something you'd like to do today you can just let your hands find each other in a prayer position toward heart center and just feel that contact of your palms to one another of your fingertips to each other and let your thumbs press toward your heart as you allow your heart to lift back toward your thumbs as you tune in to this unique rhythm that is your own heartbeat the steady background beat to every single moment of your life and allow yourself to take one final deep and full breath into the body as you let yourself fill up to every corner and edge of you and as you exhale letting go of anything you're ready to let go of as you allow the head to gently bow taking this moment to bow to the source of energy that allows all of our hearts to be whatever you believe that to be and bowing to everyone else in this space who has listened and completed this practice right alongside you and finally bowing to yourself for choosing to show up today and taking the time out of your busy life for this pure act of self-love and self-care may this act continue to heal you through the rest of your days and nights and may you bring the same love and understanding to everything you do and to everyone that you see thank you