From Shampinyada,
I'm Colleen Thomas.
This is Everyday Magic for Ukraine.
Today we breathe resilience into Ukrainian artists and musicians.
Welcome to the Circle.
Welcome to Everyday Magic for Ukraine,
Where we honor Ukraine and we also practice self-care to stay strong as allies.
If you're new here,
Welcome.
So today we're going to be talking about Ukrainian artists and musicians.
So the only item you need is whatever springs to mind for how you consume art and how you consume music.
So maybe have your headphones nearby if you're not using them at this moment and maybe have a computer or something where you can turn to some Ukrainian artists that you might want to learn about or know about or appreciate or remember to go back to today.
Before we get started today,
Let's take a moment to just arrive.
And to do that,
I invite you to see what your body needs to be in this moment.
Would it maybe be a couple of deep breaths?
Would it be a little bit of shaking or stretching?
Or maybe just letting your eyes or your fingers wander around your space and notice a few colors.
Maybe notice a red color or a yellow color or a smooth texture and a rough texture.
This moment is just to allow you to arrive here in this part of your day or your night and to remember you're a beautiful person in a beautiful body on a beautiful planet.
Hopefully your world is full of beautiful friends,
Beautiful family members,
Beautiful things that bring you joy and help you remember to come back to yourself when you might wander away.
And so now let's turn our attention to Ukrainian artists and musicians.
Who are your favorite Ukrainian artists and who are your favorite Ukrainian musicians?
So bring to mind and bring to heart,
If you would,
One of your favorite Ukrainian artists or musicians.
Just let them come into focus.
Maybe let their work come to mind.
And see them clearly standing in front of you.
Perhaps imagine you are having some time with them one-on-one,
Maybe taking a walk,
Maybe sitting in a cafe.
And imagine getting to know them as a person.
What is the vibration you think this person would have if you could have a one-on-one conversation with them?
What would you say about their art?
What would you like to share with them about how it has affected you?
And what might you like to add to that conversation?
What would you ask them?
And imagine that they have time to really sit with you and to really give you a lens into their world.
What it has been like for them to create their art while everything has been unfolding during the war.
This is just an imaginary conversation,
So you have no idea what's really true for them.
But imagine that they were able to give you a little bit of insight,
Even wordlessly.
Imagine just getting a sense of how their art is part of their life.
Why do they do their art?
And how do they hope the art that they put out in the world lands with people?
What do they hope to achieve through sharing their art with the world?
And just imagine,
This is just a playful imagination exercise,
But imagine what it would be like to tell them how their work lands with you and see if that's how they're hoping it will land,
Or if it's maybe teaching them something new they never thought of before.
And now in your heart,
In your imagination,
Maybe ask this person,
This artist,
If it would be okay to send them some positive grounding energy toward wishing resilience for them.
Wishing them strength and the continuation of being able to keep creating their art,
Keep spreading the magic and the love that they do through releasing their art.
Just see if that would be okay.
And if they say no,
That's completely fine.
If they say no,
Maybe just spend a little more time with them sharing your thoughts and listening to their thoughts.
And if they say yes,
See how you might like to send that energy to them.
You could do something in the practical world,
Like write them a message on social media,
Sending them your love.
You could also do something right now with us in circle,
Of sending them intention and love and magic on the inner.
Perhaps you might ask them if they would place their hands toward you,
Palms open facing upward.
And perhaps you can put your palms on their palms facing downward on the inner.
Or if you'd rather have an exchange of energy between you,
You can each put your left palm up and your right palm down.
So you receive the left and we send to the right is the wisdom here.
And then just allow the energy to flow.
Connecting with your heart first.
Find your wishes,
Your hope,
Your love,
Your care for them.
And just allow it to flow down your arms and into your palms.
And just really follow your intuition here.
Sending your love on the inner.
Allowing your care to move in this way,
Your prayer,
Your magic to move in this way.
And we want this,
Any of this that we are doing that is actually a benefit to this person,
To be able to get to them,
To be able to reach them and support them.
For them to feel positive intent coming to them.
And as we do this work,
It's really important to notice if we're coming from an ego perspective at all.
If we're trying to get something for ourselves at all,
If we are involved in it really on an eye level at all,
And if so,
Just gently remove ourselves and let this energy come from beyond us,
Come from the goodness in the universe and going out to support this artist.
And I invite you to take a breath if it feels right and begin to disconnect from this person.
You can send them your gratitude for showing up like this in your imagination and giving you some insight and a place to send your love and a place to do a little reflection.
And if you find you have any extra energy in your hands after finishing this meditation,
You can place them on the earth or on the floor and send that extra energy down into the earth to release it.
And you might let your eyes begin to open and wiggle your fingers or your toes or just gently move your body a little bit to come back into your present moment.
May we remember that for all of the resilience that these artists bring us,
We need to return the love to them.
May it be so.
Thank you so much for being with us today.
Your presence,
Your energy and your heart make all the difference in healing our world.
Remember to breathe today,
Breathe and expand and I hope you join us again next time.
Please consider inviting a friend.
