Lesson 1
Savor The Breath
Beginning this chrysalis-like transformational journey into the self with our first meditation. Here we enter into the foundation of our perception. We will use a birds-eye perspective to act as a clarifier; and deep clean our lens. Before we begin, below is a dose of poetry to spark your appetite for self-inquiry:
"The day will come when, after harnessing the ether, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire."- Pierre Teilhard De Chardin
After Meditation Activity:
How do you define a life well lived? Let yourself write without holding back or analyzing. Anything that comes to mind as you write, let yourself be naked.
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Lesson 2
Unveiling The Self
Undulating waves of wisdom speak to you in the intuitive pulsations your body feels to move. In the realm of sensing, when you are out of the mind, you become a vessel for truth. You access wisdom that cannot be captured in words, but must be felt.
In this somatic meditation (soma - meaning relating to the body) can you allow yourself to let go of what you think you know? Drop habit, expectation, and where you think your limits are. Let yourself feel moment to moment, as if blind to a predictive reality. Let yourself become free of your history and allow this moment to unveil itself to you. Go beyond habitual movement and see what unveils itself to you when you slow down.
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Lesson 3
Stop Leaving and You will Arrive
Can we hold both grief and gratitude simultaneously within our hearts? Can the challenge of being human open us up to an even greater sensitivity to gratitude, joy, and the subtle magic of being alive?
We hold incredible duality, numbness and yearning, excitement and fear, satisfaction, and emptiness all within our human hearts. The glue for this duality is our present tender compassion. The richest cultivation lies in the state of our own presence. To uncoil the riches within, you must dig your awareness into the soil of your being and soften into it.
After Meditation Activity:
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Lesson 4
Breaking Train Of Thought
Let us enter this day with attentive consideration of what thoughts we automatically believe, listen to, and structure ourselves around. I offer below one of my favorite quotes from Byron Katie, a life-changing author who guides one through the process of thought inquiry using 4 questions.
"A thought is harmless unless we believe it. It’s not our thoughts, but our attachment to our thoughts, that causes suffering. Attaching to a thought means believing that it’s true, without inquiring. A belief is a thought that we’ve been attaching to, often for years. We either believe what we think or we question it: there's no other choice."- Byron Katie
After Meditation Activity:
Contemplate a negative thought or story that often repeats in your head. Try to simplify it to the essence that repeats (ideally in one sentence). Take a moment to pause and write this down, then continue to the next step. The next step is to flip the story around. Find an affirmation or sentence that counterbalances this story that has been draining you. Take your time to find one you connect with and can actually feel as true within yourself. Some examples of what this may look like: "Perhaps I've always been more beautiful than I was ready to admit." "I don't need anyone else to prove my worth to me. I love myself through each phase and cycle." "I know that what I have to say is valuable." "Me loving me, makes my life more rich than anything else ever could."
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Lesson 5
The Soil Thought Grows From
In this practice, we will embrace mindful walking to assist the opening of our senses and mind. If available, you can walk outside, perhaps barefoot, to connect deeper with the earth. You may also alternatively clear a small space indoors to walk in.
“Most of us walk without chains, yet we aren’t free. We’re tethered to regret and sorrow from the past. We return to the past and continue to suffer. The past is a prison. But now you have the key to unlock the door and arrive in the present moment. You breathe in, you bring your mind home to your body, you make a step, and you arrive in the here and the now"
- Thich Nhat Hanh
After Meditation Activity:
Take the next 3-5 minutes to name, honor, and bask in the sweetness around and within you. An acknowledgement of gratitude for the sweetness no matter how seemingly subtle. This practice is a re-sensitization to the acquired taste of appreciation. You may wish to write these down in a list, speak them out loud, or just observe your inner feelings.
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Lesson 6
Self Devotion Ceremony | Bhakti State Of Being
A Bhakti Yoga Ceremony with a twist...
A meditation focused fully on devotional love.
Love, that gives like endless ocean waves, love, that screams divinity from the rooftops, love, that enters through the doorway of humbleness and slowly kindles a radiant fire of higher consciousness inside the one willing to create a space inside themselves for this love.
We explore the essence of Bhakti Yoga and what a typical formal practice may look like. Then we embark on a twist, as we devote our flowering adoration and nurturing presence to ourselves. We honor the sanctity within and steep our little human inside the ocean of our love.
After Meditation Activity:
Savoring our bhakti devotion... Take a few moments to write a note of devotional recognition to yourself. You can write in a list of what comes to mind as you set a short time frame to open your awareness and notice what you adore and appreciate about yourself; or you can write a more formal letter to yourself admiring your divinity and all the features it shines through... follow what resonates most with you at this moment.
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Lesson 7
Unfiltered
How fully do you allow yourself to express?
Are there shades and colors of yourself that you cut yourself off from dancing with?
These unfiltered practices will give you a few chances to meet these parts of yourself in a space beyond the analytical mind and rational filter. This meditation is focused on returning to the wisdom of children, who cry when they are sad, and then, with cheeks still wet, they are off playing again. They empty themselves. They feel and process their emotions and can once again find fullness in that emptiness.
