Hello and welcome.
My name is Kay and my pronouns are she,
Her.
Today I want to hold space for stillness by offering a meditation on courage.
While in practice with me,
I encourage you to take everything I say as an offering,
Holding dearly to moments that resonate and allowing the rest to float by.
For those of you who I'm just meeting,
Thank you for carving out time for this experience.
For those of you who my heart knows,
Thanks for coming back.
You could be anywhere in the world,
But you're here right now.
Before getting started,
Let's take a moment to acknowledge being settlers on native land.
The land I'm on today is native to the Muscogee Creek Nation.
And taking a moment to be grateful and bringing awareness to our hearts,
I invite you to take a moment to reflect on whose land you're living on,
Whose land you're working on.
And if you don't know,
Taking time to research and reflect.
Now,
Settling into our bodies and our breath,
Finding a comfortable place to sit or lie down if that feels right,
Surveying your space,
The corners of your room,
The land you're walking on,
Making this practice whatever you need it to be,
Knowing you're perfectly prepared.
And if you feel ready,
Closing your eyes.
Taking a moment to focus on our breath,
Together,
Breathing in through the nose and exhaling through the mouth.
Again,
Together,
Breathing in through the nose and exhaling through the mouth.
Exhaling the day,
The week,
The year.
Knowing that if your mind wanders,
Allow it to do so.
That's normal.
And you'll return back to yourself just as you need to.
Today I want you to ask yourself,
What does courage look like in my body?
Is it synonymous with bravery?
For me,
There's three types of courage.
Try courage,
Trust courage,
And tell courage.
Try courage,
Trust courage,
Tell courage.
Remembering that courage doesn't need to be this big spectacle.
Courage is rising from bed on your heaviest day.
On your lightest day.
Courage is walking away from a relationship that can't serve this version of you.
Courage is feeding your body when you can't feel your appetite.
Courage is exactly what you need it to look like.
Nothing more,
Nothing less.
Again,
Bringing focus to our breath.
Together,
Breathing in through the nose.
And exhaling through the mouth.
One more time.
Breathing in through the nose.
And as this practice comes to an end,
Allow yourself to come back into the room.
Maybe placing your hand across your heart,
Taking notice of your pulse and its rhythm.
Maybe taking another deep breath,
Releasing tension through a sigh,
If that feels right.
Inviting movement and being gentle with ourselves and our minds.
Allowing our fingers to trace the outline of our wrists,
The tingling sensation.
Thank yourself for practice.
Thank your body for strength.
Thank your mind for focus.
Remembering this life is just trial,
Error,
And pockets of joy.
My deepest gratitude to you.
