Imagine that you're walking along a pathway and on each side of the pathway there's some beautiful trees and you might put your hands out,
Touch the trees,
Breathe in their oxygen.
It's daylight,
There's lots of light,
You can see into the forest.
It feels safe just to walk along.
Taking some deeper breaths,
Notice your body's relaxed.
You might be walking along kind of briskly or just kind of sauntering and stopping,
Saying hello to certain trees.
And as you go deeper into the forest along the path,
It's starting to get dark.
The trees are getting more dense,
Maybe big cedars or redwoods or old-growth forest.
There's not as much light coming in and it's getting to be evening.
Darkness is starting to come into the pathway and into the forest.
Notice if there's a sense of uneasiness or if you could just keep going.
In our visualizations,
In our mind,
Nothing bad's going to happen.
Nobody's going to come along and hurt us.
As you're walking along and it's getting darker,
Notice the benevolence of the trees,
Of the forest.
And maybe you come to a bit of a clearing and you can see there's stars in the sky.
And notice your experience in your body and your mind.
If you're not used to the forest or if you're feeling some trepidation or maybe you're like,
Oh,
This feels so good.
So I let myself rest in the dark night,
Complete safety on this pathway in the forest.
This isn't the nervous system world,
It's not the physical world.
This is the world in our meditation.
Right now,
We're going into the dark sacred night.
And let yourself come into stillness on the path.
The dark is velvety and soft,
Very still.
We can really rest in the dark stillness.
Notice that you can breathe easily here.
Let your mind be really focused.
So if it goes off into something else,
We just notice that.
Where is it going?
Sometimes we would just bring ourselves back,
Come back onto the path.
These beautiful trees,
The clearing,
The stars in the sky,
The dark night.
Notice if your heart is beating,
Fast,
Subtle,
Let your body soften and breathe.
And notice if there's a sense of energy,
Of welcoming in this darkness,
A sense of what might be birthed here.
And notice if you feel safe to be here with that.
And in the deep stillness in our own mind,
What might we realize?
What might we bring forward into the light?
There's no hurry.
We could just stay here.
Breathe.
Notice the trees,
The stars,
The potent energy of the stillness of the dark.
And notice if your mind is steady and still,
Or if thoughts are here,
What are they?
What might you dream into being as you're resting in the dark,
Sacred night?
And is there an experience of that in your body?
Is there an energy of creativity,
Of the fullness of the stillness?
Other thoughts might come in.
We could witness that.
Sensations might come into the body.
We could notice that.
Maybe you see yourself or feel that you're standing there.
Your arms are open.
Your chest is open.
Your heart is open.
Resting in this stillness,
The dark,
Sacredness of the night.
Deep,
Easy breaths.
Notice if there's anything here that feels like it's too much.
Sometimes when we have pleasure or energy in our body or in our heart,
It's a bit unnerving or unsettling,
And we might want to dampen it a little.
Notice if there's anything like that.
And if there is,
See if you could let that move to the background.
Let what's here fully develop.
Maybe there's a gift for you here.
You sense the benign energy of the dark,
Sacred night.
Notice if you feel at home here.
Body relaxed,
Your breath easy.
Feeling the stillness of the trees,
The beauty of the light of the stars,
And the energy of this darkness.
Resting,
Being held.
There's nothing here that's going to hurt me.
It's okay for me to relax,
To spend some time here,
To focus on the stillness,
On the beautiful energy here.
Let yourself leave behind everything that's not this.
Any problems or illness or worry that's going on in your regular life,
Let that be way in the background.
Right now,
We're in this beautiful dark forest with the light of the stars in the sky,
The warmth of the energy that's here.
We're allowing that nourishing of the dark,
Sacred night,
Letting that fill our heart,
Our mind.
And in a few moments before we come out of this dark,
Sacredness,
Let yourself receive what there is here for another minute or two.
Your mind is watered off,
Bring it back.
Let yourself be held and nourished in the sweetness of the dark night.
And then as you're standing in this clearing,
Looking up at the stars,
Notice how the sky is starting to lighten.
We're moving now into the light.
We can see the detail again of the trees and the forest.
We walk back along the path.
Notice what you're taking with you.
What gifts are you bringing back from the darkness?
From that potency of the creativity of the birthing of the night.
And notice your breath,
Notice your body.
Let yourself move around a little,
If you like.
Breathe more deeply.
At some point when you're ready,
Open your eyes,
Let in the light that's in your environment.
Take a moment to notice what was that experience for you?
What did it feel like in your body?
Were there times when you started to get a bit worried or nervous?
Or maybe when you were really enjoying it,
But you noticed that you were kind of shutting it down?
What was your experience,
Both in the nervous system and in the stillness?
And you might notice times that you were directing the flow,
And maybe there was times when you weren't.
And was that a problem,
To let it go and let it just be?
I experienced such a sense of rest,
And there's nothing I need to do.
Practice like this gives us an opportunity to experience something that perhaps we don't very often.
And it also gives us a direct experience in a container that's a bit safer,
Probably,
Than just doing it on our own.
But where we can actually just go into the darkness and see what's there.
And often what's there is beautiful.
And then that becomes part of our known experience.
It becomes part of what we've realized.
