Hello,
Welcome.
My name is Lou Redmond and as always I am really grateful that you are choosing to practice with me.
Recently it was my birthday and normally I don't make a thing about my birthday but this one for me felt a little like a monumental one.
And it was my 30th birthday so I was entering a new decade and often when I tell people that I am 30,
For those that know me in certain contexts,
Specifically even in this meditation world,
I hear a surprise where people will say that they maybe think that I am more mature than my age gives and I guess I can understand that from just the choices that I've made in my life.
And I think the reason that that is is that at 25 or 24 years old I had a pretty profound shift happen in my life and I had found meditation and it led to this really powerful transformation and I had left my previous life and had really given all of myself to pursuing this new path,
This spiritual path.
I had started my hero's journey as Joseph Campbell would say it.
And in that time I've cultivated through this practice the constant planting of seeds or I am cultivating just my own fertile soil by planting seeds and that's planting seeds both internally through my own personal and spiritual development and letting go of fears and blocks and limitations and just cultivating a more compassionate heart and also planting seeds out in the world with other people.
And as that has happened I've noticed that my world has changed quite drastically in those past five or so years.
And that is really what inspired this practice that doesn't matter what age you are,
It doesn't matter if you wish you found the practice years ago.
I wish I found it when I was 15 right?
But we are all led to our truth in the perfect time.
And what we can do no matter where we're at is cultivate the seeds that we've planted and learn to create and plant new seeds.
And so that's kind of what we're going to do as we move through today's practice and we're going to use the metaphor of a tree as we go through.
So go ahead and allow yourself to settle,
Settling into your body.
Allow your body to relax and rest.
And go ahead and find a comfortable place for your hands.
Feel your shoulders melt down your back.
And allow your breath to further release and relax yourself here.
Finding some space through each inhale.
And letting go and healing grounded with each exhale.
Notice if there's any tightness through the body,
Maybe just do a scan the top of your head.
The jaw might be clenched,
Belly might be tight.
Just soften yourself into whether it be your chair,
Whether it be cushion,
Bed,
Standing maybe even wherever you're at right now.
Breathing in and breathing out.
And we're going to begin really by using again this metaphor of a tree.
I'd like you to feel the base of your body underneath you.
And then feel with each breath that you take roots begin to start growing down into the ground.
And allow these roots to grow deep and to further settle you in.
Setting a foundation both physically and also symbolically.
These roots are going to be symbolic of your life.
One root is going to represent where you came from.
Something that we can't change.
We were all born somewhere,
In some country,
To some place,
To some mother or father,
Some family.
Maybe allowing one of these roots,
Thinking of your root.
Where did you come from?
Where are you from?
Where were you born?
And each breath allowing that root to grow into the ground.
Another root is going to be your past experiences.
And our past experiences we can't really change them,
However we can start to shift our mindset of how we perceive them.
So maybe finding gratitude in this root for one of the experiences that you've had that helped you to become who you are.
And this could be a profound and defining moment of your life.
Or it could be a challenging experience that you have now found acceptance and growth through that from this angle you can find gratitude for.
So whatever you choose,
Through your breathing,
Send an energy of gratitude down into the root,
Allowing it to grow deeper into the ground.
And letting that go and coming to the last root.
And this root is actually something you can change.
It is a foundation of how you live your life that at any moment you can change.
And these are your values.
Your values influence the way that you view the world and what you put your attention to,
What matters to you.
So take a moment and think about what are your values?
Some might be inspiration,
Love,
Generosity,
Non-attachment,
Freedom,
Courage.
There are hundreds that you could choose from and this is a whole workshop in itself.
But see if you can allow some energy to clear and see if you can sense any of those values that either you live by or values that are idealistic,
Meaning that you'd like to cultivate this value more in your life.
So take a moment and if you can bring what those are to mind.
And as you find some words or find some values,
Let's see if you can bring that energy of those values into you by just repeating,
I value non-attachment,
I value love,
I value generosity,
I value compassion.
Whatever that is for you,
Then repeating it just like that,
I value.
Allowing those to seep in into your consciousness.
And then if you'd like,
Begin to switch the I value into I am.
So I am free,
I am generous,
I am love,
I am courageous,
Whatever your words might be,
I am working to embody these within our awareness.
Okay.
And then go ahead and take a good breath in.
And let that go.
Now we're going to begin to move up the body into your trunk.
Bring the energy into your body,
And this is where you allow the energy of the foundation to move up.
Just as in the tree,
The energy moves up the tree,
And it also is moving down,
Coming in from the outside world,
Taking in the sun,
Moving energy down to keep the roots growing.
So our trunk is where we align the energies of our body.
And to do that,
We're going to use the inhalation and exhalation to send energy up and down the spine.
And when you inhale,
Imagine as if the energy is traveling from the top of your crown down into the back of your spine.
And then as you exhale,
The energy is moving from down your spine back up to the top.
Breathe in and move energy down your spine.
And breathe out and move energy up.
And let's stay here first a few moments,
Just going back and forth,
Sending energy up and down.
Okay.
