The power of surrender.
Today's meditation is going to guide you into really embodying this power of surrender.
Surrender is not something that you have to do.
It's not so much of an action.
It's more an allowing.
Surrender is not about giving up when all else fails.
It's not about giving up anything at all or giving away or losing something.
This is what we've learned about surrender and that connotation that we have to lose something or we give something away when we surrender,
And this is so not true.
True surrender is an opening,
A very deep opening to something that you may call your higher self,
The divine,
God,
The universe.
Surrender is such a natural way of living when you start to let it be more and more a part of your life.
It's that connection that we have to something vaster than our smaller egoic self that when consciously we strengthen this connection,
It opens us to a bigger picture reality.
Where curiosity replaces fear and trust replaces doubt.
This is something we're not taught or conditioned into this natural way of daily surrender.
Mostly we learn that we have to be in charge of our lives,
To control things,
To get what we want,
And there's a lot of tension and expectations and disappointments in that way of living.
When we think we have to control our lives,
We overthink,
Analyze,
Scheme,
Strive,
Seek all ways that we can to be in control of our lives.
It's a very contracted,
Intense way of living,
But when you stop for a moment and investigate this notion of control,
The idea that you're in charge of your life,
It leaves very little room for the magical unknowns,
Little room for the magic of life.
In yoga,
There's a term called Ishvara Pranidhana.
It means devotion or surrender to a higher power,
The divine,
God,
The universe,
Whatever name you like to label it.
The practice of Ishvara Pranidhana is a daily practice of surrender.
You can make it a ritual if you like,
If you're into doing rituals,
It's a beautiful practice.
The fear of the unknown is scary,
But it's not real when you understand that the life force energy is always supporting us,
Always.
I know this is a big thing to say,
Especially if you've experienced a rough road in life so far,
But truly life wants only for us to live in flow,
In the moments.
So to start to practice Ishvara Pranidhana or surrender and feeling that power,
Take time each day to disconnect from thinking about things.
And you do that by switching to a more feeling base,
Feeling experiences in the moment,
Like your breath,
Your body sensations,
The sounds in your environment.
Perhaps you can right now,
As you're listening,
Feel your breath,
Feel that movement in your body as the breath flows in and out.
And perhaps notice maybe there's some sensations in your body and just let your attention rest on one of those sensations.
Let it rest there completely in that one sensation in your body right now.
These simple practices help us to come out of the thinking mind that creates all the doubts and fears and the contractions we feel in our body.
This is a beautiful daily practice of surrender,
Just to listen to sounds without thinking about the sounds,
Just to feel your breath without thinking about things,
Just anchor into that movement of breath flowing in and out of your body.
See how long you can do that for.
And over time,
You can extend those periods of moments into minutes,
Into perhaps hours.
In the moments when we let our thinking mind have a rest,
And instead we place our attention on the senses of the body,
We begin that switch from a small perspective into a vast connected feeling,
A vast connection to spirit.
And this connection that we have to spirit deepens over time,
And we can let go a little more,
A little bit more of the need to control.
So if you have a fear right now,
Or are bothered by some situation,
I want you to let it be in your consciousness and just let it be here right now.
And then I want you to see if you can expand from the fearful thoughts and instead experience the senses like we just did.
Pay more attention now to the sounds,
Even the sound of my voice,
Or perhaps a visual,
A sight in your environment,
Or sensations in the body.
And pick one right now to focus on,
And focus with loving attention,
That you don't need it to be different,
You're not trying to get rid of it,
You're not trying to hold onto Just focusing loving attention on one sensation now,
Whether that's a sound or a sight or sensation in the body.
Just let yourself rest there for a few moments.
And now ask your higher self or spirit to show you how this feeling of fear is coming,
What thought is creating this fear.
And ask the question with curiosity,
Like you really want to know,
You really want to know,
What is this thought that is creating the fear that I'm feeling?
And you can explore this at any time that fear arises in your life,
Just giving yourself that little bit of distance and approaching your fear with curiosity,
Asking,
What is the thought that's creating this right now?
You can also do this if you're gripped with doubt.
You can ask your higher self or spirit to help you trust,
What would help you to expand into trusting in yourself more right now?
Perhaps it's a walk,
You might want to walk in nature,
Or perhaps it's just sitting down to do a guided meditation,
Or maybe lying down for 10 minutes of stillness and quiet,
Of just watching and witnessing thoughts that come and go,
Feelings that arise,
Sensations.
Or perhaps it's sitting down and journaling.
So there are many ways that you can ask your higher self or your spirit to help you trust.
And just pick one and start to practice that more and more on a daily basis.
And all of this,
All of this helps us to step into the power of surrender.
So I want you to know that we are all so supported and loved,
So supported and loved.
And as we release the thoughts that make us feel otherwise,
We can expand into this sense of surrender,
The power of surrender.
And help us,
Let it help you live a more creative life in tune and in flow with the movements of the universe.
So when fear arises,
You can replace it with curiosity,
Ask what this fear is about,
Get really intimate with it.
How does it feel?
Where is it in your body?
Is it connected to a thought?
Often we don't want to investigate the fear.
We want it to just go away.
But as we stay curious and don't try to push it away,
A door opens,
An insight,
A release and a way of surrendering.
When doubts arise,
Replace it with trust by looking at the thoughts that are creating the doubt and then say to your doubts,
Thank you.
Please take a rest now and go into the things that make you feel really connected,
Connected to the earth,
The sky,
Your body,
Your breath,
And expand into trusting,
Trust that the universe is always supporting you,
Always.
No matter how it may look in that moment of doubt,
Stay with your heart,
Feel the courage of your heart that leads you to trust,
Leads you to surrender and the doubt will dissolve.
The power of surrender is that when you let it come in,
When you let surrender take over and be a deepening part of your life,
It opens you up to living your fullest potential that feels so in flow and aligned with life itself.
