Welcome to this Being of the Earth practice.
This is a practice for grounding and centering in times of overwhelm and challenge.
This practice is best done standing up,
But you can also adapt it to sitting or lying down if that's what your body needs today.
Wherever you are,
Just give yourself a moment to arrive in your space,
In your body,
And bring your attention to your breath.
And with every exhale,
Allow your body to soften a little.
Your face,
Your shoulders,
Your hips,
Your knees,
Your feet.
Let your attention drop down into your feet,
Making connection with the earth,
Under your feet,
Under your body.
Noticing the solidity of the ground on which you stand.
Letting yourself feel into all that you associate with earth,
All that you feel grateful for,
That is earth.
So perhaps the nourishing soil from which our food comes,
The flowers and plants and trees that are part of the earth.
Whatever you are grateful for,
Just taking a moment to really connect and feel that and honour it.
And from there,
Let your breath guide you upwards through your body up towards the sense of the sky above,
Sensing the space around and above you.
Making connection with this energy of space and air and sky.
What is it that you can be grateful for about this energy and space of the sky?
Birds,
Clouds,
The stars at night,
The moon and her cycles.
Whatever you associate with this sky energy,
Let it fill your heart with some gratitude.
And then feel yourself as you are here now,
Connected to both the earth and the sky.
Your body like a bridge between those two places,
Those two energies.
Your body that is entirely devoted to keeping your life in this moment.
Finding a sense of appreciation for this miracle of the body that allows you to be here in this moment,
Alive and breathing.
You might like to put a hand somewhere on your body to acknowledge all the processes,
All the wondrous things that are happening in your body to keep you alive,
To keep you breathing right now.
And then place your other hand on your chest and sense into your beating heart.
Honouring its strength,
Its capacity to stretch and expand and hold so many different emotions.
Honouring a heart that has loved and lost and loved again and again and again.
An honouring of your own beautiful heart.
And then taking one of your hands and placing it on your forehead or on your face to take a moment to connect with your mind with the intelligence,
The creativity,
The imagination that lives in your mind.
Taking a moment to honour and thank your mind for working with you.
And woven into this body,
Heart,
Mind space that is the wonder of your nervous system.
Your nervous system that is designed to protect you,
To offer you safety,
Dignity,
Belonging.
All happening under the radar of your conscious awareness.
So however you relate to your nervous system,
However you imagine this wondrous web of nerves inside your own being,
Taking a moment to acknowledge and thank that.
And from this axis of your body,
Heart,
Mind,
Nervous system between the earth and the sky,
Letting your body take the shape of you in your fullness,
In your full dignity of this moment.
Taking up space and from here reaching out sideways with your arms and sensing into all that you are connected to.
People,
Beings,
Places,
Communities,
All these beings that matter to you,
That you love and that support you,
Feeling them there at your side.
And whatever it is you are struggling with right now,
Lean sideways into a sense of connection with all those others who are struggling in a similar situation.
Acknowledging that there are others who feel overwhelmed or confused,
Sad or scared,
Who are struggling with illness or loss.
And imagine taking their hands into yours and through your hands offering and receiving this alongside-ness with each other.
And with a deep breath,
Bringing your awareness into your back,
The length of your spine,
Sensing the space behind you,
The past of your own life,
The whole journey that your life has taken you on so far,
All your experiences.
And then beyond that,
The long line of ancestors,
Known and unknown,
All those who came before you.
And just taking a moment to acknowledge that these ancestors had to overcome many challenges,
That they too struggled with adverse circumstances and had to keep inventing ways to survive,
To move forward,
To move through hard times.
And whatever else is true about your ancestors,
They did not give up.
Their ingenuity and their strength is evident in the very fact that you're here in this moment,
Alive,
Breathing today right now.
And of course,
Behind all those ancestors,
Alongside those human ancestors,
Is also the long history of the evolution of life.
Billions of years of life adapting to new circumstances,
Diversifying,
Evolving to meet challenges,
To meet adversity.
And this intelligence,
Of course,
Lives in you.
So how can you lean back and connect to this wisdom,
This intelligence,
And let it have your back?
Imagine this intelligence of life continuing to evolve through you right now,
However you are,
Whatever you're facing in your life,
To see if you can find a sense of this too being part of the great evolution of life.
Finding the gesture with your hands,
With your whole body,
To acknowledge the richness,
The strength,
The intelligence that's there at your back,
Receiving the support.
And then turning forwards,
Picturing the path ahead,
Seeing yourself in your own future as you yourself become a wise elder to those who follow,
And then an ancestor whose strength and dignity and choices and struggles will become good compost,
Good support for future generations.
And finding a gesture,
A way to offer your own life with all its experiences in service of this future for people,
For the planet,
Sending some blessings forward with words,
With your fingers,
With a smile.
And then sensing yourself standing here right now at the center of these three axes,
From earth to sky,
From left to right,
From the back to the front,
Like a star with lines of connection radiating out,
Letting yourself be held by this web of connection in all directions.
And if you will,
Sending gratitude and well wishes out into all directions to wherever they may be needed,
And receiving gratitude in return for your courage to show up,
To be here right now as you are.
So formulating a blessing for yourself.
May I live with ease,
And perhaps may I find my way,
Whatever feels relevant and right to you in your situation right now,
Offering yourself this blessing through your words and through a gesture with your hands,
The shape of your body,
A movement.
And then taking some time to rest now and to marinate in the goodness of your practice,
To receive the echo of all the places that you visited,
Any insights that you've received,
Wishing you well on your onward journey.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
Thank you.
