There is an Indian proverb that says that everyone is a house with four rooms,
A physical,
A mental,
An emotional and a spiritual.
Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time but unless we go into every room,
Every day,
Even if only to keep it aired,
We are not a complete person.
Allow your gaze to lower and your eyes to soften.
You have arrived home at the house with four rooms.
Pause at your front door.
You feel safe here.
This is your place of patience.
Put down those heavy suitcases and feel the tension fall from your shoulders.
Before you go inside,
Take three deep breaths.
Fill every corner of your body with your breath and hold it for just a second or two.
Then let it out slowly.
Pause.
Take another breath and let this one out.
One more.
Push the front door open slowly and let's go inside the first room,
The room of your body.
See how the sun floods through the window,
Filling this room with light.
The walls are a soft green pastel and the room is filled with lush green plants.
Come to the centre of this room.
Feel the soft cool pine floorboards beneath your bare feet.
Feel how you are grounded on the earth.
Allow the energy of the earth to rise up through the floor,
An energy of healing with a soft warm and kind light.
Feel it.
Feel your toes and feel them start to tingle.
Let it spread out and fill each foot,
The heel,
The sole,
The arch.
Feel this healing energy rise up into your ankles.
Now the calves and shins,
Up into the knees.
Imagine you are this light,
This healing energy as it fills your body.
Allow the light to rise up into your thighs.
Now into your hips and to spread out,
Filling your pelvis,
Bringing this life energy to this part of your body that brings life.
If you are sitting,
Feel this energy as it grounds through your bum,
Flooding through you as it crowns to earth.
As the energy fills you to your waist,
Now let it move up slowly to your tummy.
Feel it as it rises through your lower back,
Past the sacrum and slowly up your spine,
Vertebrae by vertebrae.
Breathe in.
Feel your lungs fill with this energy,
This breath of life.
Feel your rib cage swell and your chest fill with breath and light.
Allow the light to brim up to the top of your shoulders and spill out into your arms.
Watch as it overflows into both arms,
Filling your upper arms.
Now your elbows,
Your forearms,
Wrists and let it spread out into your hands and each of your fingers and thumbs.
Now bring your attention up to your neck.
Let the light continue to rise up through your neck and along the back of your head,
Up to the very crown of your head.
Now let it spill forward as if your head is beneath a shower.
Feel it caress your brow with light.
Let your brow soften.
Feel it cleanse your eyes and fill them with light.
Your cheekbones,
Jaws and cheeks relax.
Your ears open to the symphony of light.
Breathe in through your nose,
Filling your body with this breath of life.
And now let it rest on your lips.
Feel your whole body filled with this nutritional energy flowing from the earth into every cell of your being.
Whisper a thank you on your lips.
Feel how much lighter your body feels.
Let's move to the next door.
Push it open slowly and enter the room of emotions.
Look around.
The light is more golden in this room.
It throws shadows onto the deep red walls,
The very colour of your heart.
Come again to the middle of this room and feel the plush carpet beneath your bare feet.
Stay with your breath.
Listen to the gentle rhythm of your breath as it ebbs and flows throughout your whole body.
Listen to the silence.
Ask the silence,
How do I feel?
Wait for an answer.
Listen to your body.
Your thoughts may have an answer but your body will tell the truth.
Ask again,
How do I feel?
Listen for the reply in your body.
Search for it.
Feel it.
Wherever it is.
In your throat,
Your chest,
Your tummy,
Even in your bowels.
Now feel whatever emotion is present.
Pleasant or unpleasant,
Smile and bow to it.
Respect its presence here,
Now.
Allow the soft light of your kindness to diffuse this emotion.
Watch as it slowly separates out into different elements.
Can you recognise them?
Can you name them?
Fear?
Anger?
Sadness?
Joy?
Disgust?
Look at each with a gaze of compassion and tender kindness.
Remember this is your home.
You are safe here.
This is your place of patience.
Now let's move to the next room.
Open the door and enter the room of your mind.
Look around you and see how spacious this room is.
The walls are the colour of the sky.
The windows are large picture windows and allow the whole room to be flooded with light.
Come again to the centre of the room.
Feel the oak floorboards beneath your feet holding you in this space.
Allow your eyelids to half close or close and turn your gaze inwards.
Look inside your mind for the blue sky of awareness that holds every thought,
Every emotion,
Every sense and sensation.
Stay patiently for the first thought to arrive.
Breathe.
Each thought is like a cloud that will drift across your mind.
Its shadow may be felt in your body.
It may be tinged with emotions.
Wait.
Watch.
Breathe.
And when a thought arrives,
Can you step outside it?
Can you just be a knowing presence?
What is the content of this thought?
Does it have an opinion?
Is it judging?
Do you have to own it?
Is it a call to action?
Can you open up a gap between the thought and your action?
This is the gap where your freedom is waiting for you.
Patiently.
If you find that a thought sneaked up behind you and carried you away,
Then smile.
Thoughts do that all the time.
Congratulate yourself on waking and return to presence.
When you are ready,
Let's visit our last room.
This door is older,
Larger and heavier than the others.
As you step inside,
You find yourself in a sacred place.
This is the room of your spirit.
This is an ancient space.
The windows are high and rays of soft light stream down from above.
The walls are ancient red sandstone,
Cut and laid centuries ago.
Make your way slowly to the centre of this space.
Feel the cool marble floor beneath your feet.
Lower your gaze with reverence.
Breathe.
In Latin,
The word Spiritus means breath.
Fill your body with the breath of life.
Breathe.
You are alive.
Our universe is 14 billion years old.
Where have you been all this time?
And where will you go for the next 14 billion years?
This moment is precious.
So is this one.
How many precious moments do you have left?
How will you use them?
Today?
Tomorrow?
Fill your body full with this breath of life.
Every breath is a new beginning.
Every breath is a new arrival.
This is your place of patience.
While you are here,
What you need will flow to you and without pain.
You don't need to run anymore.
This is your home.
Very gently open your eyes.
Start to make your way back to the front door.
Open the door and stand for a moment on the threshold.
Before you go back into your day,
Congratulate yourself on paying a visit to yourself.
Of spending time in all your four rooms.
Body,
Emotions,
Mind and spirit.
And as you go about the rest of your day,
Bring some of the freshness,
The kindness,
The peace and the presence that you found here back into the rest of your day.
Thank you.
