Resilience,
A guided meditation by Tara Herrick-Brown.
Introduction music by Kristen Williams and meditation music by Alex Productions.
Let's begin.
You can begin by closing your eyes and breathing in and out through the nose,
Feeling the support of the cushion or the floor beneath you or perhaps you're sitting upright in the chair and allow yourself to have a strong straight spine as though there's a fluorescent light bulb reaching from the base of the spine to the top of the head,
Roughly corresponding with your spine,
Allowing your muscles to just drape over like a cloak over that spine.
Chin parallel to the floor,
Top of the head facing towards the sky as though you could rest a book at the top of the head.
Breathing in and out through the nose.
Be careful not to let the chest splay forward as though you're arching.
Allow the chest to tuck in.
It's safe here tonight and it's okay to have your heart in a neutral place.
Breathing in through the nose and out through the nose.
Connecting with that breath.
On your next breath in,
Imagine that air comes in through the nose and begins washing clean the area inside the head,
The place where our thoughts get busy.
Imagining that that beautiful fresh air comes in and washes it clean and with your exhale,
Any busyness,
Any thoughts,
Just simply go.
In through the nose and out through the nose.
I want you to then take a breath in,
Pause at the top of the breath and then exhale.
Breathing in,
Pausing and exhale.
On the next exhale,
I want you to imagine that that breath can move down the center of the body,
Out through the perineum and you can imagine that that can begin to grow roots.
So you're breathing in through the nose,
You're imagining the breath continues with a long line down the throat,
Down the middle of the chest,
Down the upper belly,
The lower belly,
Exiting out the perineum and creating roots like a tree into the earth.
Inhaling in again through the nose and on the exhale,
Allow the breath to move down through the body,
Out the perineum and growing roots into the earth.
With each exhale,
Noticing the connection of those roots beneath you.
As those roots move through the crust of the earth,
Begin noticing the quality,
The density of this earth.
As you breathe in and as you exhale,
Allow your energy and your awareness to begin to sink down into the earth,
Connecting with the roots.
As your roots are here,
Be reminded of the resilience of this beautiful planet.
Allow yourself to feel the darkness and the density of the earth,
Of the soil.
Allow the roots to continue to go down and down.
These roots have a magnificent reach and they won't just stop in the soil.
As you continue to exhale,
They're going to continue descending down now,
Reaching the molten layers of the earth.
With each exhale,
The roots are going to crawl a bit deeper down,
Down into the earth.
Notice that as the roots descend down through the molten layers,
It becomes even denser as it's reaching down.
On the next exhale,
It's going to continue descending down now,
Even deeper.
Allow your body to feel the heaviness as the roots reach deeper.
The next exhale,
The roots are going to continue reaching down until they touch this beautiful crystal.
The core of the earth is made of iron and iron crystal.
It's a dodecahedron that as the roots descend,
They begin exploring this beautiful dense crystal.
Breathing in and exhaling and noticing the exploration into the core of the earth.
Allowing the roots now to penetrate the core and enter into the center of the core of the earth.
On your next exhale,
Imagine you now descend with the roots and you are enveloped in this beautiful iron crystal.
The core of the earth is known as the heart of Mother Earth.
And as you sit in this beautiful dense place,
Know that your arms are wrapped around the Great Mother,
That her arms are wrapped around you.
And I want you to breathe here and feel the heaviness of this place.
Notice the density,
The darkness,
The heaviness.
And continue to breathe here.
You're inhaling through the nose,
And the exhale brings you deeper,
Brings you into the heaviness and the darkness.
The core of the earth is the first dimension.
This place that correlates with the Paleolithic time,
The time in our lives that were a fight or flight.
Fear often resides here.
I invite you to sit with exactly what comes up for you here.
You're safe inside the heart of Mother Earth,
But it's important to sit with that which arises from here sometimes.
We can't know our resilience unless we meet our darkness.
And so you continue to breathe here,
Allowing yourself to sink even more deeply inside this core.
If you feel your mind wander,
Return to that diaphragm breath,
Releasing any fears or stress or tension,
And return to the safety of this place.
And breathe.
And exhale.
And sink.
And with each exhale,
Continue sinking more deeply into this place.
Perhaps this density and this darkness and this heaviness can represent things going on in your life or in the outside world.
This is not an invitation to engage the mind.
It's an invitation to allow the things in the mind to swim in this place with you.
Allow your mind to drain and just be here now.
Those thoughts here now.
And the safety of this womb space.
But by meeting it,
By feeling it,
Sometimes it's helpful to imagine that there's a root connected with each thought that arises.
And that that thought too can sink with every exhale and descend to meet you.
And you breathe.
And on your next exhale,
I invite you to move your awareness from the surroundings of this womb space to the center of your chest.
Still keeping your awareness of you sitting in the core,
In the heart of Mother Earth,
And while sitting there and aware of this dense,
Dark surrounding,
Move your awareness to the center of your chest.
And begin connecting with your own heart here.
Sink into the warmth and the light of this heart space.
Shift your awareness back and forth from the density of this womb to the warmth and lightness of the chest.
And with each breath in,
Feel that heart space grow a bit warmer and a bit brighter.
Feel the density of your body and the lightness of your heart at the same time.
That is resilience.
Imagine a small golden flame growing in your heart,
Warm and steady.
And this inner light is your essence.
It holds the wisdom of your experiences,
The strength of your ancestors,
And the infinite potential of your soul.
Namaste.
