Susan B Anthony said,
Someone struggled for your right to vote.
Use it.
This is a meditation that helps inspire the remembrance of freedom,
Democracy and action.
Begin by finding a comfortable place to sit or lie down,
Allowing your posture to be straight,
Your body to be at ease.
If you can,
Allow some part of your body to connect into and touch the ground beneath your feet,
Beneath your bottom or your torso,
Your hands,
Allowing this to be a point in an aspect to ground you into this moment and meditation.
If you wish,
Allow your eyes to close,
Gently allowing the awareness to shift from the position of your body,
Your eyes,
Allowing it to shift and begin noticing the breath.
There's no need to change,
Deepen or restrain what's already present.
It's noticing an action and the breath as it moves in,
The breath as it moves out.
I'm noticing the feeling of the breath as it moves into the body.
Notice the feeling as the breath moves out of the body,
Allowing yourself to experience whatever is,
Feeling and noticing whatever is present in the body,
In the mind.
As we move into this voting season,
More continually presented with visuals,
Sounds and scripts,
TV ads,
Postcards,
Stating and indicating all sorts of information or misinformation.
Voting is as much an emotional act as it is an intellectual act.
And in this year that we are in and in the time of this pandemic,
The cause of our actions and choice and our freedom to vote is meaningful and impressionable.
So feel into what you may notice about your rights as a citizen to make your voice heard,
Have this action.
Notice what comes to mind if there's a word or an image or a feeling or a sensation.
I'm noticing that and then consider the words,
May I be strong,
May I be proud,
May I have choice,
May I be safe,
May my vote be meaningful.
And next consider sending these same words out to someone else who might not have this experience.
They might have the opposite experience.
Instead of having strength,
They might be suppressed.
Instead of being proud,
They might be intimidated.
Instead of having free will and choice,
They might experience fear.
Instead of feeling safe,
They might be harassed.
And instead of knowing that their voice is meaningful,
There may be discrimination.
All of these words and descriptions are opposites and yet in our country these opposites are very real too.
So bring to mind an individual,
A group of individuals,
And send them through words,
Wishes,
Thoughts or feelings,
The same very loving kindness and mata that we opened our meditation with.
Imagining somebody or a group of people and then saying to and for them,
May you be strong,
May you be proud,
May you have choice,
May you feel safe and may your vote be meaningful.
Allowing yourself to consider what you notice as you offer both yourself and another person or a group of people.
Practice and words from this meditation.
Notice what may arise in the space of your heart as it connects into feelings and sensations.
From this Metta practice,
Allow your noticing an awareness to open out into all directions in front of you,
Behind you,
Above you,
Below you,
Both your left and your right side.
This sense of being and yet having this connection,
The space all around you as you touch and connect into and inspire a collective expression of meaning and change and strength.
Allowing yourself to remain in this position as you reconnect back into noticing the breath as it moves into the body.
Again,
Feeling the breath as it moves into the body and then feeling the breath as it moves out of the body.
As you recenter,
Feeling the body connecting back into the ground and the earth beneath you.
If your eyes were closed,
Allowing them to gently blink back and forth,
Allowing yourself to feel into and center into this moment.
