Good morning,
Everybody.
I hope you're having a lovely Monday morning so far.
Welcome to this Monday's meditation on the lawn offered by the University of Virginia.
My name is Carrington Crenodle-Epperson.
I'm the assistant director of contemplative engagement here at the Contemplative Sciences Center.
I'm also a UVA alum,
Class of 2018.
For today's meditation,
I thought it would be nice to set a good intention for today to get started and what better way to do that while the sun is rising.
So for this meditation,
I encourage you to find a comfortable position,
Whether that is seated upright in a chair or whether that is lying down,
Just finding some space,
Lots of space so that you can feel expansive.
If you are seated,
I encourage you to make sure that your feet are firmly on the ground,
Evenly distributed,
That you're sitting up nice and tall on top of your hips,
And that your spine is aligned from the base all the way up to the crown of your head.
If you are lying down,
Just making sure that it is comfortable and that your arms and legs are spread wide and not too close to your body.
I also encourage that you turn your palms upright so we can bring in some warm energy.
Go ahead and roll your shoulders up to the ears,
Back and down.
And again,
Really making sure that your shoulders are pulled back so that your heart is open and welcoming.
For this meditation,
You may have your eyes closed so that feels safe,
Or you could have your gaze downward with your eyes open.
So let's begin.
Taking a deep breath in through the nose and slowly out through the nose.
Again,
We're breathing in and we're breathing out.
Last one,
Breathing in and out.
Really bringing your attention to how your body is feeling this morning.
At the start of the day,
Here as the sun begins to rise as the moon begins to set.
Really taking notes.
What's here,
But not judging just simply observing.
I would like for you to bring your attention to the sun.
As it is rising,
It is spreading light all around,
All across the land,
On each blade of grass,
On each corner and crevice,
On every animal and every insect,
On every person's face.
The light that the sun shines is bright,
Expands everywhere that it can.
And it shines so bright all day long.
You are just like the sun.
You have a light that you can shine today.
And I would like for you to take a moment to set an intention for how you will shine your light today.
Whether that's at work,
For your family,
For yourself,
In person,
From afar.
How would you like to shine your inner light out into the world before the sun sets and the moon rises this evening?
We're not in planning mode right now.
We are simply setting an intention for how our light will shine bright on something,
Somewhere,
Somehow.
Now,
What would like for you to embody the sun and its light in that space above the table,
But under the heart,
Taking in the power and the persistence and the joy that the sun brings and that your inner light also brings.
Feel it there in the body.
I now would like for you to let that feeling of brightness from the inside spread out all throughout,
Across your torso,
Into your fingertips,
Down to your toes,
And up through the crown of your head.
You are now the physical embodiment of light,
Lightheartedness,
A light being,
If you will,
Similarly to that of the sun,
A soul.
Sit with that feeling of power and of lightness and of potential.
And even if you normally feel that your brightness is only a thought of a candle flame,
That is okay because that is still very bright,
But just know that at any time you can set the intention to be as bright as the sun.
So if you're feeling small,
Try to grow your light as bright as you can,
As best as you can,
Right here,
Right now.
So I'd like to give you a reminder that you have all day today to do so.
You have all day to make your intention come to fruition,
And thankfully the days have gotten a bit longer after the spring equinox,
So there's plenty of time.
You're going at the right pace,
And if you don't get around to it,
Be kind to oneself,
And you can just try again tomorrow because your light will not die out.
It will continue to burn bright.
Take a deep breath in,
Open mouth,
Let it all out,
Placing your left hand over your heart,
Right hand over your belly,
Really pressing to yourself to feel that heart beating and feel that belly breathing.
Remember that they hold you here in this present moment,
And you're alive and well my dear.
Take another big inhale through the nose,
Exhale let it all out,
And now you can take your hands spread across the body and give yourself a great big hug because this is the hug I would give to you if I was there because I am so proud of you because I know you are going to shine so bright today.
Inhale,
Exhale release.
If your eyes were closed you may open them gently.
Our meditation now has come to a close.
Thank you so much for practicing with me this morning.
I have so much gratitude for each and every single one of you for sharing this moment here with me.
I invite you to tune in again and again each Monday here for this wonderful offering and I can't wait to see what you do in the world.
Signing your light.
Take care and have a good day.
Bye everybody.
