SRS Session 18 | Time To Integrate

In session 18 we learn that on this path of self-discovery it is necessary to give yourself time and space to integrate all that you are learning and experiencing. This meditation includes both affirmation practice and guided visualization. The Spiritual Recalibration Series is designed to help you expand your awareness into a new, more open, curious and expansive way of being in daily life. This impactful series comprises 33 sessions, each with a short topic (the recalibration) followed by guided meditation. Meditations include affirmations, visualizations, and brief periods of quiet, musical stillness.

Transcript

Okay,

Welcome back to the Spiritual Recalibration Series.

Thank you for embarking on this series and opening yourself to a new way of being.

My name is David,

And this is Session 18,

Time to Integrate.

Find a comfortable seat in a space where you can allow yourself 20 minutes or so,

Undistracted,

To focus just on you.

A quick reminder,

To get the most out of this series,

Please be sure you've listened to the Welcome Session,

Session Zero.

Here we go.

My thought this morning was to work off the affirmation.

Where this comes from is,

I'll start with the first example of integration.

So reading books.

Like when you start,

I don't necessarily mean like a beach novel,

Which you can kind of fly through,

You know,

Page to page and just read it kind of keeps you company when you're on the beach or sitting outside or whenever you choose to read it.

The kinds of books that challenge you to think about yourself and think about the way you are in the world.

So they're,

You know,

Kind of that stereotypical self-help sort of book,

Or maybe it's a spiritual text of some kind or anything that really challenges your way of thinking.

That genre of book,

I tend to read quite a few of those here and there.

I'm going to show you one here in just a second.

But when you start with this sort of practice,

And whether it's,

You know,

A meditation practice or you're journaling or you're intentionally going for walks,

Giving yourself that time to be with yourself,

Whatever that practice is for you,

You start to gain some awareness into yourself and some curiosity about yourself and where you are in the world and how you've been in the world and how you might want to be in the world.

And so maybe you pick up a book.

And so the trick with these books,

And it took me a little while to pick up on this is,

And I heard Eckhart Tolle say this one time in one of his audio books I was listening to,

That it's,

I'm not quoting him because I'll butcher it,

But basically it's more important when you put the book down than when you continue.

So when you feel something that kind of takes you or touches you in a certain way to close the book,

And sometimes it's just like holding the book,

You're not even reading it,

Like for a day.

So this integration time is what I'm referring to.

So for me personally,

What I tend to practice doing is I'll go through times I'll read and read and read,

And then I'll intentionally read nothing.

And the purpose of that,

So whether it's a brief few minute pause in reading the book or a day or a month or two,

Whatever that interval is,

That's integration time.

Giving yourself the space,

It doesn't have to be from a book,

Right?

It can be anything that inspires you in a new way to give yourself the time and the space to integrate it before,

You know,

More new learning,

Before you feed yourself more that way.

So that's kind of what I wanted to chat with you about,

What we're chatting about is that time and that space.

So the affirmation is,

I give myself time and space to integrate,

To know this new version of me.

With patience,

Kindness and grace,

I allow myself to arrive.

So in a few minutes,

We're going to say that a few times.

And that's just basically sending up,

Sending a positive,

Truthful,

Affirmative thought through your,

Through your consciousness,

I guess.

So this book is,

So this is like out of,

This is this book called Inward by Young Pueblo.

This is kind of the,

This is,

I think last week or the week before we spoke about healing.

This is,

This is a book that I really was wonderful in that topic of healing.

But the quote was very short on one of these pages.

All he said was,

In one lifetime,

We can be reborn many times.

That brings me to,

I'll give you a yoga analogy,

Where they say in yoga,

You show up with the body of that day.

So there's some,

Some pose that you were,

That,

That felt a certain way or that you were able to do the day before.

It doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be the same way the next time.

So you show up with the body that you have and you see what happens and you allow that to happen.

So even outside of a yoga practice,

Can you allow yourself to show up as who you are today?

Not necessarily attached to who you were yesterday,

But who you think you'd like to be tomorrow.

That's a courageous thing to try and do.

I heard a teacher speaking a few,

A year or two ago,

Just about versions,

Versions of yourself.

Whatever you are today,

It's like,

You know,

Version 7.

352,

Right?

You'll never be,

This is the version of you today.

So what does that version look like?

Can you allow yourself to be this version of you now?

Because we kind of get attached to who we think we are and,

You know,

How we,

How we think about things,

But as we go through life,

Things happen and we,

We learn new things and it just seems really kind to yourself.

It's kind,

We can be kind to ourselves by allowing ourselves to just show up as who we are today and embrace that,

Embrace this version.

So that thought process is kind of what inspired this affirmation.

So we'll go into a short practice here to finish off.

And so with an affirmation practice and all affirmation is,

Again,

Is allowing yourself to speak some truth because the mind is going to go,

Right?

You know,

We have thoughts,

That's the nature of the mind.

Thoughts come and they go and sometimes we attach ourselves to our thoughts.

