Hi there and welcome to this meditation with life from the summit.
We're going to practice getting in touch with what it feels like in our bodies when our intuition or inner wisdom wants us to say yes or no and then we're going to use that embodied sense of yes or no not only to make decisions in our life but to understand how we can feel when we're truly living in alignment or misalignment with our core values.
So I invite you to go ahead and find a nice quiet place where you can sit in a chair or maybe lay on the floor or even on your bed.
Taking a moment to find a place and a posture that feels supportive and comforting for you and closing down your eyes if that feels good for you or you can cast your gaze down toward the floor.
Taking a moment to make some adjustments to your posture if you need to and starting to notice all the points of contact that your body has with whatever surface you're on.
Allowing yourself to feel fully supported sinking in to the chair or the bed or the floor.
Let's invite the body to settle in and relax wherever it can by taking a few deep inhales and exhales.
Begin by taking a deep inhale in through your nose all the way into the belly,
The diaphragm and then slowly and gently exhaling,
Softening,
Allowing the body to settle.
Inhaling again through the nose,
Fighting in spaciousness,
Feeling the body expand and then exhaling gently,
Allowing the body to soften and settle wherever it can.
And one last inhale.
Let this be your deepest breath you've taken yet today.
All the way into the belly,
Imagining the breath reaching all throughout the body and then exhaling maybe with a bit of a sigh.
Inviting the body to release any tension that it can.
Now letting the breath be however it is for you today.
There's no need to try and control it or make it be any different.
Just noticing that gentle inflow and outflow of the breath.
Now I invite you to bring to mind a situation maybe in the recent past or a little bit further back in time where you can remember saying no to something and it doesn't have to be anything big.
It could be no to that second cookie after dinner or maybe it was no to something that someone asked you to do.
Maybe it was no to an opportunity.
Try not to focus on anything too traumatic or triggering or troubling but searching your memory for a time when you felt empowered to say no to something.
And as you're remembering this situation,
Trying to bring to mind all the facts,
Details,
Circumstances that you can about that situation.
Remembering who else might have been there,
Where you were,
What was around you,
Maybe what you could see,
Hear,
Smell,
Or taste,
Or feel.
And maybe you were by yourself.
Bring to mind as many of the details about that situation as you comfortably can.
And if it's difficult for you to remember,
That's okay.
And we're going to invite our awareness to turn inward into the body to try to remember what it felt like in your body to say no at that time.
And this may be difficult for you to remember and that's okay.
Maybe you can imagine what you might have felt in your body as you said no.
And this is a practice so if it's hard to notice anything at first,
You can come back to this practice maybe with a different memory next time.
So I invite you to try for now and be curious.
Turning to that moment when you said no,
Can you tap into how it was that you knew you wanted to say no?
Even if there was some hesitation or question,
What was it that allowed you to say no?
Where in your body could you feel that no arising from?
Did it feel like some urge or a wave or some sensation that percolated up from somewhere?
Maybe it was deep in your stomach or your chest or your throat.
Maybe you felt really grounded as you said no,
So it feels like it came all the way from your toes.
Maybe you even felt some energy in your hands or your arms as you said no.
Or maybe for you the no felt like it came from a more analytical or cerebral place.
Taking some time to be curious about where no arises for you in your body.
Are there any sensations that you notice as you're thinking about or saying no?
Are there sensations of tingling,
Warmth,
Spaciousness,
Tightness or constriction?
How does your body tell you that it wants you to say no?
Even noticing the reverberation of that word in the body as you remember saying no.
And if you're able to sense into those sensations to find where no comes from in your body,
I invite you to take an inhale to breathe into those sensations,
Into that part of the body,
Allowing it to take up space and then exhaling to allow it to settle in.
That memory of saying no to install in your tissues,
In your body.
And now on your next inhale,
Take a deep breath,
Cleansing breath in and on the exhale let the memory of saying no go.
Let the residual feelings and sensations of saying no start to dissipate.
If it feels good for you,
You can shake out your body a little bit.
Maybe wiggle your fingers and toes or give yourself a nice stretch.
Take a moment to allow the body to come back to more of a neutral feeling.
And now let's take another deep inhale and exhale.
And as you're exhaling,
I invite you this time to bring to mind a situation where you said yes.
Again,
It doesn't have to be to something big.
Maybe it was yes to an invitation or yes to receiving help,
Yes to a new job,
Yes to going outside for a walk.
And if it's hard for you to remember a time when you have said yes,
That's okay.
Again,
You can come back to this practice when you're ready.
But if you have a memory of saying yes that you want to work with,
Let's again bring to mind all the details of that situation.
Where you were,
Who was there,
What was being said,
What you could see,
Hear,
Taste,
Smell,
Or feel.
And either remembering or imagining what it was like for you as you said yes.
How did your body let you know that it wanted you to say yes?
Where do you feel that yes rising up in your body?
Does it come from your stomach,
From your pelvis,
From your chest or throat?
Does it come all the way up from your toes?
Or does it come from your head?
Do you notice any sensations?
Is there any warmth,
Electricity,
Or excitement,
Or tingling,
Or spaciousness that comes up around when you say yes?
And again,
If that's difficult to remember,
You can imagine what it might feel like for you to say yes.
You might notice that arising in the body and what sensations you might notice.
And once you've connected to where that yes comes from in the body,
What that feels like,
Let's take another deep inhale to expand that yes,
Expand those sensations.
And on the exhale,
Allow them to settle and install in your body.
And now take another deep inhale,
And on the exhale,
Let that yes go,
Let that situation go.
Shake out your body a little bit if you want to.
And now take another inhale and exhale on your own,
Inviting the body to settle,
Relax.
We can use this embodiment of saying yes or no and cultivate it,
Just like any skill we cultivate,
So that we can learn when our body is talking to us and what it's trying to tell us,
What that inner wisdom,
Intuition,
Or inner compass is pointing us toward.
So you can begin to notice in situations when you're saying yes or no,
How is your body letting you know that it's a yes or a no?
And the more familiar you can get with those feelings and sensations,
With that source of where yes or no comes from for you,
The more you'll be able to tap into that intuition,
Your inner compass,
Your inner wisdom.
Using the power of this embodied yes or no to allow you to check in.
It takes time,
It's a practice to cultivate this skill,
And you can do it.
Keep returning to this practice of remembering a time when you said yes or no,
Or even catching yourself in the moment when you say yes or no and pausing to say,
This is how yes feels,
Or this is how no feels.
And then you can be curious about what direction your inner compass is pointing.
Now taking another deep inhale and exhale,
Inviting some gentle movement back into the body by wiggling your fingers or toes or taking a nice little stretch.
And when you're ready,
If your eyes have been closed,
You can blink them open.
Taking a moment to notice how you feel right now.
Allowing yourself some time to get up slowly from this practice and move back into your day.
Thank you for your practice.
May you be safe and well.
