We have this unique opportunity to come together in healing,
To come together at a time when many feel confused or frustrated or frightened.
How powerful is it now that we as a collective,
As a nation,
As an international community,
As a universe,
Can meditate together and set a powerful intention all at the same time.
So healing starts within.
Let's start with ourselves first.
As we breathe,
We will then ripple our intentions out into our families and our circles of friends and loved ones,
Then out into our communities,
Out across our nations,
And out into the international communities,
Beginning with self.
Getting comfortable either in a chair or on a cushion,
Feeling your sitz bones grounded into the seat.
Legs are relaxed and comfortable.
Take an inhale and feel your diaphragm expand and contract.
Relax your shoulders.
Relax your chest.
And let's take three deep,
Centering,
Healing,
Collective breaths together.
Inhale and exhale.
And now just checking in and relaxing.
Noticing your feet and your ankles,
Breathing naturally,
Using your breath,
Focusing on that part of your body as we move up the body with any tension,
Using the breath to release it.
Noticing your calves and your knees and your thighs.
If you're not sure if you're tensing,
Then go ahead and tighten your legs and then release.
Lean up into the pelvis area,
Wiggling in your seat.
And inhale and release any tension you're holding in your pelvic area.
Moving your attention up the torso into your stomach and abdominal area,
Into your solar plexus,
Using your breath to release.
Bringing your awareness into your heart and into your chest,
Relaxing the muscles as you move into your shoulders,
Perhaps rounding your shoulders up by your ears and back down,
Looking at any tension that you might be holding and not even be aware of.
Releasing the tension in your arms,
Down into your hands,
Into your fingertips,
Maybe grip your fists and then exhale and release,
Making sure that you're releasing any residual tension you might be holding.
Releasing any tension you're holding in your throat,
The back of your neck,
Up into the back of your head,
Using your breath,
Breathing in and wiggle your jaw,
Releasing any tension you might be holding,
Moving your teeth from side to side,
Relaxing your tongue,
Relaxing your eyelids,
Perhaps fluttering them gently.
Take one nice breath all the way from the soles of your feet to the top of your head and release.
Gandhi said,
Be the world we want to see.
So we come together in this collective meditation to create the world we want to see.
Be the change and let that ripple out from us into the world.
Let's collectively look at making a U-turn from where we are right now,
Starting with ourselves.
So take an inventory now,
Noticing where you might be feeling anxiety or fear or tension.
Many of us feel it in our solar plexus,
In our abdominal area,
Some in our chest,
Some maybe with racing thoughts.
Use your breath and identify where you might be feeling loss of control about all the uncertainty in the world.
Let's identify where that is in our body and what it is that we are feeling,
Finding the awareness of what emotion is present.
If you're not sure,
Just clear your head and ask for some guidance.
Ask the universe,
What am I feeling right now?
Help me to recognize what emotions are present for me so that I can validate them and they can be released so that I can show up more strongly in the world,
So that I can help create the change that is now needed at this unique time in our lives.
What is that emotion you're feeling?
Recognize that emotion or emotions.
And once you recognize the emotion,
Let's validate it.
I am aware of the feeling of,
I don't need to do anything about it.
All I need to do is to be aware of that emotion.
Breathe into it,
Recognizing the emotion,
Validating it,
And using the breath,
Breathing into it,
And focus on releasing it.
Changing this,
Making a U-turn in our collective society.
Imagine a U and we're at the very top of the U on the left-hand side and maybe we have emotions that we're aware of right now.
Maybe we have fear and anxiety,
Concern.
And all we have to do is acknowledge it and then let's set an intention,
I am aware of the feeling of.
Let's move that high level of concern down the U.
Perhaps I can feel a little less fear or a little less anxiety.
Whatever that emotion is,
Set the intention to just be able to step into feeling a little bit less than that.
That's all you have to do.
Just a little less.
When we set the intention,
We can move the intensity of those emotions down the U a little bit less in this moment.
And when we continue to recognize our emotions and validate them and as they get released,
We can start moving down the U-turn,
Down the U-curve.
Maybe we find a moment of peace and using our breath,
That moment turns into longer periods of time of peace.
