Hello,
Welcome.
My name is Lou Redman.
I am so grateful that you are here.
Today we are going to be using Psalm 46 verse 10 as the basis of our practice.
And this is a verse that many of us know.
And I like to bring these verses from my tradition,
From my background of Christianity,
Not saying that that's my main practice.
However,
It is where I grew up.
And so I like to bring these into a meditative space.
And I love this verse for so many reasons.
And it's recently been inspired.
I've actually been coming back to my roots practicing the morning practice of Centering Prayer.
And in Centering Prayer,
You begin your meditation with a verse or a prayer that feels true for you.
And for me,
It's been this verse based on the teacher that I learned this from,
Cynthia Bourgeau,
The be still and know that I am God.
And what we do in the beginning of a Centering Prayer practice is I repeat that and I take away one word each time.
So be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am.
And while we're not going to be doing a Centering Prayer practice,
That's not what this is,
I will be using that concept of working through this verse,
Slowly meditating on it,
Allowing it to sink in,
And then slowly allowing the words to fall off until there is just stillness,
Until there is just us resting in silence.
And so go ahead and allow yourself to root into your space,
Closing down your eyes,
Really feeling your body settle in,
Relaxing your shoulders,
Softening your face.
Rooting down,
But also finding a gentle lift through your upper chest,
A lengthening through the sides of your neck.
And as you ground and open,
I'd like you to ask a surrendering of your thoughts,
And maybe that is asking God to take away the anxieties and the stressors that you might have right now that might be hindering you from finding that stillness,
The agenda that you have,
The to-do list.
And just for this practice,
Asking God,
Asking your higher power,
Asking Spirit to be free,
To just surrender these anxieties for now.
You will hold onto them,
God,
For these next ten or so minutes.
And we're offering that intention,
But also knowing that it's okay if it's not that easy,
Not that easy to just surrender our stresses.
So as we set that intention,
Beginning to come into your breath now,
Feeling as the breath moves in that gentle rise,
As the breath moves out,
A rooting and relaxing of the body.
Stillness doesn't always mean quiet,
And also means balanced,
Poised.
And so find the rhythm,
And in that rhythm,
The stillness of your breath,
Even though it's moving,
Can you sense the stillness that it creates?
And as you do this,
It heightens the ability to be alert and aware of the finer energies in and around us.
And then allow the stillness of the breath to move into stillness of your body,
Really letting the heaviness sink in,
Resisting the urge to fidget or to scratch,
Creating that bodily stillness to open yourself to receive and to connect,
Easing any tension that you might feel.
And then take a gentle breath in with me,
And a gentle breath out.
Now going to begin the first repeating of this verse.
And so I'd like you to repeat it silently to yourself right after I do,
Allowing the words to fall and then seeing how they land as you repeat them to yourself.
Be still and know that I am God.
Be still and know that I am God.
Now just stay in your stillness,
And I'd like you to repeat the last word,
So repeating God,
Almost like it's a mantra here for a minute.
God,
God,
God.
Silently to yourself.
Let go of the word God,
And just rest in that silence and that stillness for another moment.
We'll continue shortening this verse as we go along.
So again,
Repeating this silently to yourself.
Be still and know that I am.
Be still and know that I am.
And you can take this I am as correlating to when Moses asked God for his name,
And he replied,
Ayah,
Asher,
Ayah.
I am who I am.
So just repeating those last two words,
I am,
I am,
I am.
And then letting go of the words and resting again in that stillness.
And then moving on.
Be still and know.
Be still and know.
And then just repeating,
Know,
Know,
Know.
Maybe it's knowingness,
Knowingness.
And then letting go of the word and resting in the silence and the stillness.
Be still.
Be still.
And then repeating,
Still,
Still,
Still.
Letting go of the word and resting in the stillness.
And then finally,
Be,
Be,
Be.
Repeating that.
And then letting that go and resting in the final stillness,
The final silence.
As one of my teachers would say,
The voice of God is silence.
And then slowly,
When you feel ready,
Starting to come back to your body.
Come back to this day and go ahead and open your eyes.
I know that we have to do those to-do lists and we can't always be still all day and we have the anxieties and the stressors of just being a human being in the world.
So I hope that this helps you,
Even admits the chaos that is going around for you to see if you can pause and find that stillness within your day and within yourself.
And so I wish you so much love.
Amen.
And as always,
Namaste.
