Hello,
And welcome to the guided meditation,
Personifying and Transforming Our Shadow.
This meditation accompanies the audio course,
Healing Our Shadow,
In the Mindfulness in Depth series.
It can be used on its own,
But I recommend that you take that course for more background,
If you haven't already.
This recording is a brief version of the meditation,
Which includes short periods of silence between the contemplations.
If you have more time,
Feel free to pause at any of those points of silence that feel especially important for your practice today.
The purpose of this meditation is to use our imaginative capacity to personify and interact with aspects of our shadow.
These complexes in our shadow typically take the form of a repeating emotional pattern in our lives,
And they can be very difficult to disrupt.
One of Carl Jung's insights was that complexes behave like autonomous sub-personalities,
So we'll be using our imagination to personify and interact with them,
Similar to his technique of active imagination.
Imaginative practices like this are also taught in Tibetan Buddhism,
Such as the practice of feeding your demons taught by Lama Tsultrim.
To begin,
Please find a comfortable meditation posture.
I'll guide a brief body scan to help you center your awareness in your body.
Begin by finding the sensation of your breath as it enters and leaves your body,
And then allow that awareness to radiate outwards until it permeates your entire body from head to toe.
And now move that awareness to the crown of your head,
And now move that awareness to the crown of your head,
Tuning into the feeling at the very top of your head and focusing your awareness there,
Then allowing it to gently melt down slowly moving your awareness through your face,
Relaxing all of the muscles,
Relaxing your expression.
As your awareness moves down through your neck,
Your shoulders,
Into your arms and torso,
Feeling your heart chakra in the middle of your chest opening up.
As the awareness moves into your belly and hips,
Feeling your weight sink completely into the chair or cushion,
And then allowing your awareness to scan through your legs all the way down to your feet,
And then zooming your awareness out.
Once again,
Encapsulate your entire body head to toe,
Bones to skin.
You may pause here if you'd like to spend more time in your body before moving on.
To prepare to interact with the complex,
You'll now spend some time developing the three C's in your awareness.
Confrontation,
Curiosity,
And compassion.
Confrontation gives you a sense of strength and determination when approaching the personified complex.
Curiosity gives you a sense of openness and inquisitiveness that allows you to learn from the personified complex and to learn from the personified complex.
Inquisitiveness that allows you to learn from the personified complex and treat this interaction as a process of discovery.
Last,
Compassion gives you warmth and understanding toward the imaginal figure,
Suspending any judgment or preconceived notions that you may have.
I'll leave a minute of silence here to cultivate these three awarenesses.
Again,
Please pause if you'd like more time.
Thank you.
So Now we'll begin the main practice,
Which is to personify an aspect of your shadow,
Namely a specific complex.
This presumes that you've done some shadow work as described in the course and have started to identify some complexes at work in your psyche.
Now you're going to invite your chosen complex to take shape in your awareness.
You can begin by asking yourself,
If this complex came to life,
What would it look like?
Recall the emotional feeling of the complex by moving your awareness into your body and see what images come forth.
Remember that there are no right answers.
Ideally,
The personified form is an animate being of some sort that you'll be able to relate to.
If you're working with a familiar form,
You can spend time noticing new details that may not have been apparent in previous sessions.
I'll give you a minute here to let your complex take shape.
Remember that if the form that arises feels unsafe in any way,
You can let go of the imagination and return your awareness to your breath and body to regulate.
Thank you.
Now that you're face-to-face with your complex,
You can engage in the essential part of this practice,
Which is to enter into relationship with its personified form.
If you're not sure where to begin,
You can ask simple questions like,
What do you need?
Or what do you want?
If you're not sure where to begin,
You can ask simple questions like,
What do you need?
Or what do you want?
Or what do you want?
Remember to maintain a curious yet compassionate presence and listen to what the other figure has to say.
Do your best to let go of any thoughts that you're just talking to yourself.
The point is to get in touch with a part of yourself that you don't often acknowledge consciously.
You may want to journal the conversation as it unfolds,
Or you can capture it afterwards.
I'll give you three minutes of silence here,
But since this interaction can go on for some time,
Feel free to pause if you need more time.
You may also end the practice here if you feel like you've gotten what you needed.
Thank you.
You you you you you In the next stage of the practice,
Imagine that through your interaction,
The personified complex reveals its true nature,
Which is as a guiding spirit offering a key to your wholeness.
Imagine that it morphs into a friendly form that Lama Tsultrim calls the ally.
Again,
Let your imagination create the new form,
Or notice new details of your ally if you have a familiar image.
I'll leave you two minutes for this imagination.
You you you you Now remember that healing a complex does not happen through rational thought.
It requires a deep repatterning of the archetypal story,
And this process is facilitated by a healing symbol.
Imagine that your ally now offers you this healing symbol as a gift.
If a personal symbol has not yet appeared for you,
Consider imagining a precious object like a jewel,
And feel that it represents exactly what you need to integrate your golden shadow.
I'll give you another minute to imagine receiving this healing symbol from your ally.
You you That brings us to the conclusion of the meditation.
To gradually emerge from the practice,
Please take a minute to return your awareness to your body.
This time,
Beginning with the extremities of your hands and feet,
Wiggling them to indicate that you will be coming out of meditation.
And then gradually allowing your awareness to move through your arms and legs towards the center of your body until your attention is gathered in the center of your chest at your heart.
From here,
You can gradually reconnect with the feeling of the breath as it enters and leaves your body.
Now,
Please gently arise from your meditation.
Open your eyes and take a deep breath.
If you didn't journal during the interaction,
Now is a good time to capture what you remember.
Thank you.
