Welcome.
Today we will be using a simple and gentle meditation practice.
So let's take a deep breath in and on your exhale,
Sigh out through the mouth.
One more time,
Using your breath as a signal to your brain and to your nervous system that you are safe and you can relax.
Breathing in and sighing out.
Bringing your awareness into your body.
Making any adjustments that you need to arrive here fully.
There is nowhere we can go where we are not with ourselves.
And as much as we would like to always have positive,
Ecstatic and blissful experiences,
We actually have very human experiences.
The whole colorful spectrum of it.
So how deeply can we welcome each part of ourselves exactly as we are?
Let's explore the welcoming embrace possible through the words of Rumi.
This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival,
A joy,
A depression,
A meanness.
Some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.
Welcome and entertain them all.
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows who violently sweep your house empty of its furniture.
Still,
Treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out for some new delight.
The dark thought,
The shame,
The malice.
Meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes because each has been sent as a guide from beyond.
So breathing in through your nose and sighing out from your mouth.
Using the power of the breath to release any tension and to nourish your nervous system.
At any time throughout this meditation,
You are welcome to sigh out using this sound to relax your body,
To bring you deeper into yourself.
What if instead of fighting to fix our experience and putting in so much energy trying to change how we feel,
What if we instead change the resistance we hold to feeling it?
What if we lean into the resistance?
Allowing any resistance we feel to even feel the resistance itself.
Allowing ourselves to be exactly as we are.
There is no problem with where you are at.
And there is no problem with your desire to want more.
This total acceptance negates all suffering.
As all of our layers peel back,
And with each one we say,
This too is welcome.
Hi,
Hello,
You too are welcome.
All that we are left with is peace and acceptance.
We are left with that rich cultivation that is the ability to realize what is already here.
Relaxing into exactly as we are.
Breathing in and sighing out.
So many riches uncoil within us as we are met with that safe space.
This safe space to be exactly as we are.
And again,
Let's not make getting to this rich or blissful experience of acceptance the goal.
Let's make the goal instead to breathe deeper.
To smile softly into this body,
No matter whatever color of the experience you are in.
A deep,
Humbling,
Committed relationship with yourself.
Loving each and every visitor that comes in.
Take a deep breath in,
And again sigh out through your mouth.
Let the sound vibrate in your chest,
Reverberating in your heart space.
When raindrops speckle our skin and seep into our once dry clothing,
Does our body contract?
Or do we take a breath,
Unfurl our arms to the skies,
And dance in the rain?
Take a deep breath,
And begin to spread your arms out wide,
Opening your heart with the unfurling of your arms.
Reach your arms up above you,
And begin to bring the presence of total,
Unconditional,
Loving acceptance into them.
And like rain trickling down your face,
Let your fingertips come to gently touch the crown of your head.
And then slowly trace their way down your forehead,
Across your face,
Down your neck,
Shoulders,
Chest.
Coating you in pure,
Loving presence.
Down your ribs and lungs.
Bringing this loving presence into your hips,
Down your thighs,
Calves,
Your feet.
And bringing it into the earth,
Touching the ground.
Letting this presence seep deep into the earth and the cells of your body.
Again,
Breathing in,
Raising your hands above your head.
Gathering this presence into your hands,
And letting it rain into you.
This presence of total love,
Embracing every single part of you.
Every cell of your body.
Every inch of your skin.
Every emotion and thought.
Use your breath to help you open to receiving this energy into the cells of your body.
Breathing in,
And sighing out.
And slowing your movement now.
Let your senses heighten as you move even slower.
Placing more of your attention behind each movement.
One more time,
Moving the slowest you have yet to move.
And resting in total stillness.
Notice anywhere in the body that you can give permission to soften a little bit more.
Falling into the universal support.
Welcoming everything that you feel right now.
Giving space to let this energy move through you.
Lao Tzu,
The Chinese Taoist philosopher says,
Stop leaving,
And you will arrive.
Stop searching,
And you will see.
Stop running away,
And you will be found.
