Pull On Your Boots

A long time ago a meditation teacher explained the purpose of meditation to me in this way: The world is full of sharp, pokey thorns and bumps that hurt when you step on them. Instead of trying to wrap a blanket over all of those bumps or side-stepping every thorn, we meditate. Meditation is like donning a pair of rubber boots; we buffer ourselves from life’s inevitable rocky terrain. I like to think of these boots as part of my superhero outfit.

This week’s meditation is an exploration of our energetic system, both our chakras and our aura. We flow through each chakra (energetic center), acknowledging what harmony and balance would feel like at each. From there we gently move to our aura, the energetic skin that surrounds our body, building each layer for full energetic immunity and protection.

If you prefer a more standard mindfulness meditation, I recommend a great beginner meditation I offered a few weeks ago.

Transcript

Hey everybody, Welcome to our weekly meditation. Let's go ahead and get settled into a comfortable position. Once you're where you want to be for the meditation, Go ahead and close your eyes. Let's just come into this beautiful present moment. Sometimes I like to just notice what time it is, Where I am in space. Just look around the room, Just kind of take in a moment. Maybe just allow yourself to feel some gratitude for finding your way here, For being on your cushion, For practicing, Being kind to your body and your spirit, Showing up. Just take three deep breaths, Breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth. Again, We're just going to greet our body. Maybe just gently say, Hello body. Gently greet our mind. Gently greet our heart. We're going to place our awareness on the part of the body that is connected to the floor, Or the cushion, Or the couch, Or the bed, The earth. Just make note of where your body touches the next thing. At that point of connection, Just go ahead and set your visual of a grounding cord, Tree roots, Or a waterfall. With each exhale, I want you to allow that waterfall, That those tree roots, Or that cord that connects your body to the earth. With each exhale, You're just going to allow any body tension, Aches or pains, Any mental formations, Judgments, Futuring, Any thoughts of the past. You're just going to let those body sensations, Those mental formations, Anything that's not in your highest good to hold on to. You're just simply breathing them down and out through your grounding cord, Down through your cushion, Through your floor, And just get released down into the earth, Where the earth is so much wiser, Older, And stronger than any of our petty human concerns. Just allow this detoxifying experience, This release experience, To be effortless. All your mind needs to do is to set the intention, And our energy follows our intention. Now, As we detoxify or de-negify, It's not a word, But as we release the negativity that's been stored in our body and in our minds through old programming, Interactions with people, As we allow that negativity to release, To hold on us, We may feel the natural inclination, The body's inclination, To refill our energetic system with something positive, Something nourishing, Something uplifting. So I invite you to imagine yourself in a wild and natural place, Anywhere in the world, Anywhere you've ever visited or imagined, Just some wild spot in nature that if you could transport yourself there right at this moment, It would feel deeply nourishing. It could be hot and dry, It could be ice-cold, It could be moist. And just allow your body to imagine itself being there, Imagine if you're lying down, Sitting, Standing, Swimming, And just let that place in nature come into every pore, Every interstitial space. Maybe there's a color, There's one color that represented the experience of that place. So allow that color to come in through your feet, Up through your knees and your thighs and into your chest, Out through your arms. Now gently allow your body to also bring in heavenly forces, Cosmic chi. If you connect with a certain star or planet, You can gently invite unconditional love and light in from that source. Otherwise, You just can have the simple intention of bringing in cosmic chi. There are countless traditions throughout time and space that consider the human body to be a magical intersection of heaven and earth. So we draw in the heavenly energy, We draw in the earthly energy, And we become powerful beings by tapping into these universal powers. We're going to do an energetic scan, But it's going to be a little different than how we've done it in the past. We're going to go through each energetic center. And we're going to call to mind, Body and heart, Our ideal condition, Our ideal state, And we're just going to embody what that feels like in the present moment. So starting at our crown chakra, Which is just at the top of the head. The crown is where we hold seniority for ourselves, Where we give ourselves permission to be our unique self in the world, Where we don't care what other people think. We really have access to our souls, Knowing our library of information. We recognize that we are a spirit traveling through this body in this lifetime. We're at earth school. So in our idealized experience of the seventh chakra, Confidence, We have sovereignty over our spirit, Living in integrity with our spiritual beliefs, Our knowing. Moving down into our sixth chakra, This is our intuitive center. This is the third eye chakra, The center of the head. Our idealized state here, We know our next steps, See the truth. Expand our intuitive knowing beyond the five senses. As I say these words, You're just inviting in this experience of already being in that state. Our fifth chakra, It's our throat chakra, Where we can express ourselves. We can express ourselves truthfully and powerfully. Our creativity has risen up from our lower chakras and has come through us in our creative expression, Through art, Writing, Dance. There's no blockages or hindrances in our fifth chakra. Moving down to our chest cavity, Into our heart chakra, This is where we hold compassion for ourselves and others. So in an idealized state, We would have infinite love and compassion for ourselves and for others. We connect to our divine truth of knowing that we are all beings of light. Moving down to our third chakra, This is our diaphragm, Our solar plexus. This is our willpower. This chakra governs our to-do lists and sort of moving through our day. Let's reset our third chakra. Everything that needs to get done gets done. Healthy and vibrant. Metabolizing what we ingest easily, Effortlessly. And in these places you find some old programming, Just simply allow that to ground off into your grounding cord. Moving down to our second chakra, Just below the navel at the base of the spine. This is where we hold strong emotional boundaries between self and others. This is our creative womb space. This is our power center. This is our emotional grounding. This is our capacity to feel pleasure, Play and dance with life. And finally moving down into our first chakra, We feel stable and connected. We belong, We're part of a community, A tribe that supports us. We are held in Mother Earth's loving embrace. Each one of these seven chakras is also connected to a layer of the auric skin. So we can think of the aura as a skin that extends beyond our physical skin. It creates a womb of protection, Sort of like an egg around us, In the shape of our body. So starting at the base, The first chakra, Right at the end of the tailbone. Imagine that this sense of well-being and belonging, Financial, Emotional, The security that comes from being a child of Mother Earth, From being connected in community and love, From being connected in community and tribe. Creates one gentle but powerful layer of the aura around your entire body. I am protected and safe. Moving up to our second chakra, Below the navel. This corresponds to the second layer of our aura. Just going to gently have the intention of imagining another layer. You can trace the outline of your body in your mind's eye. I feel pleasure. I have strong emotional boundaries between self and others. My creativity is sacred. Moving to the third chakra on the third auric level. I move gracefully through the world, Getting done what needs to be done. I move with joy and ease. Moving on to the heart chakra. I love deeply. I hold compassion for myself and others. I am loved and lovable. Up to the throat chakra, The fifth layer of the auric skin. I am loving and loving. Throat chakra, The fifth layer of the auric skin. I express myself powerfully with mercy and compassion. I shine my light brightly so others may shine theirs. Sixth chakra. Trust my internal compass. I am safe in knowing and expressing my truth. And finally the seventh chakra and the last layer of our aura. I know myself. I accept myself. I allow myself to be seen completely. And unapologetically. Thank you for practicing with me today.