Hello everyone.
This is Coach Tan.
Today's meditation will be on the journey of heartache in the story that was passed down to us of the broken pot.
Take a comfortable seat.
Allow your shoulders to soften,
Your jaw to loosen.
Close your eyes gently.
Let your breath become slow and steady like the tide moving in and out.
With every inhale,
Feel your chest expand and open.
With every exhale,
Imagine releasing a little of the heaviness you carry.
Now bring the awareness to your heart.
Heartache is like a weight pressing into this tender space and you need to push it away.
Simply acknowledge,
Yes,
This is here.
Allow yourself to be with it without needing to change it just yet.
Now imagine that you are walking along a quiet path in the desert at twilight.
The air is warm.
The earth is soft beneath your feet and ahead of you glows a gentle light of a fire.
Around this fire sits a circle of your elders.
Their faces are lined with wisdom and kindness.
One of them motions for you to sit beside them and they begin to tell you a story.
There was once a woman who carried water each day from the river to her village.
She used two clay pots tied to a wooden pole across her shoulders.
One pot was strong and perfect and the other had a crack along its side.
Each day by the time she reached the village,
The cracked pot had leaked out half of its water.
The pot,
It felt ashamed and said to the woman,
I am broken.
I waste your effort.
I am not good enough.
But the woman smiled and said,
Have you not noticed the flowers growing along the side of the path?
I planted seeds there knowing you would water them.
You have brought beauty where there was none.
You may be cracked,
But you are also a giver of life.
The elder's eyes meet yours full of warmth.
So it is with the heart.
Even when it is broken,
It still nourishes.
Even in sorrow,
It creates beauty.
The crack is not the weakness.
It is the doorway through which love continues to flow.
Take a deep breath now in,
Feeling these words in your own heart.
You may feel cracked.
You may feel broken by loss,
Disappointment,
Or longing.
But notice love still moves through you.
Your tenderness,
Your tears,
Your heartbeats,
Your heartache.
They are also proof that you have loved deeply and that love continues to shape the world around you.
With each inhale,
Imagine the breath moving into the cracks of your heart.
With each exhale,
Imagine blossoms sprouting from those cracks.
Bright,
Resilient,
Beautiful.
Now breathe slowly,
Letting your heart become the garden watered by its own ache.
Rest in knowing that even through heartache,
You are still creating beauty.
Now place your head and hand over your heart.
Feel its warmth beneath your palm.
Repeat softly to yourself,
Either aloud or in your mind,
My heartache,
It may be there,
But it is still whole.
My cracks let love flow into the world.
I carry beauty even in sorrow.
Now take three deep breaths together.
Inhaling peace.
Exhaling pain.
Inhaling strength.
Exhaling softness.
Inhaling love.
Exhaling love.
When you are ready to open your eyes,
Carry this story with you.
A reminder that your heartache is not only pain,
But also the soil in which new life,
New compassion,
And new beauty can grow.
Thank you for listening.
Namaste.
