SRS Session 3 | Sacred Space

In session 3 we wonder what it would be like if you allowed yourself some space on a few different levels. This meditation includes a guided visualization. The Spiritual Recalibration Series (SRS) 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 3,

Sacred Space.

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 0.

Here we go.

The first way to come at this,

I think,

Is just the idea of your personal space,

Of our physical space.

I had a friend,

He was talking to me about a show that he watched that actually showed some scientific imagery.

I'm not sure what it is.

I'm familiar with functional MRIs and infrared studies.

I'm not particularly versed in it,

But the idea that when you look at a human,

We kind of have this hue or this color,

But that color or this hue,

And excuse me,

For those of you out there who may know this idea more specifically than me,

This is how I conceptualized what I heard,

That it's kind of,

The colors that we are actually extend beyond our physical body a certain bit.

So I thought that was interesting.

Then I sort of combined that information with something else that I learned about where if you,

So right now,

If you imagine just an arm's length,

One of your arm's lengths above your head,

And then an arm's length out in front of you,

And then an arm's length out to the sides,

Each side,

And below as well,

Kind of like this circle.

That's the amount of space that's kind of yours,

But that's ours.

And that's kind of the space that we,

So just,

So thinking of that as your personal space and actually the idea of that kind of being a sacred space,

I mean,

That's if we think about that distance from us,

I mean,

That's pretty,

I mean,

That's outside of our physical body,

But it's still pretty close,

Right?

I mean,

We share that space with people with whom we're intimate,

Right?

To people who we kind of allow to be that close,

Because that other person,

They have that same space,

Right?

So now they come in and our space is kind of mixing.

And so,

You know,

We pick and choose who we share that space with.

And then of course,

When we have some distance between us,

And now we all,

You know,

We're having this distance,

Right?

It's interesting,

Actually,

This coming up that,

You know,

Out in the world,

We all kind of have this intentional distance now.

But so just the idea of just kind of being aware of this space right here,

And choosing to share it.

And also kind of the word protecting doesn't feel exactly right.

But just seeing that as,

You know,

As sacred,

I guess,

Yeah,

I guess that's the word that comes up so that we pay attention to it.

So and it's not just,

You know,

The other people,

But there's certainly,

Like there's.

.

.

So here's an example.

My daughters are into this thing right now,

Where they're watching a Christmas movie every night.

And it started,

I think,

After Thanksgiving.

It's like,

It has to be all Christmas.

From now until December 25th,

It's a Christmas movie,

A Christmas show or something.

And what I noticed is some of the Christmas movies are pretty weird.

They're like,

And so the last night they were,

You know,

They're the classics,

You know,

Some of them are funny and goofy and silly,

But some are downright weird.

And so there was one on last night,

And I was watching it,

I was thinking,

This is kind of weird.

And it just reminded me of this,

Where the media,

The sensory information,

What we listen to,

What we choose to hear,

Whether it's music,

Or news,

Or movies,

Entertainment,

That sort of thing,

That's stuff that we are allowing into our space.

And of course,

That can be kind of with a downward pull.

You know,

If maybe I didn't,

You know,

I didn't particularly like,

You know,

This kind of weird movie or,

You know,

Bad news,

Lots and lots of news coming in.

But then by the same token,

There can be uplifting space that we share,

Right?

I mean,

Have you ever just met someone or been with someone and you kind of find yourself wanting to spend more time with that jolly,

But you just you feel energetic or happy or jolly or joyful just being in the shared space with a particular person,

Or a group and that can kind of have that effect as well.

Yeah.

And so that's kind of the effect that we're looking for.

We want to spend more time with that uplift,

Uplifting,

Uplifted space.

So there's that.

And then there's the idea of,

As we practice in meditation,

One of the things that we're sort of aiming for is to get some space from,

Right,

Some in this case,

Some space from our thoughts,

Or just kind of that chattering,

Always going mind,

Because the mind's going to do what the mind's going to do.

So as we kind of sit back and notice those thoughts,

There's some space there.

And as we gain some space,

That's one of the things that allows us to just be less at the effect of various things,

Whether it's,

You know,

Habitual thought patterns,

Negative thought patterns,

Or space from emotions,

Just,

Or even space from Eckhart Tolle,

Who's a fellow who I've read and listened to a bit,

Wonderful teacher,

Refers to the life situation that,

And we've talked about kind of the drama that our life is.

So he refers to that as the life situation,

Which is just all the stuff that happens or doesn't happen,

Right?

So some space from the life situation,

Space.

And then the last bit that came up,

And this is where we'll spend just a minute or two or more in our visualization here in just a minute,

Is the idea of spaciousness,

Spaciousness.

So that's kind of,

I don't know if any of you get outdoors,

Or just a kind of the idea of if you've ever,

There's a particular hill that I climb with my family sometimes,

And at the top of that hill,

It overlooks a lake,

And when you stand up there,

There's just sort of this sense of spaciousness.

And what does that feel like?

Why do we seek that out?

It's kind of this expansive feeling when things are kind of tightly packed together versus spaciousness.

And so it's wonderful to be at the top of a hill,

Or the top of a mountain,

Or overlooking the ocean,

But we're not always there.

So maybe we can experience that a bit,

That spaciousness a bit with our internal practice,

Yeah?

I'll leave it there.

So let's do a short practice here now on this idea of space,

Spaciousness.

Eyelids gently closed,

Eyes soft behind the eyelids,

The gaze behind the eyelids is gently,

Very gently upward toward the point between the eyebrows,

Feet flat on the ground if you're sitting in a chair,

Nice upright spine,

Sitting up tall,

Shoulder blades drawn together gently,

Chin tucked slightly,

Relax the jaw,

Relax the tongue.

Notice your breath for a moment,

See if you can find it in your nostrils,

Maybe just at the edges of your nostrils,

Or a little bit higher,

If you can notice the air flowing there,

Allowing your breath to flow naturally,

Just as it is.

Placing your palms gently on the thighs at the juncture of thighs and abdomen,

Palms up or palms down,

It's your choice,

Watching the breath for just another moment,

You can now let go,

Watching the breath,

Drawing your attention to the gaze at the point between the eyebrows,

And you may remember a visualization about the stream of thought.

This is where there is a stream and you're standing in this stream of thought,

And then you step out of the stream,

Allow yourself to step out of the stream,

Up onto the riverbank,

Onto some grass,

Climb up a small hill,

And just stand there with some space between you and that stream of thought,

Good.

You notice that when you were standing in the stream,

Your head was down,

That's all you could see,

And now standing up on the small hill,

Just a little bit of space,

You can look up,

The thoughts are there,

And they're allowed to be,

But as you look up,

There's space,

And even more space,

There's the sky,

There are the clouds,

There's space between the clouds,

There are trees,

There's space between the trees,

There are the leaves,

And there's the space between the leaves,

Off in the distance there are mountains,

And there is space between the mountains,

Above the mountains,

Around the mountains,

There's space around you,

And this space is loving,

It's kind,

It's gentle,

It's easy,

It's playful,

And it's curious.

Allow yourself this space,

You can let go of this visualization now,

Focusing at the point between the eyebrows,

And for just another few moments,

Allow yourself to experience some space,

And allow that space to be loving,

Gentle,

And kind.

Good,

Now take a normal inhale through the nose,

And then exhale through the nose.

Whenever you're ready,

You're welcome to flutter open your eyelids,

And you're welcome to stay here for as long as you like.