Election Blessing & Nervous System Support

Today’s practice is part grounding and nervous-system support, and part guided visualization, as together we nourish your resilience—and power up your heart’s deepest wishes for the world (via your vote and your voice), regardless of any particular political moment in time.

Transcript

We'll begin now with three deep breaths.

In and out.

As you settle in and find your seat or perhaps you're lying down,

Let yourself relax into the surface that holds you.

Once your body touches below you feel yourself being held safe,

Cozy.

Would you like to pull a little blanket over yourself for comfort?

If you wish,

Close your eyes now as you take a few more deep breaths in and out.

Relax into feeling that you have a grounding cord.

It's energy and it connects you to the deepest core of the earth.

It connects and runs from your tailbone,

From your seat,

From your root,

All the way down to the center of the earth.

Can you feel that,

That your spine and your body continue in a beautiful,

Shimmering,

Rich lovely cord of energy and light that goes down,

Down below where you are resting through the surface of the soil,

Down through the rocks and soil and waters of the earth down deeper and deeper,

Deeper,

Deeper through the crust,

All the way down,

Down to the pulsing core of power in the very center of the earth,

All the way.

And if you don't see this or feel this,

Just imagine that it is so.

Pretend that you are rooted like a tree,

Like a beautiful,

Large tree and maybe that's how you see your root,

Like a big,

Thick tree root,

Taproot,

Tapping down,

Down into the earth,

Snuggling you in.

Here you are.

This is a safe place,

This grounded place where you can source from the earth the energies of the earth flowing to you just as they do to trees and plants and from within this place of protection and comfort,

There's nothing for you to do but just listen,

Just rest as we talk here.

In a moment we're going to speak about your voice and your will and your wishes.

It is safe here for you.

We will do this gently and with power.

If you like,

You may rest your hand softly on your heart or anywhere that feels comforting to you.

Perhaps your right hand would like to be held by the other.

Alright,

Here we go.

These are not easy times.

Many people are stirred up right now.

So much out there in the world feels so urgent and it is.

This is true.

The world has many needs out there and perhaps you feel this too.

One of the kindest things we can do and one of the most powerful is to send our pure heart wishes into the world like a Zen archer's arrow or prayer.

We may not know if each of our pure heart intentions will land in fertile ground or miss the mark entirely.

Like a seed sailing quite far on the wind past its spot,

And that's okay.

Like a seed sailing quite far on the wind,

It will travel.

It will go seed after seed.

What matters most is that we send our fervent heart prayers into the world over and over again with our actions,

With our words,

With our minds and hearts.

You are okay,

You are alright and your intentions do have wings.

So let us begin.

What is your heart wish in this moment for the wider world?

What is your wish?

What is your wish of kindness or love?

Oh,

What is your intention?

Allow that for a moment with your heart.

Now let us bring our heart and our wishes toward this time,

This time where you send your wish in the form of a ballad,

Of a written wish underneath all of that,

Underneath who wins or who loses,

Underneath their personalities or their politics,

Underneath your personal fears or anxieties,

Or even underneath your hopes for that particular race.

Go deeper.

What is there under that all?

What deeper wish do you have for yourself and others?

When we vote,

We write names on a ballad,

But really we are each voting our values,

Our ethics and our understanding of the world and how things are and what is possible for how they can be.

Ahh.

Exhale now.

Ahh.

Take a couple deep breaths.

You're safe.

Your grounding cord is holding you here at the earth.

You are okay.

At the end of the day,

No matter who wins,

It's this ocean swell of deeper intention,

Your values and your truth that holds sway,

That carries the day.

So now imagine that they all win or the person you wish to win.

Everything wins.

Every single candidate you choose is waving their victory flag and they're smiling and they're happy.

You're happy too.

Are you celebrating with joy,

Inspiration,

Or do you simply find that you feel relief that this long race is finally over?

Now imagine that it's a few months later and your candidates are fulfilling every promise.

Everything you desire is coming true,

Better than you had even thought possible.

How are you feeling now as you imagine that everything is okay?

How does that feel in your body?

Do you feel safe,

Happy,

Hopeful?

