First,
Let's center ourselves with the four-fold breath.
To do the four-fold breath,
Just inhale for four counts,
Hold for four counts,
Exhale for four counts,
And hold for four counts.
Let's do this four times.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four,
Hold two,
Three,
Four,
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Hold two,
Three,
Four.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four,
Hold two,
Three,
Four,
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Hold two,
Three,
Four.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four,
Hold two,
Three,
Four,
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Hold two,
Three,
Four.
Inhale two,
Three,
Four,
Hold two,
Three,
Four,
Exhale two,
Three,
Four,
Hold two,
Three,
Four.
Come back to normal breathing.
Let your mind open and join me in a space of nature and beauty.
See yourself with me and others meditating right now in a vast cavern,
Lying,
Sitting,
Or standing around its edges.
Breathe in deeply.
As you do,
You smell complex vegetation all around you,
The pooling of water within the cavern,
And the smell of wet rock and earth.
As your awareness grows of the space,
You feel the mixture of soft moss holding you,
As well as the rock and earth holding your body atop it.
Your mind's eye completely opens,
And you see light pouring down from a large hole in the top of this cavern.
As your eyes adjust,
You see a large pool of water in the middle of the cavern,
And in the center,
Expanding upwards from its surface,
Is a massive tree.
The trunk is thick,
Old,
But full of life.
The branches are high in the air,
Caressing the sides of the top of the cavern.
The tree is covered in vines that tendril out along the walls of the cavern and spill down the walls,
Reaching all corners of this massive space.
You see one of these vines next to you and reach out to feel it.
As you touch it,
You see it begin glowing a beautiful,
Vibrant color.
The color continues to glow all the way up the vine,
Back into the tree.
As the light of this vine reaches the tree,
You feel a slight pull in your stomach,
A connection forming between you and this tree.
You begin to hear faint voices resonating through the connection,
Like sound moving through a string.
Some you may recognize,
Others you feel you should know them,
But are unsure why.
As you listen more intently,
You understand some of the words.
I'm so sorry.
I loved you,
And I wish I had told you.
It wasn't fair what happened to you.
I miss you.
I don't know how to reach you.
Though the words are heavy and remorseful,
You feel the healing nature of them reaching for you,
Wanting to touch you.
As you feel this moving within you,
You recognize what this tree is.
It is the tree of human connection.
You feel the threads of shared experience,
How all emotions weave in and through all of us.
Not only with those in the cavern with you,
But with all ancestors,
Those currently living,
And those who we will pass all things on to.
You hear the voices more clearly now,
And as they speak,
You recognize the part of human experience you are connected with.
It is grief.
Why couldn't I be enough as I am?
Why did you leave so soon?
I wasn't ready.
How did it all come to this?
I just wanted a normal childhood.
You were supposed to protect me.
As you hear and feel these threads,
Your own may begin to emerge,
Seeking to flow up the vine to be heard and felt by others,
By those who know you and those who will know you.
Much of grief comes from what has happened,
Or is persistent,
Or is inevitable,
Yet cannot be fixed or mended.
And so it can sit in us,
Hardening and weighing us down,
And sometimes even stopping us entirely.
So,
I invite you to not hold it on your own.
Choose to share it with the tree.
Let the grief's essence flow up the vines to be held and heard and witnessed by those who are listening,
Those who are connected,
By those who are loving and holding space.
As I speak these thresholds of grief,
If they resonate,
Let that grief you feel be shared with the village,
The community of those listening,
Those connected to the tree.
Share that weight.
Let yourself feel the grief from the truth that all that we love we will lose,
The grief that comes from having parts of us never receive love,
The grief from the sorrows of the world,
The grief that comes from expecting but not receiving,
The grief that is passed down through generations or ancestral grief.
As you share this with the tree,
You feel several vines wrap and hold you as you feel and hear the support of those connected to the tree.
I see you,
Love you,
And will sit here with you.
I witness you and feel this with you.
No need to rush.
Take the space and time you need.
I will not judge you.
Feel exactly how you feel.
You are not alone in this.
To move grief through us,
To soften it or to help it become a source of growth and expansion can be incredibly difficult or even impossible to do on our own,
And if left unaddressed and unexposed can unintentionally shape who we are as a person.
Thank you for joining me today.
We offer our deepest reverence to the forces seen and unseen who have aided us here.
With love,
We set them free to return to their realms,
Their blessings still with us.
So mote it be.
