Forest Rain 2.0

You Welcome.

Thank you for coming back.

It is raining in the forest once again,

But it is warm and moist,

Very comfortable.

I've taken you on a short walk from the veranda,

Just out of sight of the house,

To a gazebo perched on a small hill.

I spent the last several weeks fixing it up,

And it's amazing how fast nature can take over what we build.

I brought a couple of the comfy Adirondack chairs for us to sit back in and enjoy this forest rain.

As you can see,

They are placed six feet or two meters apart.

But you should know that when you are with me here in this magical space that we are creating,

No virus can reach us.

But before I describe too much about our surroundings,

I want to give you a message that I felt guided to share.

The world is under a veil of darkness right now.

Every one of us is feeling it.

It's not darkness caused by lack of visible light.

It is darkness created by fear,

Extreme vulnerability,

Political rhetoric.

A sense of lack.

We are all seeing this darkness as a bad,

Ominous thing.

It is causing division,

Separation,

Apprehension.

There is no denying the pain of experiencing suffering or death,

Either in our family or our circle of friends or tribe.

But what if we change the lens of our perception?

What if we think about this whole global crisis differently?

First,

We must acknowledge that the darkness is there.

It is a fact.

It is what it is.

But what if the darkness isn't here to smother us or make us cower in fear?

What if it is here to make us see our own light?

The light that shines from within.

The one that we have covered thickly with denial,

With self-deprecation,

With eroding faith.

What if the darkness is here for us to fan the flame of our own light,

To shine as a beacon for others lost in the darkness?

A light that will inspire others to discover their own light so that they too may shine brightly.

Fighting darkness with darkness never works.

Fighting darkness with light always works.

And then,

Just as fast as the virus spread on its exponential growth curve,

The light too shall grow with purpose.

What kind of a world do we choose to live in during and after the veil of darkness?

One of light or one remaining in the darkness?

Do we choose to live in fear and separation?

Or do we choose to live in love and inclusion,

Acceptance and forgiveness?

Embracing your neighbor or avoidance?

What we choose right now,

What we embody and put into practice right now,

Will become our future.

We need to choose it wisely.

We need to create it wisely.

That way,

Our future won't happen to us.

It will happen for us.

While it is still wise to maintain social distancing,

We can begin by shining our light,

Sharing our love,

Expanding our awareness,

Our consciousness,

To include all.

Your light is beautiful,

Even if you can't see it.

I see it.

Others see it.

Believe in yourself.

Believe in your light.

Shine your light.

Inspire others.

Be the beacon.

Be the light.

You are the light.

So,

As we ponder this now and imagine our light within getting brighter and brighter,

Let's take a few minutes to develop some deep relaxation.

The forest is quite active this time.

A lot more birds happily singing.

The birds are being birds,

And they are shining their light.

You can hear it in the happy song they sing.

So,

With your eyes closed,

Or open,

As you prefer,

Maybe you want to take in the beautiful forest around us.

Everything is lush and wet.

I just want you to take some deep,

Centering breaths.

Fill your lungs all the way up and hold for a moment.

And then as you release,

Just push it all out.

Imagine anything that's dense and stale.

It just flows out with your breath.

It flows into the forest,

Or it will be sucked in by all the leaves and transmuted into oxygen.

And when you breathe in the fresh,

Sweet air of the forest,

Just know that the oxygen is flowing inside every cell in your body.

You can feel it pass through your nose,

Down your throat,

Into your lungs,

And beyond.

Throughout your entire body,

To your fingers and your toes.

I want you to draw attention to your feet.

Just forget that you're lying on the chair.

Just think about your feet and any tension that might be in there.

Just let it go.

And continue to breathe at a natural pace.

Think about your ankles.

Relax.

Let it go.

And your calves.

Be aware of any sensation,

But just acknowledge it.

Just let go of the muscles.

A little trick I used to play when I was young.

I knew nothing of mindfulness and presence.

But I knew that my body was wound up tight,

And my thoughts were just keeping me awake at night.

And a way to relax would be just to imagine that,

You know,

Like when you're lowering yourself into a pool,

You can feel the line of the water coming up.

