Meet Ourselves Where We Are

So much inner tension is created when we are forcing our self to be this or that, to suck it up, perform, be this, be that for everyone else. This is your opportunity to pause, meet yourself where you actually are, and bathe in love and self-compassion energy supported by quan yin.

Transcript

Okay, So welcome, Welcome, Welcome. Sticking us all on gallery view and you'll notice something a bit different about today. Because there's no. . . Fire. Visual. There's no rain sounds, Fire sounds, Beautiful soft music. Yeah, My hair's a mess and I'm quite husky. But that's actually the theme of what we're going to be working on today because I realized that one of the tools in meditation that I've been so grateful for is this this ability to be with what is. To meet ourselves where we actually are. Not where we want to be. And I know I am so guilty for when I wake up. . . There's a balance between being intentional and choosing how we want to show up. But bouncing into like default mode of like, I have to get myself into that, You know, The default state that we show up in the world. And it's really powerful to notice this difference. And to be able to observe it. And to be able to witness it, Because then that gives us choice. So, With all that said. . . We're going to do a little bit of breathing just to get ourself in the zone. We're going to inhale, Lift our arms up. And we're gonna exhale. I know. Put your arms down. You can do it straight up if you want. Inhaling up. Maybe walking the ladder of the hands, Just tapping into the breath. Noticing How's your body actually feeling today? How much do you need to cough? To clear your airways, To let the air kind of. . . Come in and out. So just a few more like this. And then bring the hands down. A very gentle twisting the spine. Twisting the spine obviously helps us really move our cerebral spinal fluid. We might feel quite stiff, Quite stuck in the morning, But just again, Taking the time, Using the breath to just warm up the spine. Then lastly we do a couple of little cat cows which you could do seated, Pressing the knuckles away. Nose into the belly button. In hiding arms. Interlace fingers behind you, See if you can stick your tummy button out, Lift the chin. Two more like that. Beautiful. And then very gently in your own time, Taking whatever movements you need. To get yourself settled. And again, Balancing this quality of ritual. This nice container that can hold us, The way that we sit, The incense we might have lit, The candle we might have also lit, But without being performative. So in the way that you sit. Sit or lie in the way that gets your spine nice and straight and free. You don't have to sit like a meditator. And with each out breath, Just let your awareness. . . Begin to settle. Begin to ground into you. And you can let yourself be aware of all the sounds around you. And use these sounds to help you anchor into this moment now. And know that you don't need my voice. You don't need music. You have everything you need. Your breath. Your body. This is all we need. To be in this moment now. You might like to place your hands like this. On in tai chi what they call the lower dantian and this is like just below your belly button above the pubic bone. You might like to just let yourself breathe into this space. And as you breathe, Just checking in. How am I today? Noticing the quality of your breath. Perhaps noticing your body temperature. The sense of ease. Or dis-ease in your body. And you might notice how grounded. Or not you feel. So this practice of breathing into this dantian. Really helps us ground. Particularly at this time where there's all this very heady. . . Jangly despair anxiety energy This is the opposite of ground. So any energy like that in you, You could just pull it down into this dantian, Ground it down into the earth. As you do this you might start to feel a Just a dropping in. Like almost a releasing and a settling. You can allow that. Anytime you find your mind wandering. In a smile. Release, Focus on the breath. Just be you with what is. Taking this space and time. For you. Allow yourself to take up this whole space with generosity. Just notice the tendency in you. Of escape. Escape can so easily be. Drifting. Numbing out. Monk. Sleep. Notice and hold this in love. Noticing how depleted we are. Love. Hug. Escape might be Busy Mind. The 30, 000 things we have to do today, The million things, This, This, This, This, This, This, This, This. Notice. Anxiety. Hold this in love. And use the tools of your breath. Of this beautiful physical body that we have. Of the sounds around you to anchor you. To help you ground. Into that lower dention. Giving yourself permission to fully be in this moment now. Meeting yourself where you are and holding yourself in love. With love, With love and with kindness. Meeting yourself here where you actually are. Feeling the release of all that effort of trying. Releasing the pull. The tension. Being here where you are. Just noticing these patterns of where our mind tends to go. Not getting caught up in the pattern, But just noticing what's underneath it. So often it's worry. Maybe it's love. Just noticing the tendency and noticing what's underneath it and holding that in love. I'm not trying to change it and push it away. Being the witness. Oh. How much fear I hold. I see you. I feel fear and love. Holding the sphere in patient. Infinite love. Just allowing yourself to witness. Truly witness with love without trying to change it. Quan Yin has this quality of. . . First enveloping with love. Really noticing where we're at. Being with. Without running away. Only then comes enlightened action. Because sometimes awareness is all we need. And from this place of loving awareness. Of really meeting yourself where you are. Just allow yourself to zoom out. And consider your week. From this place. Witness your struggle. And hold it in love. And allow to bubble up into your mind all the things, All the ways you're doing so much better. Then you give yourself credit for. How you've shown up no matter what. How you've been in love, No matter what. And then just welcome in Kuan Yin. Feel this connection through your spine of golden light. Pure golden energy. We might call it Chi, We might call it Prana, We might call it Reiki. Is life force energy. Flowing through the spine. Breathing it in, Up through your tailbone. All the way to the top of the head. And then feeling that powerful flood coming down through the spine, Through the top of the head with the out-breath. Feel your whole body beginning to fill and flood with this golden light Just notice how you don't have to. Call it in. Make an effort. Ground through this lower dantian point. Drop into presence and simply be. Open and receive. Flow in this golden light, Golden healing energy. Your whole body. Flow it into all of your wounds. All of your vulnerabilities. All of your fear and just feel held. In this radiant, Golden, Healing energy. And this so patient energy of love. Luminous. Generous. Healing. Love. And as you feel your body glowing this luminous, Golden, Radiant quality. Just allow that energy to be as big as it wants to be. You might feel it radiate out from your body. Radiating out into the world, Meeting all the radiant energy of all the people meditating right now. Raising the vibration in the world. Staying connected to this lower dantian point of grounded. Grounded solid. Luminous golden. Generous. Healing love. Just taking a moment to really thank yourself. For committing and doing this practice today. For tapping in and being present. In your own time you might start to deepen your breath. Maybe bringing some movement into fingers and toes. And as you do this, Really noticing again what you might need today. And then when you're ready, Inhaling, Lifting your arms up over your head. Blinking your eyes open as you wiggle your fingers. Do we need palms together? Thumbs down to the heart space. Namaste So 7. 31. As ever our little circle is open for anything you want to share. How was that? Quite a different practice for us. It does make you think how little time you spend. Just sitting and not watching telly or looking at your phone or listening to music or something else going on. It's nice to stand back and see it from a different perspective. How easy or difficult or different did you find it being able to tap in, Stay focused and present and do the reps of dropping out, Coming back, Dropping back, Coming out, Dropping back, Coming out? Was it easier or harder or just different or the same? I'll say just different because I find probably the most important thing is the anchor of your voice. It's just a sort of, I guess, The other. . . If you have anything else going, It just kind of more blocks out what's going on around here. But yeah. Yeah, It's nice to have the reminder to come back, If your mind's going somewhere else. Yeah, Exactly. I think the next, I don't know, The next few might be a bit like this because I feel like at the moment in the collective there's just so much noise. So it's quite nice to be in the relative silence of just whatever noise is around us, If that makes sense. All right. Thank you, Sweet missus. Thank you. Go well. See you next week. Thank you. Bye.