We're going to meditate on the idea of Debra,
Both Debra the wet nurse and Debra the chieftain.
Settling in to enjoy this moment.
Just falling into yourself,
Quitting on the world outside you and joining the world inside you.
Feeling any tension and inviting it to soften.
Leveling your body,
Deepening your breath.
Coming into quiet,
Slowness and a syrupy stillness.
Isn't that nice?
Just to give in to gravity.
And to let go of what was and to quit on what could be.
But just to attend to the now,
This moment,
And then this moment,
And this moment,
Right here,
Right now.
Isn't this fun just to be with yourself?
Isn't it good to give to yourself this time?
You can be proud and grateful that you do these things.
Shaking out any tension.
Going slow.
Being gentle with yourself and breathing in deeply,
Exhaling slowly.
In a little deeper each time,
Out a little slower.
Just floating on the breath and singing into gravity even as part of you lifts up.
Letting your thoughts drift but not grasping onto any particular idea.
You are the sky,
Everything else is just weather and you are still amid it all,
Continuous,
Serene.
Breathing deeply.
Finding yourself wherever you are.
We're gonna meditate on the characters of Deborah from Hebrew scripture.
Deborah the wet nurse and Deborah the warlord.
The aspects of us that can be nurturing and the aspects of us that can be aggressive.
We can't forego either one.
They are both useful,
Even necessary.
Breathe into that potential.
You'll get distracted during a meditation and you'll come back.
Your mind is working,
Your brain is firing,
Your neurons are good,
So thoughts will come up and you'll just wander back to me,
To your breath,
To your seat,
To quiet and quietly listening and attending.
I'm gonna say a word and you're gonna notice where you feel it,
How you react.
And the word is nurture.
Where in your body did you notice that word hitting,
That word landing?
Nurture,
To be generative and healing,
Compassionate and giving.
Where do you find that in your body and in the stillness of yourself?
What sensations come up,
Emotional,
Spiritual,
Physical?
What do you think about nurturing?
Might be a little scary.
It entails a certain giving away and foregoing of one's own desires to nurture others.
And you can also nurture yourself.
How does that word land?
What do you feel?
Breathe into it,
Good,
Bad,
Indifferent,
Just breathe into that sensation,
What it means to you to nurture.
Just breathing.
And you can inhale and exhale on the ancient biblical word sela,
Which was a breath mantra of some sort.
Just enjoying this moment,
Connecting to your nurturing self.
The part of you that is giving and compassionate,
Patient and kind.
Smile for that part.
Respect it,
Give it your love.
It is necessary,
It is important,
And it can be used appropriately.
Just breathing,
Enjoying the sensation.
Or noticing the sensation if it's not entirely comfortable.
And we're going to address another experience.
I'm going to give you a word and you're going to see where it lands,
See how you react in your body,
In your feelings,
Sensation,
Spirit.
The word is confront.
With all of its connotations,
Warlike,
Aggressive,
Violent,
Direct,
Uncomfortable.
How do you feel about confronting things?
That archetype,
That part of you that is more like a warrior than a nursing parent.
Does it make you excited,
Uncomfortable?
Neither,
Both?
Where in your body does the idea of confront land?
Where does it sit?
Do you feel it in your muscles,
In your head?
What's going on?
What thoughts come up when you think about confronting?
Maybe it's an awkward fit.
Maybe nurture was an awkward fit.
Maybe both.
It's okay.
We're just exploring the self and it's a good thing to do.
Mosaic of parts and multitudes.
Breathe in deeply,
Out slowly.
Nurture,
Confront,
Confront,
Nurture.
Letting them sit with you,
But sit gently.
You don't need to overwhelm.
Maybe they're not even in you exactly as much as concepts you observe with a generous awareness.
Breathing.
Staying slow,
Staying calm.
Listening,
Listening to the quiet around you.
Little noises.
You can come back to my voice when you get distracted because we all get distracted all the time.
And we're gonna try to bring these two concepts into some harmony.
Because the truth is that both are good at the right time.
Both are problematic when misused or used at an inappropriate moment.
And they can coexist within you.
And you need them.
Sometimes to be warlike.
Sometimes to be parent-like and kind.
Take them all.
Take them all with you.
Own them.
Breathing into both sides.
The gentle and the aggressive.
Aggressive,
Gentle.
Confront,
Nurture.
Nurture and confront.
Breathe into that paradox.
Let them settle.
Let them be part of you.
So that you can draw on each at the moment in their time.