Do you feel disbelief?

Oh,

This can't be happening and yet it is.

Do you feel excited,

Calm?

Simply notice what you feel as you imagine that it's really alright.

Now here's where we begin our practice together.

Gather those feelings,

Those positive feelings in your body.

Gather them,

Ground them.

Can you anchor them into your body?

Can you feel your grounding cords stabilizing you?

As you sense where you feel these feelings in your heart,

Do your shoulders relax?

Does your body feel softer?

Does your jaw relax your neck?

Do you feel yourself a bit wider where you rest?

A little more open perhaps?

You are feeding right now the nourishment of your nervous system.

You are feeding steadfastness and fortification to yourself,

To your energy system and your energy body.

Can you feel the flow from the earth through the energy cord of your grounding self coming through you,

Stabilizing,

Holding you?

You can exhale deeply.

Ah,

You are safe,

We are all safe,

All is well.

Now gather those feelings together at the place of your heart.

Gather those safe,

Good feelings of happiness,

Healthfulness,

Relief,

Goodness not in any kind of value judgment but goodness only in how they make you smile,

How they bring a smile.

Gather those feelings to your heart and see colors with those feelings.

Do you see perhaps light,

Golden light or maybe spring green or is it pink or some other color that you love?

Sense these feelings in a vast golden or pink or green or any color light orb shimmering,

Shimmering and brilliant around your heart.

This beautiful radiating orb of warm glowing light.

And now imagine beside you your ballot.

Maybe it is in your house waiting for you to sign it.

Maybe it is waiting for you on election day.

Maybe it is already in the mail on its way with wings of care.

Whatever it is,

Imagine this orb of all of these positive feelings and wishes wrapping around this ballot until the ballot is snugly inside the orb of light,

Glowing,

Happy.

There is so much kindness and tenderness for you and for your little ballot with its work to do.

A force field of goodness for you and your little ballot for all beings everywhere and for all voters too.

And now the intention that you set at the beginning,

Your deeper wish for the world,

For your community.

Imagine that wish goes into a beautiful ribbon of your favorite colors and the ribbon ties around the ballot and around the orb makes a nice little bow.

And it's ready.

And now feel from your heart that you send your deeper wishes into the world.

And your ballot is part of that.

A seed into the world.

Your wishes for the world and your love and your care are going now on their journey where they need to go.

Imagine that.

Like a Zen archer's arrow.

Now it is time to finish with a blessing poem.

A little blessing poem for you.

There is a beautiful tradition in the Buddha Dharma called Dedicating Merit.

And anyone can do this.

And it is a way to relax in the good wishes or the kindness or the ethical act you have done or the prayers or the wishes you have sent and to rest in the goodness of that.

And then to dedicate the goodness itself toward a greater good.

Beyond yourself,

Beyond your simple act,

Beyond your wishes to a greater force field of oh goodness.

And here we go.

This is for you to just enjoy and rest upon.

By the goodness of our practice today,

May the best possible leaders for our communities,

The country and the earth win this contest with ease.

May our public life and politics evolve into a clear manifestation of awakened heart minds and swiftly.

May the causes and conditions arise for all citizens to see,

Hear and experience our local and national leaders demonstrating ethical and wise actions and acting with skillful means of rising from a compassionate heart.

May the deepest heart wishes of our highest selves,

Of the Buddhas and enlightened beings of all traditions and the Bodhisattvas,

The altruistic ones echo through our national capital city and all cities and all rural lands and all wild lands across this entire country and out into the whole wide world carrying the blessings of most profound wisdom into action and embodied truth.

May all votes be legally,

Fairly and quickly counted,

Especially yours,

Dear one.

Finally,

May ill will cease,

May the causes of suffering dissolve and may deepest goodness prevail for the far reaching benefit of all beings everywhere.

Reviews

I needed this so much tonight. Thank you for the bottom of my heart. 💜

Oh yes and thank you!!!! Brilliant. Blessings to all!

Thank you for this! You knew exactly what many of us needed.

Thank you for this beautiful, peace giving meditation. Your words gently reconnected me to feeling hope and also safety.