Welcome to Rooted Growth,
A place you're invited to slow down,
Soften,
And reconnect.
My name is Lisa,
And I'm so glad you're here.
In this practice,
You'll find a space for both stillness and inspiration,
Without pressure and without needing to be anywhere else right now.
Take a moment to settle in.
Allow your body to arrive wherever you are right now.
Feel your breath moving in and moving out.
Nothing to force.
Nothing to accomplish.
Just arrive.
One of the quiet truths of meditation is this.
Our life is always happening in the present moment.
In fact,
It's only happening in the present moment.
Not earlier today,
Not yesterday,
Not tomorrow,
Surely not in the story we keep replaying in our minds,
But right here.
And yet,
So much of the time,
I'm not actually right here.
Our minds drift into the past,
Revisiting old conversations,
Old disappointments,
Expectations,
Old wounds.
We replay things that we wish had gone differently.
We wish we'd said something different.
We wish someone else said something different.
So we relive these painful experiences over and over again,
As if our nervous system believes it still might be able to solve them or change them.
When we live in those memories,
Something subtle happens.
We aren't just remembering the past.
We're actually bringing the past into the present moment and asking our body to live it over again.
And you know,
The same thing happens when we travel into the future.
The mind imagines what might happen next,
What might go wrong,
Or what we really hope might happen.
Sometimes even wonderful fantasies about what life will look like someday.
But even beautiful future tripping can pull us away from the only place that life is actually unfolding,
The present moment.
Now we've heard this all before,
But how do I stay there?
Meditation gently reminds us that time itself is not the problem.
The past has its place.
The future has its purpose.
But peace,
True peace,
Tends to live in a much smaller place,
In this breath,
In this moment,
And in this small slice of time,
Nothing else is required.
Right now,
You may notice something very simple,
Your body is breathing,
Your heart is beating.
You are here.
And in this moment,
Nothing from the past needs to be solved,
And nothing in the future needs to be figured out.
This moment is complete.
That's the tool that meditation allows us to continue to develop,
The inner knowing that this moment is complete.
And when we return here again and again,
Something beautiful happens.
Life slows down.
Not because the world changes,
But because we stop leaving the moment we're already in.
Meditation becomes a way of reclaiming our life,
One moment at a time.
And each time the mind wanders to the past,
We can gently notice and bring it back.
Each time it starts running into the future,
We can gently return,
With grace and with awareness,
A soft remembering.
So as we sit here now,
Allow your breath to anchor you in this moment.
Feel the inhale.
Feel the exhale.
Nothing is missing,
Nothing behind you or ahead of you,
Just this moment.
So let's prepare for our meditation.
Find a comfortable seat,
And rest your hands gently in your lap,
And softly close your eyes.
Go to that place of inner quiet,
Where we experience our connection to our higher self.
And with each inflow and outflow of your breath,
Allow yourself to become more relaxed and more comfortable.
Take your seat of quiet dignity.
And let's consider our centering thought.
This moment is where my life is actually happening.
This moment is where my life is actually happening.
Hold that softly in your heart.
Now I'll introduce today's mantra.
I return to now.
I return to now.
On your inhale,
I return.
On your exhale,
To now.
I return to now.
Please continue with your meditation.
I'll mind the time,
Starting and ending with a soft bell.
Sit restfully for a few moments.
And when you feel ready,
Open your eyes slowly,
And bring the light of this practice back into your day.
As you move through your day,
Carry our centering thought with you.
This moment is where life is actually happening.
Thank you so much for your practice today.
May the calm you've cultivated here continue to support and steady you through whatever comes next.