We transform suffering when we allow ourselves to be exactly where we are.
Let us move now into a yoga nidra practice.
So come to lay down,
Finding a comfortable position.
And let your body fully relax into the floor.
Notice the sensations of where the ground meets your skin.
Notice that as you relax into the floor,
You can feel how your rib cage expands and contracts into the support of the floor beneath you.
I will guide you through various points in your body,
And each place I guide you to.
Picture a bright glowing star there,
Full of vibrant,
Radiant energy.
So let's come to place that first star at the point between your brows,
Your third eye.
Feel the vibrant energy radiating here.
A crystal-like pure energy penetrating into the cells of your body,
Right here at your third eye.
Coming to place the next star at your throat,
And your right shoulder joint,
Right elbow joint,
Middle of your right wrist,
Tip of the right thumb,
Tip of the index finger,
Tip of the middle finger,
Tip of the ring finger,
Tip of the pinky.
Back to the right wrist joint,
Right elbow joint,
Right shoulder joint,
Your throat.
Noticing your whole right arm covered in glowing radiant stars.
Feel their sweet energy radiating and soaking into you.
Coming to place a star at the left shoulder joint,
Left elbow joint,
Middle of the left wrist,
Tip of the left thumb,
Tip of the index finger,
Tip of the middle finger,
Tip of the ring finger,
Tip of the pinky.
Back to the left wrist joint,
Left elbow joint,
Left shoulder joint,
Your throat.
Notice all the stars glowing in both of your arms now,
And come to place a star at your heart center,
Your right nipple,
Heart center,
Left nipple,
Heart center,
Solar plexus just above your belly button,
Sacral right beneath your belly button,
Right hip joint,
Right knee joint,
Right ankle joint,
Right big toe,
Tip of the second toe,
Tip of the third toe,
Tip of the fourth toe,
Tip of the small toe,
Right ankle joint,
Right knee joint,
Right hip joint,
Sacral.
Notice the whole right leg relaxed,
Glowing,
Vibrating this pure energy.
Now come to place a star in the left hip joint,
Left knee joint,
Left ankle joint,
Left big toe,
Tip of the second toe,
Tip of the third toe,
Tip of the fourth toe,
Tip of the small toe,
Left ankle joint,
Left knee joint,
Left hip joint,
Sacral.
Notice the whole left leg radiating stars.
Bring your awareness back to the star at your solar plexus,
Heart center,
Throat,
Third eye,
And take a bird's eye perspective,
Zooming out to observe your whole body.
Notice your body like a galaxy full of nourishing revitalizing stars filling you with their light.
Being nourished by the energy flowing through you.
You are 75% water and ocean yourself.
Your own ebb and flow,
Your own tides,
Constantly churning with energy.
Your waves wash up the deepest treasures that only your rhythm could unearth.
It's okay to let go.
Surrender into your pace,
Your rhythm,
Your ups and downs,
Your strengths,
The ones that you're not even aware of that shine through only when you're not molding yourself into the shape of how you think you should be.
Trust in your rhythm,
This surrendered pace,
The pace of surrendering expectations,
Surrendering of control,
Surrendering the pace of living for others.
Because when we live that way,
Not just our body,
But our soul's circadian rhythm becomes out of sync.
So darling,
Baptize yourself with your deep,
Full breaths.
Dissolve back into your natural tide.
This is your innate wisdom.
This is where you allow yourself to be everything you have always been waiting for.
Taking a deep breath in and sighing out.
Resting in this intimacy with yourself.
Slowly bring yourself to roll onto one side,
Cradling your head in your inner arm like a pillow.
And take a deep breath here and sigh out.
And slowly let yourself come up into a seated position.
When you notice yourself reaching for the next moment or becoming immersed in the past,
Remember there is nothing closer or more intimate than this very moment.
And when you embrace it with a full sigh out and a warm welcome,
You become soaked in a sense of having fully arrived,
Being at home in yourself,
Where you can green each guest that comes with a warm cup of tea.
Take a deep breath in and sigh all the way out.
Coming home.