And as we continue to use our breath to tune into what emotions are present,
To recognize and validate those emotions as they release and as we move down the U-curve,
Those moments of peace can become more frequent and as the duration and the frequency increase,
That inner quiet starts to become familiar,
Maybe even a little bit enjoyable.
And with our breath and our intention and our recognizing and validating and releasing the emotions that have had a grip on us,
We see that we can move into more moments of quiet,
More moments of inner peace.
And when we interact with others,
They will notice that quiet,
That peaceful,
Soft place that you embody.
And as a community,
When we can recognize it in others,
We can recognize a desire to want to cultivate more of that within ourselves as well.
As Gandhi said,
My life is my message.
So if we individually focus on our own journey of inner peace,
We can neutralize the negative and cultivate the positive.
And that example ripples out into our communities and we begin to see change as we one by one relate to and connect with each other in a new way,
In a more peaceful way,
In a more caring way,
In a more compassionate way.
We already see it now happening within our circles of family and loved ones and out into our immediate communities,
Reaching out and caring about the well-being of others,
Allowing that new awareness of caring and compassion to not only make a powerful impact in our communities,
But noticing how good it feels within our own being.
That quiet place,
That place that becomes familiar,
That now has even turned into perhaps a little bit of joy.
And as we feel more compassion for ourselves,
We feel more for others.
And when we feel more compassion for others,
It's a circle,
We feel more compassion for ourselves.
So we come together in this unique time,
Having the awareness of how to find that inner peace within ourselves and allowing that to ripple out into our communities and broadening that awareness beyond perhaps what has been familiar to us.
Knowing that everyone is part of our family who has come together and although we may have different perspectives,
We all share a common desire to first have our basic needs met,
To find abundant health,
To live in a place where we can feel good and know our bodies are being taken care of and taking care of us.
To experience peace,
Joy if we're lucky,
Love.
So we set the intention that that inner peace which we continue to cultivate within ourselves ripples out into our communities.
Knowing that perhaps we have been astray for a while,
Knowing that perhaps things have not gone the way we had hoped and knowing that at this moment when everything that we have known has been shaken up and that we have been required to look once again within who we are individually.
What is important?
What are our priorities?
And starting the conversations within our communities.
What might we want to do differently?
Now is our time to break outside the paradigms of our past thinking.
Nothing is the way that it was.
There is only going forward.
We've already come down the left hand side of the you and we're in the soft neutral place of the U-turn.
And as we continue to use our breath and our intentions to heal the places within us,
We continue to hold that powerful intention and space for our communities to grow and change and evolve in a way that is more reflective of who we want to be as a collective people,
A more compassionate people.
And when we are a more compassionate people,
We make compassionate choices,
Choices that are honoring not only to ourselves but to others and to the earth and the environment around us and to the air and to the water and to the policies that we put our energies behind.
And when we in our nation set that intention and move towards that evolution,
Other nations follow.
They recognize that peaceful,
Joyful,
Compassionate,
Loving place that they see happening in other places.
And we all know when we find someone that holds those qualities that we are attracted to,
We kind of query,
Gosh,
I want some of that too.
And we have the ability to do that in nations,
In continents,
Across this earth.
And now is our time to set a new paradigm.
We didn't have a choice.
Everything got broken open for us.
Everything the way we knew it got cracked open and now's our time to set that intention for all of us to set the intention together,
To come together at this time.
We want peace.
We want that which has now kept us from one another to be released for the disease,
For the disease,
For that which is not working to be released.
The oceans can take it away,
The earth can take it away,
The winds can take it away.
Our intentions can ride the waves,
The wind,
The breeze.
We can do it together.
We are doing it together.
Let's take three more beautiful,
Powerful breaths together,
Setting those intentions,
Knowing that we have the ability within ourselves to reduce that which has not been working and set the intention for evolution,
For everything around us to shift and change.
First with our intentions,
Then with our actions.
With our awareness,
Our intentions and our actions become more and more powerful and ripple out across this nation and across all nations.
Here we hold hands and we take three final breaths together,
Closing this meditation.
Inhale.
Inhale.
Peace,
Peace,
Peace.
May all beings everywhere be healthy,
Happy and free.
Let's take three more breaths together.