Our body is also where we get our head and our heart synced up on the same path,
So we can create with positive intentions,
With good energy.
And be just feeling that connection from your head to your heart for a moment.
And then take a breath in.
And let that go.
We're going to again start to come up your tree into your branches.
And the branches are kind of like coming out of your mind by the intentions that we throw out there.
And we have an intention,
We throw it out on the branch,
And we hope that from that intention,
Something grows.
Leaves grow,
Fruits grow,
Opportunities arise.
And to cultivate our intentions,
And that's why we practice compassion,
That's why we practice any sort of loving-kindness meditation.
And we also practice supporting ourselves and supporting others in that.
So first,
Bringing the awareness unto yourself,
Cultivating these good intentions within ourself.
So repeating out loud or silently to yourself,
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be loved.
May I be at peace.
I'll be just picking one of those for a moment to repeat.
And then letting that go and cultivating this same compassion towards a loved one.
So bringing someone,
A friend,
A family member,
Or someone you just want to send some good energy towards,
Bringing them into your mind and into your heart,
Holding them in your awareness,
And repeating those same words.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be loved.
May you be at peace.
And maybe picking just one of those for a moment.
And then letting that go and making someone that we might have a challenging experience with.
And it could be a family member,
It could be a friend,
It could be someone that we just don't see eye to eye on.
Maybe our values are different.
But still we can plant these seeds to see the world in a new way by this really powerful practice of holding this person in your awareness.
And even them sending,
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you be loved.
May you be at peace.
We are all fighting a hard battle.
And we are all seeking that peace.
Letting that go and then if there is any intention that you would like to grow in your life,
Maybe throwing that out here as a branch,
Something you want to accomplish,
Something you want to bring into your life.
Feeling what that is,
And then tracking to your energy of your body and sending out that intention here for a moment,
Sending out a branch.
And take a good breath in and let that go.
The next part of this is the sun.
Imagining maybe your tree,
Imagining the sun outside,
The sun is sending the energy in,
Supporting everything else.
And you can imagine the sun as the invisible energy that surrounds us.
You can see that as spiritual,
You can see that as God,
The universe,
Or you can simply see it as gravity.
The energy that is holding everything together,
That is giving life.
See if you can allow yourself to feel that invisible energy that is supporting us.
And feel the invisible energies growing you from the inside.
And maybe even allowing the image of the sun and its warm rays to shine a light on you and send more of that good growing energy towards you.
Now with our values,
Our energies,
Our intentions,
Last is the leaves and the fruits that are going to grow out of the work that we are doing.
And you might not see these leaves and fruits for a while,
Or they might be blossoming all the time,
Depending what branch we are talking about here.
And the fruits and leaves,
These are your gifts to the world,
And we give them freely.
And so what do you want to grow?
And what do you want to give?
It might be a gift in something that is purposeful to you,
Meaningful to you,
Something that supports you financially.
And it might just be a gift of love and of blessing to other people,
Of sharing your light.
It might be your vocation,
It might be your career,
It might just be your presence in the world.
What do you want to grow?
What fruit is coming off of your branches?
I'm just holding that question in mind for a moment.
What do I want to grow?
What is the fruit that I want to share?
Remember that no matter how cold and barren your winter might feel right now,
And you might not even think that your gifts are close or your leaves are going to grow,
You are in the right season when the right energies are present.
The conditions will be set for your gifts to grow.
And you can trust that with each breath,
Even if you don't see them yet.
It's part of our tree of when the leaves and the fruits grow,
And they fall to the ground and they leave seeds.
The seeds are our legacy,
It's what we give back that will then grow and grow and grow.
It's kind of the ripple effect,
It's in a different metaphor.
And who we give back to,
The knowledge,
Who we teach,
We're always the teacher and the student in so many different ways.
So think about a person that you'd like to plant a seed in.
It could be someone that you mentor,
That you'd like to mentor,
They could be younger than you,
Or they could be just someone in your life that you'd like to show them the way in some way.
Hold them in your heart.
How can you plant a seed for this person?
Can you encourage them,
Inspire them,
Share a book recommendation?
For this moment,
Simply just send them that energy,
Send them your seed through our meditation practice.
Send them those wishes for them to learn to grow,
Just as hopefully maybe someone is wishing that upon you.
No matter what your age,
If you are listening to this,
I'm wishing that upon you.
And that is what I deeply believe is part of my purpose here,
Especially in what I do through this.
Maybe it's more than one person.
And once you've planted all your seeds,
Slowly come out of your tree,
If you're still imagining that,
Or come back into your body.
You start to take some movements,
And whenever you feel ready,
You can open your eyes and welcome yourself back into your day.
And as I said,
I really hope to be some sort of inspiration to your path and whatever that path is.
And if you connect with what I put out there,
It's often because we're probably on similar paths.
And I am grateful that in some way,
A gift,
A fruit that I share,
Can fall and hopefully support your journey.
So again,
I thank you.
Let me know.
I would love to hear what your values are,
Or what values you'd like to cultivate.
So please leave a comment and let me know what your values are.
I'd love to engage and support that.
So thank you as always.
Much love.
Namaste.
