Hi,
It's Julie Potichur for the Balanced Mind Meditation Center.
I thought for today's meditation I would take us on a journey in nature.
So that's what we're going to do.
We're going to try to get in the flow.
So let's start by finding a comfortable seat and taking three nourishing breaths.
Please make your exhale longer than your inhale.
I like to go in for four and out for six.
In for four and out for six.
One more.
In for four.
Holding in at the top and letting this one out with a sigh.
Okay.
Gently closing your eyes or a downward gaze if that's more comfortable.
And then really feeling down into your seat.
Wiggling your body if you need to to get it just right.
Relaxing the top of your head.
Relaxing your eyes.
Really having the inside and the outside and behind and all around your eyes really soft and comfortable.
Relaxing your jaws.
Letting all the tension go in your jaws.
Imagining a slight smile to the outside corners of your lips.
Dropping that smile down.
Letting your shoulder blades drift down your back.
Taking a few beats here in your heart center.
Taking a few breaths here.
Releasing your abs.
Letting your belly be soft.
Your back is dignified.
Not ramrod straight but upright.
Allowing your lungs to be free to breathe in and breathe out.
You might want to place a hand on your belly and feel your breath breathing out and breathing in.
Allowing your abdomen to gently push your hand out.
On the inhale and allowing it to retreat inward on your exhale.
And getting heavy in your seat.
Really feeling your sit bones in whatever is supporting you.
Using your thighs and calves and feet.
Let relaxation flow from your shoulders down to the tips of your fingers.
And then you may want to place a hand or hands where you find it soothing.
Just for a couple breath cycles as a reminder that you're giving yourself this nurturing,
Loving space and time.
And then resting your hands in your lap.
And imagining a mountain range.
Any mountains that you've ever seen in your life will do.
I'm picturing the ones here in Idaho that I've been hiking around for the past couple weeks.
But you could be imagining mountains on any vacation.
And I'd like you to get the sense of majesty and groundedness.
Imagine yourself as a mountain.
Now please envision a river.
This river is flowing.
It's at the base of the mountain.
You can see the river.
You can see there's stones in the river.
The river has some shallow bits and it has some deep bits.
You can imagine swimming upriver.
And sometimes it seems right now that we are swimming against the tide of all that we are dealing with.
We're dealing with the planetary pandemic.
Now in its fifth month,
Which seems never ending.
Trying to keep our equanimity while we deal with the fear and the uncertainty.
And worse,
Doing the breaststroke.
We keep on keeping on swimming up that river.
There's other obstacles or issues.
The political situation.
Trying to release and release any anger or hopelessness or frustration or shock.
Then there's the social justice issues that so many of us are waking up to and so many of us have been doing for decades and decades and decades and they're wondering why people are just now catching up.
The river's flowing.
Now at the very end of this river,
It meets the ocean.
And we're going to flow right into the ocean.
Ah,
A sense of freedom.
The ocean's so vast.
There's a predictability about those waves.
Let's match our breath to the waves.
You can feel your breath at your nostrils or your chest or your belly or you can feel your whole body breathing.
Imagining each of us is a distinct wave.
Because we are all individuals,
We all have our own skin and bones and organs and personalities and egos.
We're all a little bit different from each other,
Like the waves in the ocean.
But we're all the ocean.
Breathing and flowing.
You drop down about 30 feet or so,
The ocean's really still underneath.
Peaceful.
Down below the current.
Anybody who's ever gone scuba diving,
That's what I'm envisioning right now.
Just that sort of weightless looking around at what's there.
When you come back up to the surface,
You can see the current and what the weather's like.
Whether it's windy,
Whether you're being pushed around a little bit.
And you can see your wave and all the other waves,
How we're so connected.
And each wave that curls and breaks and fans out at the shore,
Then pulls back and starts over.
Just like our body breathing.
Do you notice the gap at the end of your exhale before your inhale and at the end of your inhale before your exhale?
It'll take a few moments to just notice that slight gap.
You can rest here in these gaps.
Now relaxing your focus of your resting attention and just allowing whatever thoughts,
Feelings,
And emotions to arise and blow through like clouds on the big sky of your mind.
Remembering that everything passes.
Good thoughts and feelings and emotions pass and bad thoughts and feelings and emotions pass.
Especially if we don't judge them and label them.
And especially if we don't spin out on any storylines.
Just notice and let it drift by.
I selected a poem for today by Roger Keyes,
Who's an art historian and poet.
He translated what he read in Hokusai's paintings.
So this is called Hokusai Says by Roger Keyes.
Just taking in these words while you stay in your meditative state.
Hokusai says,
Look carefully.
He says,
Pay attention.
Notice.
He says,
Keep looking.
Stay curious.
He says there is no end to seeing.
He says,
Look forward to getting old.
He says,
Keep changing.
You just get more who you really are.
He says,
Get stuck.
Accept it.
Repeat yourself as long as it's interesting.
He says,
Keep doing what you love.
He says,
Keep praying.
He says,
Every one of us is a child.
Every one of us is ancient.
Every one of us has a body.
He says,
Every one of us is frightened.
He says,
Every one of us has to find a way to live with fear.
He says,
Everything is alive.
Shells,
Buildings,
People,
Fish,
Mountains,
Trees.
Wood is alive.
Water is alive.
Everything has its own life.
Everything lives inside us.
He says,
Live with the world inside you.
He says,
It doesn't matter if you draw or write books.
It doesn't matter if you saw wood or catch fish.
It doesn't matter if you sit at home and stare at the ants on your veranda or the shadows of the trees and grasses in your garden.
It matters that you care.
It matters that you feel.
It matters that you notice.
It matters that life lives through you.
Contentment is life living through you.
Joy is life living through you.
Satisfaction and strength are life living through you.
Peace is life living through you.
He says,
Don't be afraid.
Don't be afraid.
Look,
Feel,
Let life take you by the hand.
Let life live through you.
One more delicious inhale and exhale.
Wiggling your toes and your fingers.
And when you hear the sound of the chimes,
Coming back in your human body into this space.
Giving yourself a stretch if you need one or you want one or it feels good.
Thank you for listening.
This is Julie Potichur from the Balanced Mind Meditation Center.