After Meditation Activity:
Consider a passion or interest that you have been hesitant to pursue or share with others. What fears or judgments hold you back? Write a persuasive argument to yourself to acknowledge the importance of embracing this passion authentically, regardless of external opinions.
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Lesson 8
The Inextinguishable Flame
Karmically anchored into our own inner realm
when we tend to our inner landscape we fuel an inner flame of love.
our presence is medicine.
When we attend to this precious heart,
we no longer return home to rest in an abandoned landscape
we rest in a temple already lit
a soft, warm glow of compassion illuminating its walls.
After Meditation Activity:
How does it feel to live your life for yourself, not for anyone else? Take a moment to place yourself in this mindset: you feel confident in your abilities, contentment toward the unknown, comfortable as a beginner, patient with your growth, and embracing your uniqueness. Pause for a moment to imagine moving through life with this mindset... Now, notice any differences between this mind state and how you are currently approaching life. Reflection: is there anywhere you are trading your values as a way to fill the inner void and receive a temporary sense of comfort? Let this practice provide a reference point to uncover deeper truths. Explore how it feels to rest with a fire of self-acceptance in your belly. Take note as any realizations arise. No matter what answers or perhaps more questions come from this practice, you are familiarizing yourself with the liberation of your soul — a homecoming into yourself.
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Lesson 9
Mantra Of Appreciation
It is easy to get caught in the illusion that by accumulating more, we can create a fertile ground for happiness to bloom from. We may fall for the idea that it takes the right circumstances to brew up that soul contentment we crave and to finally feel "arrived" in ourselves. Yet, this concept keeps us on a hamster wheel running for that contentment that is forever "just out of reach".
What if the secret recipe is actually about deepening into the soil of appreciation for what is here now? As we cultivate a mantra of appreciation in this meditation, we will let that remind us of how it feels to live from a foundation of gratitude independent of anything external. What becomes our experience when what guides us is a compass of gratitude and satisfaction?
After Meditation Activity:
What is something that you have hoped/wished for, for a long time that perhaps you take for granted now? It is the nature of human evolution to want more. However, when we are consistently wanting more without drinking in the nutrients of the soil we are already standing upon, then we never get that chance to arrive in happiness fully. Let us taste the fruit of the present moment. Use this journal prompt to acknowledge how far you have come and the beauty already around you.
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Lesson 10
Higher Self Attunement
Our mindset is our biggest asset. No matter what situation we are in, we always have our mindset that dictates how we relate to life. Our perception guides "us" through the information that our senses take in and places us into a story. We have the ability to completely redirect the way events will unravel and the way that we feel about ourselves through the mindset we cultivate.
As we consistently show up to a practice that fosters contentment, equanimity, and an aerial self-perspective, we, in a way, hypnotize ourselves. We consciously and repetitively strengthen new neural pathways, which eventually become the familiar pathways for our perception to travel through. Eventually, these mindsets and perspectives become woven into the fabric of our foundational daily selves.
After Meditation Activity:
Name one thing you can do weekly that will fuel your sense of connection with yourself? Just one practice, habit, or activity that you will commit to weekly. A practice that will nourish and deepen this bond with yourself. One that will serve to familiarize you with an aspect of yourself that you love (connecting to the place of love, possibility, and joy).
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Lesson 11
Metta Vocals
The soil, which grows all the seeds of our practice is:
Loving Kindness
Metta meditation is a mind state stemming from the Buddhist tradition. Metta meditation is a prayer and practice devoted to radiating loving-kindness, compassion, and good intentions toward all beings. One of the most common forms of this practice is reciting or meditating upon a prayer such as the one below:
May all living beings be happy and at peace.
May they be free of suffering and the cause of suffering.
May they be healthy and well.
May they be free.
The voice is a powerful and intimate instrument of the human vessel. Often, in mainstream society, it is reserved for the few "supremely gifted" musically. However, this strips us from enjoying the harp strings of the cosmos instilled within us.
After Meditation Activity:
When have you experienced freedom in your voice? This may have been in the form of sharing vulnerability, teaching/speaking in public, singing, through prayer, or even voicing difficult conversations with grace and kindness. Spend a moment writing the way it felt to experience some form of delicious freedom in your voice.
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Lesson 12
Soften Into Receptivity
Receive each breath as the river of life moves through you. Rest this body upon the soil of this moment. Let it hold you in the primordial unraveling; no effort is required from you. You may simply let yourself be a child of this earth. Receive this breath, receive the beating of your heart, receive the peace of softening into surrender.
After Meditation Activity:
What does the state of surrender mean to you? Trust and surrender go hand in hand. Trust that if it may not seem so in the moment, everything is happening for you, not to you. Trust that no matter what happens you have what you need inside you to grow, bloom, and rebirth yourself when needed. Dedicate five minutes to journal on the topic: trust. Some inspiration to get started writing: Explore your relationship with trust/surrender, your experience of when it is coursing strongly through your body, or write some affirmations on the topic
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