Hello and welcome to this meditation.
My name is Yelena and I am very happy to have you here.
Today we are going to look into our darkness,
Our shadow,
And meet it with love and light.
Our inner darkness is a unique blend of our parts we consider to be somehow flawed or wrong,
Unacceptable,
Inappropriate,
Insufficient.
We feel it as a shadow,
As black hole,
As inner darkness.
It is mentioned is Buddhism as a monster Mara that confronts Buddha.
Or in psychology Carl Jung mentions it as unfazed and unfelt parts of our psyche that are the source of our suffering.
And that in order to be whole we need to have a dark side as well.
We usually respond to our darkness in either by pushing it away,
Pretending it's not there,
But we constantly get reminded of it by some external events when somebody pushes our button,
Something triggers us and then our darkness shows its face.
Or on the other hand we may try to fix our shadow.
We constantly try to do better,
To do more,
To be better,
To be perfect.
But we always realize that those standards are not reachable.
So in both these cases our response causes us to feel more suffering,
To sink deeper into darkness.
So this becomes kind of a vicious circle.
However there is a third way.
We can choose to face our darkness,
Whatever that darkness may be for us personally,
And offer it love.
We can try to hold all of our parts in our inner love and light.
We can hold our defects,
Flaws,
Reactiveness,
Shame,
Guilt,
Anger,
And open our hearts to them.
And only by that way we're actually loving ourselves unconditionally.
And we can progress on our spiritual path and rise above duality into wholeness.
So let's begin with today's meditation.
Take a few deep breaths and release the tension with each exhale.
Release everything behind or in front of you today.
Just be here now in this moment.
Do not force your breath.
Let it flow naturally and relax into the rise and fall of your chest,
Shoulders,
And stomach.
Call upon your inner darkness,
Your own personal shadow,
Your parts that you perceive to be not enough or possibly too much.
You may bring to mind a recent situation when you didn't feel so well,
When you didn't feel you were good enough,
Or a situation when you were too much to help you invoke this feeling.
Notice any resistance,
Discomfort,
Or fear that appears.
Do not push it away.
Just look at it.
Let the resistance or discomfort or fear come and let it go.
Allow the darkness to show itself.
It may be a specific thing,
Specific layer,
Or just a general sense of shadow within you.
Invite the shadow to show itself completely and observe it.
What are the sensations in your body as you face your shadow?
Is there any pressure,
Weight,
Emptiness,
Tightness?
Meet all of those sensations with love and acceptance.
Feel how your body softens the moment you offer love to your body and to the darkness.
What are the emotions that arise together with your shadow?
Notice every emotion and meet it with openness and love.
Simply offer love to the fear or shame or anger,
Depression,
Anxiety,
Or fear.
What happens to your emotions?
Can you offer them love?
Do you notice how love is beyond all the emotions?
What kind of thoughts are running through your mind as you're looking at your darkness?
What is that inner voice saying?
Offer love and light to that voice and to each thought that arises.
However critical or mean it may be.
Rest in the spaciousness and calmness of unconditional love,
Love that is not afraid to look at anything,
A love that has the capacity to embrace anything.
Love that can hold the whole of you,
Dark or light.
Notice how all parts of you exist within that loving space.
Keep your heart open to whatever arises.
And notice how love goes beyond judgment,
Beyond labeling,
Beyond pluses and minuses,
Good and bad.
Allow that love to wash all over you,
To hold your light and your darkness.
Notice how everything gets softer and lighter.
Rest for a few moments in that easiness of being,
Easiness of love.
Thank you for meditating with me.
Namaste.
You
