Out Of Context

This guided meditation shifts our perpective from the smallness of our current view to the grandness of the greater context, inspiring compassion towards ourselves and others. Featuring a reading of Mary Oliver's poem "Summer Day," you will finish this meditation feeling more relaxed and, perhaps, a bit kinder.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to this guided meditation.

This meditation is called Out of Context and it features a reading from Mary Oliver's book White Pine.

But to begin this meditation we're just going to find a comfortable position.

You may be seated on the ground,

On a pillow,

Perhaps even lying down or sitting in a chair with your feet firmly planted on the ground.

From this position we begin to deepen the breath.

Going deeply through the nose,

Filling the belly,

Filling the lungs,

Allowing that expansion through the body and then exhaling out through the nose slowly.

We begin to slow down the breath as we inhale through the nose,

Allowing the lungs to expand to their fullest capacity before entering into that exhale,

Taking our time,

Not rushing into the inhale.

Allowing each part of the breath to enter into its fullest expression.

We begin to allow the body to inform the mind.

As we inhale we feel the expansion of the lungs,

The opening of the chest,

The ribs.

Then a slight pressure on the back as the lungs press into the muscles there.

The exhale invites slight contraction,

A releasing of that pressure against the back muscles.

We become a bit more aware of the breath influencing the body,

The body informing the mind.

Becoming a bit more aware of the oxygen and nitrogen as it floods the muscles,

Floods through the extremities all the way from the lungs out into the body,

To the tips of the fingers,

The tips of the toes,

Even up into the head,

The cranial space,

Washing everything inside with that nourishing and cleansing breath.

And as we begin to slow the exhale,

The heart is able to expand.

It's able to slow and relax.

Though we are just now taking the time to become mindful of this,

We know that in every moment the body is always informing the mind.

There's a constant communication between one and the other,

A constant sharing of information even if we don't take the time to be consciously mindful.

We cannot separate the two,

We cannot take either out of context from the other.

They exist as one unit,

Co-informing,

Sensing and sharing information.

And in our culture,

In our society,

We separate mind from body.

We break them apart,

Take them out of context.

We do this with so many other things as well.

In our social media,

We take just glimpses,

Tiny pieces of information about the world around us and we share the same.

We piece those tiny bits of information together,

Yet we're really not aware of the deeper context.

The entire picture,

The whole.

Continuing to breathe deeply here.

There's a Mary Oliver quote that has been circulating for good reason.

It's a great quote.

And it says,

Tell me what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

We see it in posts on stickers.

What do you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

It's delicious.

It's inspiring,

But we take it out of context.

It is but one line and an entire poem,

Not a poem unto itself.

We often move through our days or weeks or even years,

Taking things out of context.

The way we interact with others,

These interactions are but small pieces,

Just a blip in the moment of this person's life of our own lives.

We are prone to the judgment of others as well as ourselves.

Based on this small piece of information,

Lacking perspective,

We allow these impressions to create a truth.

This truth is out of context from the whole and without knowledge of the whole.

We even do this to ourselves.

Perhaps we harbor real sentiments or judgment towards ourselves,

Our actions,

Our thoughts,

Our progress based on one moment.

Even though we have the context of an entire lifetime,

We separate the two.

As we continue to breathe here,

Ringing into unity that breath,

The body,

The mindfulness of both,

Perhaps we can become aware that every moment is just a blip of a broader context of which we have little to no understanding.

Our interactions,

Our conversations,

Our impressions of those around us from those who are the closest to us,

Family,

Friends,

And loved ones,

To strangers we encounter or our coworkers and even ourselves.

These interactions are but a small piece of the whole of which we have little to no understanding or even awareness and that is okay.

Perhaps it can shift our perspective to create more understanding,

To cultivate kindness and compassion from one another as this awareness,

This awareness of the lack of context,

The lack of information becomes the lens through which we view ourselves and the whole world around us.

There is more to everything.

And there are times that we have the time,

We have the opportunity to obtain a bit more information,

To spend time with someone and see what is going on.

Most of the time we don't.

So just taking a moment to let that sink into the body to integrate in.

Not only do we not know what is going on with others,

But they might not even know what is going on with us.

Everything is taken out of a broader context.

So perhaps we can acknowledge that and be a bit kinder,

Be a bit more compassionate.

Deepening the breath once again,

Inhaling through the nose,

The lungs,

The muscles expand.

You notice what comes up.

What are we feeling?

What are we sensing in the body?

What is difficult?

What is easy?

And as we exhale,

We release just a little bit of that tension,

Noticing where there is tension and where there is space.

Understanding that this moment may be different than the last or the next.

This just a moment in a day,

In a week,

In a lifetime.

The Summer Day by Mary Oliver.

Who made the world?

Who made the swan and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper,

I mean.

The one who has flung herself out of the grass,

The one who is eating sugar out of my hand.

Who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down.

Who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open and floats away.

I don't know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention.

How to fall down into the grass.

How to kneel down in the grass.

How to be idle and blessed.

How to stroll through the fields.

Which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me,

What else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last and too soon?

Tell me,

What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?

May we move into the world knowing that this is just a glimpse,

Just a moment blip in the hole and that there is greater context to this one wild and precious life than has yet to be revealed.

Taking one final breath in through the nose,

Pulling the air deeply in to the lungs and exhaling out,

Releasing everything here.

Slowly beginning to allow the external world to become a bit more present.

Releasing sensations on the skin,

The sounds,

The aromas.

Becoming more mindful of our external senses and what they are bringing in.

Then we slowly begin to blink open the eyes,

Arriving back in the space,

The same space,

Yet perhaps we have changed.

Perhaps we have been brought back into context.

Thank you so much for joining me Desiree with this meditation and this beautiful reading from Mary Oliver,

The summer day from her book White Pine.

I wish you grace and peace in this day,

All days.

Namaste.