Hello everyone,
This is Coach Tan and today's guided meditation will be the Mother of the Wind.
This is a folklore meditation on trusting yourself through hard decisions.
First let's take a moment to settle in.
Allow your body to find whatever position feels most supportive.
Let the breath become soft,
Steady and unhurried.
Close your eyes if that feels comfortable and begin by welcoming yourself fully,
Gently and into this moment.
Now let's take a deep breath in through your nose.
Let the air fill your ribs,
Expand your belly,
Then exhale gently through your mouth letting everything soften.
Let's do this again.
Feel the breath move like warm light through the chest and exhale.
Releasing any tension in the shoulders,
In the jaw,
In the spine.
Let your breath settle into a calm rhythm.
Allow your exhale to be longer than your inhale.
This signals safety to the nervous system.
It lets your body know,
I am okay now.
Feel your muscles loosening like knots,
Gently untangling,
Feeling the weight of your body sinking into support.
Feel the mind beginning to quiet,
The way the dusk quiets the world at the end of a long day.
Imagine roots extending from your body into the earth,
Steady,
Warm,
Supportive.
Feel the ground holding you gently but powerfully.
You don't have to do anything.
You don't have to solve anything.
You don't have to make any decisions right now.
Just breathe.
This is your space,
A sacred pause,
A welcoming to yourself,
A homecoming to yourself.
I now want to share a story,
One that has traveled across generations,
Carried in the voices of elders and whispered into the ears of children on cold nights.
Long before cities,
Long before books,
Before certainty ever existed,
There lived people in the far northern valleys who believed that the wind carried wisdom.
They said the wind remembered.
It remembered every laugh,
Every loss,
Every choice,
And every prayer.
It carried the stories of those who came before.
In the highest point of the valley lived a woman known as the Mother of the Wind.
Some said she was born of the winter storms.
Others said she once was a traveler who climbed the mountain in search of answers and never returned the same.
But all agreed that she was the keeper of a kind of wisdom no one else possessed.
Her home was a simple hut made of stone,
Woven branches perched at the edge of the cliff where the wind never seized.
Whenever someone in the valley faced a hard decision of marriage,
Of a journey,
Change in direction,
A moment of fear,
They made a long climb to seek her guidance.
Not for answers,
But for clarity.
One season,
A young woman made the climb up.
She was at a crossroads in her life,
Pulled between what she should do and what others wanted her to do.
And the quiet whisper,
What she truly longed for,
The weight of expectations pressed so heavily on her chest that she could hardly breathe.
The climb was steep and the air was thin,
But something in her knew she needed to reach the woman on the cliff.
When she arrived,
She found the Mother of Wind sitting cross-legged on a flat stone,
Weaving long strands of grass into intricate braids.
The wind danced around her as it knew her name.
The elder did not speak at first.
She simply motioned for the woman to sit beside her.
Minutes passed in silence,
A silence that felt ancient,
Sacred.
Finally,
The mother asked,
What is it that troubles you,
Child?
The woman's voice trembled.
I'm afraid of choosing wrong.
Every path feels heavy.
Every choice feels dangerous.
I don't trust myself.
The Mother of the Wind nodded slowly,
As though she had heard these words a thousand times.
She placed a half-finished braid in the woman's hands.
The braid was made of three strands,
Golden,
Green,
And pale silver.
She said,
Every person carries three inner voices.
The voice of what you feel,
The voice of what you know,
And the voice of what you dream for.
She pointed to each strand.
When these three voices fight one another,
The braid unravels.
You feel lost.
You feel afraid.
You forget that you have the strength to choose.
The wind shifted,
Brushing against their faces.
The mother continued,
But when you treat all three voices with kindness,
When you listen to them without judgment,
They braid themselves together.
And a braided heart cannot break.
The woman felt tears rising.
She whispered,
I don't know how to listen without fear.
The Mother of the Wind smiled,
A soft,
Wise smile.
She lifted her face towards the sky.
Do you know why the wind never breaks?
The woman shook her head.
Because it bends.
Because it changes direction when it's needed to.
Because it doesn't fight itself.
It simply follows what feels true.
The wind whipped softly around them,
Almost as if agreeing.
The Mother of the Wind placed her hand over the woman's heart.
You have the wind inside you,
A knowing,
A pulling,
A direction your spirit leans toward even when your mind is afraid.
She leaned close and whispered,
When you cannot decide,
Listen for the direction.
Your inner wind is already blowing.
The woman closed her eyes.
She felt the fear.
But beneath the fear,
She felt something else.
A warmth.
A tug.
A quiet,
Steady direction she had been ignoring.
Not a shout.
Not a whisper.
Not a command.
But a pull.
When she opened her eyes,
The Mother of the Wind placed the completed braid into her hands.
Take this.
Let it remind you the strength comes not from forcing decisions,
But from trusting your own inner movement.
The woman descended the hill lighter,
Softer,
Clearer.
Not because her voice had become easy,
But because she finally believed that she could trust herself through it.
And the people passed this story down through the generations.
When you face a hard decision,
Go wherever the inner wind blows warm.
It will not lead you astray.
Now return to your breath.
Slow.
Deep.
Steady.
Feel your inner wind.
The quiet place in your chest where truth rises softly.
Ask yourself,
Where does my breath feel lighter?
Which direction feels like relief?
How can I be gentle with myself as I find clarity?
Let the answers come slowly.
There is no rush.
No pressure.
Only breath.
Take one last deep inhale.
And slowly release the exhale.
Place a hand over your heart if it feels right.
Know this.
You are allowed to take your time.
You are allowed to choose differently than others expect.
You are allowed to trust the wisdom moving inside you.
You are stronger than you think.
Softer than you give yourself credit for.
Wiser than you realize.
Your inner wind knows the way.
And you will not break.
You will not bend.
You will listen.
You will choose to grow.
When you are ready,
Slowly return to your body.
Your space.
Your day.
Carrying this story of wisdom with you.
A braided heart cannot break.
And your inner wind always knows the way.
Thank you for listening today.
Namaste.
