From Shane Piñata,
I'm Colleen Thomas.
This is Daily Magic for Peace.
Today we will explore deep rest as embodied peace.
Welcome to the circle.
The only item you need today is a pillow.
And you could imagine a pillow,
But if you actually have a pillow,
It's going to be a little different.
So if you have a favorite pillow that you can go grab,
I invite you to do that now.
And as we settle in together,
I invite you to take a deep breath and take your place in the circle.
Welcome.
Our first grounding experience today will be something simple called hand gazing.
I'm calling it hand gazing,
But it could really be any part of your body.
The hand is just kind of easy to look at,
Ergonomically.
And the intention behind this short exercise is just to come into the present moment by gazing very deeply at something.
So I invite you to gaze at your hand,
Whatever part of your hand you might want to look at,
Perhaps the back of your hand.
And just really let yourself notice stuff you don't normally see even.
Just little lines,
The way the shadows move as you move your hand.
And while we're here,
Let's send some really deep gratitude and love to this hand.
And I invite you to take a breath.
Now I invite you to join me in connecting down with your grounding cord,
Noticing what you are sitting,
Standing or lying on,
And noticing how far it is from the surface of the earth,
Making that connection in your heart,
In your body,
In your experience between the surface touching you and the surface of the earth.
And maybe imagine you're sitting on the surface of the earth right now.
Allow your awareness to drop down into the earth.
Down,
Down,
Down,
Down to the planet,
Pulling you down,
Connecting you,
And just resting in that force of gravity that's attaching you to the earth.
We spend a lot of time together in circle,
Preparing magic to send out to the world.
And we also take moments to recharge.
And today I'd like to explore the concept of deep rest with you as a way to recharge.
And this would be a great moment to grab your pillow.
I'll hold it close to you or maybe lie down and get comfy on it if you can.
And if you're just thinking of a pillow,
Maybe think of your favorite pillow,
Or think of,
You know,
A pillow on your couch that just fits you just right.
I think the associations we have with sleep and our sleep practices and the sleep equipment we have in the form of pillows and blankets,
They signal to our body,
This is time to rest now.
It is time to let go now.
And if we are blessed and lucky to have a safe place to do that and even a comfortable place to do that,
It's a wonderful,
Wonderful practice to just rest.
And sometimes there are concerns,
Considerations,
Worries,
Fears that can interfere with that.
So sometimes in circle,
What we do before we rest is we get a notebook and some paper or our phone.
But it's kind of better if it's not electronic and we write down everything that's bothering us.
Just get it all out.
It doesn't matter if it's a legitimate fear or a fanciful fear or a frustration or a worry or a plan.
It could be anything,
But it doesn't need to be banging around in our head when we're ready to relax.
And if it's a plan,
We probably want to make sure we capture it so we don't lose it.
A plan or a dream or a vision or something we want to create.
So a simple notebook can be a nice way to just honor all those feelings and all those thoughts and set them aside.
I invite you to take a moment and think through your sleep practices.
What do you do to calm yourself,
To transition to sleep,
To allow yourself to relax?
So I invite you to just join me in touching this pillow or imagining this pillow,
Allowing your body to soften.
Just a little more right now,
Just as kind of a practice.
What would being deeply restful right now feel like?
In a society where we want to show up for each other so much,
It can be difficult to ask for a break.
But by doing that,
By taking care of ourselves on that really deep level,
We are actually taking better care of the people in our lives.
So I guess consider today kind of a rest pep talk,
A deep rest pep talk.
To close our time together today,
I invite you to take three deep breaths with me and let's see if we can relax a bit deeper with each one.
So let's breathe in together.
Connecting with any tension and breathing it out.
And another one breathing in.
Maybe a fuller breath this time and letting go.
And this last one may be breathing in to any feelings about not being worthy of relaxing.
And now letting those go.
You are allowed to feel peace in every part of your body.
You have permission.
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.
I hope you join us again next time.
And please consider inviting a friend.
Our music is by Terry Hughes.
I'm Colleen Thomas.
Thanks for listening.