Most of the time we believe our thoughts,

So but thoughts are just thoughts.

And so an affirmation is an intentional practice of saying something that's true,

Give ourselves something good to say,

Something helpful to say.

And so we repeat it.

And if you are in a space where you can,

Once you learn it,

Once it becomes,

You know,

In your mind that you can say it,

You can certainly say it out loud.

We won't do it that long.

So that may not happen.

Otherwise you can say it along in your mind.

So get yourself comfortable once again,

See if you're in a chair,

Make sure your feet are flat on the ground,

If you can get them there,

Otherwise just sitting with a nice upright spine.

So I don't want any tension,

You want to draw your shoulder blades together gently,

But nothing forced.

Take your hands and place them on your thighs at the juncture of thighs and abdomen.

Or you can place them a little bit further forward if that's more comfortable for you.

If your arms are long,

Basically the length of your arms determines kind of where is comfortable on your thighs to place them.

You can have them palms up or palms down.

Palms up is kind of a more open and receiving posture for the hands.

Palms down is a bit more of a grounding posture.

So it's your choice.

You choose how you feel today,

Whether you'd like them up or down,

Just allow the breath to come naturally in and out through your nose.

Eyes gently closed,

Eyes soft behind the eyelids,

Tuning into the words.

I give myself time and space to integrate,

To know this new version of me.

With patience,

Kindness,

And grace,

I allow myself to arrive.

I give myself time and space to integrate,

To know this new version of me.

With patience,

Kindness,

And grace,

I allow myself to arrive.

I give myself time and space to integrate,

To know this new version of me.

With patience,

Kindness,

And grace,

I allow myself to arrive.

Now,

Just in a whisper,

And if you're just saying along in your mind,

That's wonderful.

In a whisper,

Sending this into the subconscious,

I give myself time and space to integrate,

To know this new version of me.

With patience,

Kindness,

And grace,

I allow myself to arrive.

Now,

Just in the mind,

Saying,

I give myself time and space to integrate,

To know this new version of me.

With patience,

Kindness,

And grace,

I allow myself to arrive.

Just one more time,

With intention,

With feeling,

I give myself time and space to integrate,

To know this new version of me.

With patience,

Kindness,

And grace,

I allow myself to arrive.

Good.

Letting the words resonate for just a moment,

Then letting them go,

But staying with that feeling of giving yourself the space to be who you are today.

Now allowing the feeling to go,

Letting it go,

And begin to tune in to your own breath.

Good.

See if you can find the spot in your nostrils where you can feel the air passing.

It's cool on the inhale and warm on the exhale.

Allowing the breath to flow naturally in and out through the nose.

Sometimes the edges of the nostrils are the easiest place to first start noticing the breath.

It's challenging.

You can be grateful to yourself right now for choosing to be here,

To have chosen this half an hour out of your Friday to do this instead of something else.

It's a brave choice.

It's a hard choice.

The hardest thing for a human being to do is to just be,

To not do.

So what we do,

We're doers.

So you notice the mind wandering,

Off to wondering how much longer you're going to be sitting here,

Or to a task that you have waiting for you,

Or to the task you were doing before you started,

Or something about the weekend or earlier in the week.

As you notice your mind wandering,

Notice it,

Then come back to the sensation of your breath.

There are no good meditators or bad meditators.

There are just those who choose to try.

And try may not be the best word,

Because try implies effort.

Can you simply direct your energy to this now,

To watching your breath?

Notice your thinking.

Come back to your breath.

Good.

Take an intentional inhale through your nose,

And an exhale through your mouth.

You don't have to watch your breath anymore.

Behind your closed eyelids,

Gently draw your gaze upward toward the point between your eyebrows.

It's not a strain,

Just a gentle upward gaze.

So not straight ahead,

Not down,

Just gently upward,

As if gazing off at a distant horizon.

For just a few more moments now,

Allow yourself to be at the edge of a field,

A wide-open field.

Maybe it's one that you're familiar with,

That you can instantly visualize.

Or maybe it's a new field.

All grass out in front of you.

It's an expansive space.

Off in the distance,

There are trees that form the edges of the field,

The trees that form the edges of the field.

The tops of the trees meet the sky.

It's just after dusk,

So the sun has set,

But the sky is still relatively blue.

Overhead is a moon.

It's one of those times when you can see the moon brightly in a sky that's still blue.

Let this be your space,

Your expansive space.

Go ahead and take a step into it.

Step into that space.

Allow yourself comfortable there.

Here in this space,

With ease,

Kindness,

Patience with yourself.

Peaceful.

Here and now.

Present.

Now you can let go of this visual of the field,

But hold on for just a moment or two to that feeling of space.

Of having stepped into it.

This kindness towards yourself.

Love for yourself.

For who you are,

Just as you are.

Today,

This version.

For just one or two more moments.

And now,

Prepare to come back to the space where you are.

Take a breath,

Natural breath in and out.

And when you're ready,

You can flutter open your eyelids.

Or you're welcome to stay just as you are for as long as you like.