Working With Loneliness

This meditation explores loneliness and its opposite connection to all things. It is meant to support and acknowledge the human experience of feeling alone while helping you connect with something that exists right beside it. This meditation is for everyone. My cats often join me in meditation, I hope they bring peace as you hear them meowing in the background.

Transcript

Hello and welcome.

My name is Kimberly Johnson.

I am going to be leading you through this meditation.

Thank you so much for being here.

This meditation will be exploring loneliness and then its opposite,

Connection to everything.

I am a runner and this morning I did a run in the dark because it's getting really hot here.

I am in the south and I was just really reminded of both loneliness and also its opposite,

This deep connection with everything that exists.

So go ahead and take these first few moments to just settle in.

There's no wrong or right way to do this meditation.

I think the point of any meditation is to simply take moments to pause and be curious and to bring some bit of awareness to yourself and to this life.

So as you settle in,

Just begin to notice your body.

Are you seated?

Are you lying down?

And just notice your body pressing against the chair,

The pillow,

The bed.

And see if you can begin to let your body relax more and more.

With every inhale,

We bring in life force through the breath.

With every exhale,

We let go and relax.

And if it feels comfortable,

Maybe letting the eyes close down.

And if not,

That is totally okay too.

And just gently beginning to,

On the exhales,

Relax the body a little bit more,

Letting the shoulders and the arms get a little bit heavier.

Letting the belly relax,

Open.

Letting the hips or the sit bones get a little bit heavier,

The legs get a little bit heavier.

Noticing that you'll always re-pick up the tension and the practice is just noticing that and practice letting it go.

And then just bringing attention to the face and letting the face relax,

The jaw,

The cheeks,

The forehead.

And just really noticing what it feels like to have your whole body be a little bit more relaxed.

And right here,

Instead of the attention being on the breathing,

Move the attention and the awareness to the chest,

To the heart.

Just touch into your own heart.

Maybe that means feeling the actual beating of the heart.

Maybe that means the emotional body around the heart.

Just connecting to your own heart.

Noticing the rise and fall of the chest with the breath.

Right here as you connect to your heart.

And right here,

Just begin to bring to mind a time when you felt alone or lonely.

Slowly feel what it felt like in your body.

Noticing what thoughts are in the mind.

Notice if there are any other emotions right here with the loneliness or the feeling alone.

And notice where you feel all of this in your body the most.

And see if you can keep your attention right in the body where you feel it the most.

You can even place a hand there.

See if you can let your body relax as you feel into the feeling of being alone and loneliness.

And right here,

Just asking yourself,

Can I let this be here without needing to change it,

Without needing to fidget or move?

Or can I just let this feeling be here?

And just noticing if any of the feelings,

Emotions,

Or sensations have changed.

And taking a deep breath,

We're going to gently begin to open up our awareness.

It was really close to our bodies,

And now we're going to begin just to open up our awareness.

Staying exactly as you are,

Just begin to notice any sounds in the room.

And make note of what else is here with you.

Maybe it's the air conditioner,

Or maybe it's birds from outside,

Or maybe it's your own animal critters.

Just noticing the sounds and beginning to open up your awareness of what is right here with you.

Now bringing your awareness to the things that are around you that you can feel against your body.

Maybe it's the floor,

Maybe it's a pillow that you're sitting on,

Or a chair,

Maybe it's the bed,

Maybe it's the earth outside.

Just beginning to open up your awareness to really feel the things that you're sharing space with.

Noticing what is right here with you and around you.

Notice what things that you can feel on your body,

Notice what they're made of.

Thinking about where this material came from.

What was this material before it was the surface that your body rests upon?

Thinking about all of the hands and people and ideas and machines that it took to create this product,

To create this material.

Opening up your awareness to all of the energies and things that you're sharing space with.

Keeping your body relaxed.

Taking in the sounds and the feelings against your body.

And if your eyes aren't already open,

Gently blinking the eyes open and opening up your awareness to just the things around you.

All of the things that you're sharing space with.

Noticing the energy that they have.

The ways they make you feel.

The stories and memories they hold and tell.

And maybe pausing at one item that really means something to you or that you feel connected with.

And open up your awareness to all of the goodness in this item.

What it means to you,

How it makes you feel.

The memories that flood in.

The fullness of this item that you're sharing space with.

And maybe pulling that energy from that item closer and closer until it's really close to your heart.

And you can keep your eyes open or close them and just feeling this energy,

Letting it get bigger near your body.

Continuing to open your awareness to all the things that you're sharing space with,

Including this feeling.

Basking in the feeling of this connection to this item.

And the depth that this item holds within it.

And inside of this feeling,

Open up your awareness to this body that you're sharing space with.

Really feeling the body.

If you have your hands on your body,

You can move your hands up and down your legs or your arms or your belly or your chest.

Feeling this body that you're sharing space with.

All the cells that make up this body that you're sharing space with.

All of the blood.

The water.

The little hairs and hair follicles that make up this unique,

Intricate,

Complex body.

Noticing your breath that you share this space with.

As much as you want to control the breath,

Make it shorter or longer,

Slower,

Faster,

Deeper,

More shallow.

This breath exists on its own.

Notice this breath that you share this space with.

This miraculous breath.

And just taking a moment to feel your connection with all of these things,

With the sounds,

With the object that you're sitting or lying upon.

All of the objects in the room.

The memories,

The emotions attached in this body.

How they're all sharing space,

Energy.

How they're always here.

There's always so much here with us.

Supporting us.

The earth beneath us,

Supporting us.

The air around us,

Supporting us.

These beautiful bodies supporting us.

Tapping into that support.

Receiving the support.

Surrendering to the support.

It can often feel like we are alone.

And that can coexist with that we are connected to everything.

Everything is here for us.

Everything is working for us.

I'm going to end the meditation with a poem and then I'll ring the bell three times.

This poem is called Everything is Waiting for You by David White.

Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone.

As if life were a progressive and cunning crime with no witness to the tiny hidden transgressions.

To feel abandoned is to deny the intimacy of your surroundings.

Surely even you at times have felt the grand ray.

The swelling presence and the chorus crowding out your solo voice.

You must note the way the soap dish enables you or the window latches grants you freedom.

Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.

Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.

The stairs are your mentor of things to come.

The doors have always been there to frighten you and invite you.

And the tiny speaker in the phone is your dream ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation.

The kettle is singing even as it pours you a drink.

The cooking pots have left their arrogant aloofness and seen the good in you at last.

And the birds and the creatures of the world are unutterably themselves.

Everything is waiting for you.

Everything is waiting for you.

Reviews

Thank you 🌟 It was really lovely to hear your cats joining in 😁