Now imagine that feeling of that line coming up.

And anything below that would become,

You know,

This relaxed,

Controlled paralysis,

If you will.

So now imagine,

You know,

Your calves and below.

You can't move it.

And if your brain gave the command to twitch your foot,

It wouldn't,

Because it's in deep relaxation.

So now your knees.

And up your thighs.

Relax.

Let it go.

Take a deep breath in again.

We're halfway.

Do you see any of the birds out there?

Once in a while I see some movement,

And I turn to look,

And they're already gone.

But they're not gone.

They're just everywhere.

I find it so rejuvenating.

In a way it's very busy with activity.

Lots going on in the forest,

But it's peace.

So now we can't move our legs,

Because they're in deep relaxation.

So let's move it up.

Our stomach.

A lot of us hold tension in our stomach.

Breathe into it.

Inhale and send some of this sweet,

Beautiful air throughout your stomach.

Have it swirl around.

Your stomach just lets go,

Relaxes.

No need to hold our stomach in.

Nobody's looking.

Let it go.

Now further up.

Feel your chest soften,

And your back.

You're melting into this Adirondack chair that,

Hey,

You don't even feel anymore.

We're just floating.

Now your shoulders.

Wow,

That's a place to hold a lot of tension.

Let them go.

Feel them drop.

Again,

Breathe into it.

Send some of this delicious oxygen through there.

Let it go.

Down your arms.

Your elbow.

Forearms and your hands and your fingers.

It's like we're losing muscle control over everything,

Just this wonderful,

Wonderful,

Relaxed state.

We go back up our arms.

Now to our neck.

We need to relax our neck.

Sometimes it holds our shoulders up a bit,

So just let go.

Let your head be supported by the pillow.

Let that neck go.

All the muscles in there.

Let it go.

Keep your breath going.

It's feeding this wonderful,

Fresh air to every cell in your body.

It's so refreshing.

Now as your neck is also in this relaxed paralysis.

Think about your scalp.

It's amazing that there are a lot of muscles that go around your scalp.

Connected to your jaw and to your face.

Ever been in a hair salon and they're washing your hair?

If the stylist is good,

She gives you a quick scalp massage as she's working in the conditioner or something.

That's the most beautiful feeling in the world.

So imagine that right now our stylist just showed up and is massaging her scalp.

So they can let that all go.

If you're holding your face in any position,

Let it go.

Go over your jaw,

Your lips,

Eye muscles,

Your brow,

Forehead.

Let it go.

Now a deep,

Satisfying breath in.

And let it go.

Doesn't that feel good?

And with our minds high we can see the forest around us.

We see the drips off the edge of the gazebo.

Speeding up as the rain intensifies and sometimes as the rain slows down,

Just the drips slow down.

And each droplet of rain is doing exactly what it's supposed to.

It is embodying what it is to be a droplet of rain.

It doesn't care what any other droplet is doing,

It's just being who it is.

Just like the birds.

It's an example for all of us to be who we are deep inside,

Not who we think we should be.

Not who others think we should be.

We look within and discover ourselves so that we can be ourselves unapologetically.

Just be.

You can breathe into that and say to yourself,

This is who I am.

I like who I am.

I love who I am.

And you can feel your light within.

You know it's there.

It starts in your heart.

And it radiates out in all directions.

I can see it right now.

Your light is shining bright.

Keep going.

So I don't know if you noticed in the corner was my guitar leaning against the wall.

So while you lay there and relax in your blissful paralysis,

I'm just going to pluck a few notes.

Just enjoy the rain.

All right.

Nice ending with the dog barking.

Well thank you so much for joining me here.

At any time that you wish to,

You can start to move again.

This controlled paralysis,

We control it ourselves.

So if you like,

You can stretch out and wiggle your toes.

Take a few deep breaths.

Or if you prefer,

Just lay back and continue to rest.

Knowing that any time you want to,

You can move again.

I got myself so relaxed that I was a little bit clumsy in playing the guitar.

That's okay.

Here's to all.

Thank you.