Good morning and welcome to The Artist's Morning.
My name is Darius and I am so grateful that you and I get this time together.
Our practice today is going to be a little different than what we normally do.
Normally I suggest sitting for our meditations and today I want to invite you,
If possible,
To actually lay down.
I know it's not always possible.
You can definitely do this meditation sitting as well.
And so just take a moment to settle in,
Whether you're laying down comfortably or sitting.
Start to take a few deeper breaths here.
Just give yourself a moment to really arrive.
Perhaps making some noise with your exhale to signify you are here,
To signify you are allowed to go slow,
To take up space with your voice,
With your breath,
And you,
Dear one,
Are allowed to rest.
You are allowed to rest.
What comes up for you when I say that?
You're allowed to go slow,
You're allowed to rest,
You are allowed to do nothing.
Whatever comes up,
It's helpful.
We don't need to fight it.
We don't need to understand it.
You definitely don't need to judge it.
Let's practice,
In fact,
Together here,
Doing nothing.
For some this is a foreign concept.
What does it mean to do nothing?
How could I do nothing?
I need to do things.
I need to be productive.
Even my meditation needs to be productive.
Maybe you can relate.
Maybe that's just the voice in my head.
And so,
Dear one,
If you are open to it,
Let's practice.
Practice the silly and sacred concept of doing nothing.
And maybe you notice your shoulders,
Your forehead is doing a lot of things.
It's getting tense,
It's holding.
Again,
Gently,
Easefully,
Let's practice doing nothing.
Allowing your muscles just to melt,
To sink.
Temporarily just let go a little bit more.
Even myself,
As I'm guiding this,
I can feel places that are so used to moving and going and doing that they need a moment.
The breath allows me to bring the nothingness,
The softness,
The gentleness throughout my body.
And as you've noticed,
There's no music track for this part of our practice.
We're even giving our ears a moment to be in the silence and the empty space.
And so I'm gonna give us a minute here without any guidance.
And again,
Whatever comes up for you,
It's okay.
You can't get this wrong.
Some people soak in the silence.
For some people it can be difficult.
Stay with it for as long as you can,
Gently,
Lovingly stepping back into the softness that is the practice of doing nothing.
Gently,
Coming back here to my guidance,
To my voice,
To the music.
There's a good chance that you and I have never officially met.
And somehow I know something about you.
I have this strong belief that if you're here,
If you are listening to this meditation,
You are someone who cares deeply,
Cares deeply about others.
You are someone who spends a lot of time caregiving,
Supporting family,
Friends,
Organizations that you believe in.
And so if no one's told you in a while,
Thank you.
Thank you for how much you do.
Thank you for how much you care.
Thank you for all the things that you do in quiet that nobody sees or notices.
Thank you for all of your hard work.
This meditation is dedicated to you and your generous heart.
A tiny,
Teeny gift.
A little bit of space for you to rest.
Let's take a nice deep breath here together.
Breathing in.
Big exhale out.
Thank you,
Dear one.
Your energy,
Your kindness,
Your heart in this world,
It matters.
This is our last moment of silence for this practice.
I'm just going to leave a little bit of space again for you to rest,
For you to practice doing nothing,
Just temporarily.
Let's take a nice deep breath here together.
One more moment of silence for you and your system to rest.
You made it.
You did it.
Having guided practices with longer open spaces of silence and stillness for years now,
I know some people absolutely love it.
They soak in the silence.
And I know for many people the silence can be challenging.
Our internal voices can get loud.
And if you can hold and soften and breathe,
Very soon on the other side of the perhaps building up of energy,
Maybe anxious energy,
On the other side,
There is something glorious.
Something so nurturing and grounding available.
And so we practice.
We practice coming back to ourselves.
We practice getting bolder and braver.
We practice stepping into the unknown.
This is our last song today.
I'm going to sit back and be quiet and give you a little bit of space to feel,
To reflect,
And to be.
Bravo,
Dear artist.
Bravo,
Dear creator.
You made it to the end of our meditation.
And for that,
I am so grateful.
For those joining live at the artist morning,
I'm going to put 20 minutes on the clock.
Share an optional journal prompt and allow us to continue on this exploration and this theme.
And of course,
If you're catching us on a replay,
Perhaps on insight timer,
You can do the same.
Thank you for meditating with me.
My name is Darius,
And I will see you next time.
