The Gifts Of The Dark Night Meditation: "Pō"

Perfect for assisting with sleep, this is a poetic guided meditation on the great darkness and the gifts of not knowing. Drawing on ancestral wisdom, this meditation reflects on the concept of Pō (dark, night) found in 44 languages indigenous to the islands of the Pacific. It gently encourages being rather than doing; resting, releasing, and sleeping.

This one is a series of Mana Moana meditations that explore indigenous concepts, philosophy, and ideas from the largest ocean in the world.

Transcript

Close your eyes,

And rest somewhere comfortable.

If you can lie down,

Lie down,

Wherever you are,

Just relax your body as much as you possibly can.

And as you close your eyes,

Let the darkness gather under your eyelids.

And as you feel your own darkness,

You might even sense stars swimming under your eyelids.

Together,

In this meditation,

We will enter the night,

Enter the long night,

The dark night,

The deep night,

The great night,

The intensely black night,

Long expectant,

Deeply gestational,

Black upon black night.

We call it PAW,

Feel the generative power,

The great cosmic darkness,

Out of which all things emerge,

Out of which all things return.

The great dark mystery that we all come from,

That we all belong to,

That we will all return to.

In this place of darkness,

It's the place of not knowing,

The place of not seeing.

Here,

Let go of your knowing,

And all your needing to know,

And just rest,

Feel yourself held in this darkness.

Feel the relief of not needing to know,

Of not needing to do,

Of not needing to think.

Just be,

Relax into just being,

Not doing,

And see if you can return into the long night,

Into the dark night,

Into the deep night,

Into the great night,

Into the intensely black night,

Deeply gestational,

Black upon black.

It is from our not knowing,

That dreams emerge,

That hold all kinds of possibilities,

That cannot be seen in the light.

It is from this darkness,

That every possibility emerges,

Because it's so empty,

And unshaped,

And unseen.

Let us return to this darkness,

And allow ourselves the gifts of the night,

The rest,

The rejuvenation,

The place of healing,

And dreaming,

Of resting,

Of regenerating.

Let us navigate through the night,

Let us be wise,

Even in the night.

First comes the spirit in the night,

And then the double spiral,

Reflexes again.

Let us return to the night,

Back into the double spiral,

And find ourselves reflexing again,

Back out into the light.

When we are ready,

Let us fully participate in the cycles of dark and light,

Day and night,

Knowing that this is the nature of the world we live in.

Let us rest in the natural darkness,

And receive all of its natural gifts.

Let us rest in the long night,

In the dark night,

In the deep night,

In the great night,

In the intensely black night,

The deeply gestational black upon black night.

Let this be a place where we can just be,

Rest,

Return to ourselves,

Return to the great mystery,

And just be.

Reviews

Fabulous 🙏

Loved this. Thank you so much for giving voice to this wisdom.