Hello and welcome.
My name is Morgan Norvell,
The owner and founder of Budding Lotus Meditation.
And today I will be guiding us through Black Joy,
A meditation on Black success,
Celebration and community.
Today's meditation will be accompanied by Andre 3000's newest album,
New Blue Sun.
To the title track,
Dreams once buried beneath the dungeon floor slowly sprout into undying gardens.
I selected this track as a way to encourage us that no matter how deep they try to bury us,
Our seeds will always grow.
And in that,
We have always been successful.
Let us begin by finding a comfortable position or place to sit and rest our bodies.
This can be done in your favorite chair,
Or lying in your bed,
Or even on the ground.
When you have settled in,
Allow your eyes to come to a close as we take in our first breath in through our nose and let it go slow and controlled out through our mouth.
Again,
Breathing in the same way,
We slow not only our mind down,
But our breath with it.
Using our breath as a guiding tool,
Allowing us to come together as one whole being in mind,
Body and spirit.
Continue to breathe at a rhythm and pace that meets the needs of your body in this current moment.
And feel yourself become heavier with relaxation.
You are safe in this space to not only let your guard down,
But to bring out the happiest,
Most joyous parts of you.
They are supported in this space and encouraged and celebrated.
As you allow your body to continue resting,
Relaxing,
And letting go,
We release any tension or tightness that we may be carrying in our jaw,
In between our eyebrows,
In our shoulders,
Hands,
Hips,
Feet,
And release it into the world.
Gathering it and removing it from our being.
Inhale deeply in through your nose and exhale slow and controlled.
Wonderful.
Now,
I'm going to take you through the guided visualization.
I want you to begin by recalling on a memory,
A space or place where you are shared in community with other black people,
Whether that be friends,
Family,
Co-workers,
Whoever they may be,
Even complete strangers.
Recall on that memory,
On the joy,
The happiness,
The lightheartedness shared between you all.
Recall on the vibrancy of your group,
The unique expression of what it means to be black.
Call on the collective power that you share.
Call on the experience,
Not only centered in trauma and pain,
But in love and success and celebration of one another.
Allow that energy,
Allow that memory to fill you up.
Allow that memory to shed a light that is so bright and warm that it takes you to new heights.
You are weightless here.
You are infinite and your joy and your success and your triumph is not scarce or a fluke or a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence.
It is ever-present.
You feel as a smile widens on your own face,
Showing white teeth under black skin.
You feel as your body responds to your own happiness,
Your own warmth,
And your own success.
As you sit here,
I want you to know that your mere existence is a testament to black triumph.
Your mere existence is a testament to black success.
Your mere presence is a testament of black love.
You have been enough.
You are enough and you will always be enough for your dreams,
For life,
And its brightest and happiest moments to find you in ways that are both big and small.
Inhaling deeply through our nose and exhaling slow and controlled out through your mouth.
Next,
I want you to see yourself and your family home in a loving space,
If it is one,
In a space where you felt you're most embraced,
Most accepted to be who you are in your own personal embodiment of what it means to be black to you.
Feel the familiarity of that space.
Allow it to comfort you and guide you.
Allow it to teach you as you call on those that have come before you.
A long lineage of aunts and uncles,
Grandparents,
Parents,
Brothers and sisters,
Cousins,
And even our own adopted family members.
Allow their strength,
Their success,
Their joy to radiate and echo through you.
Adding to the collective joy that you have felt and shared with in this lifetime.
Allowing the success and celebration of their lifetimes to amplify the collective black joy.
Allow yourself to feel proud of not only yourself,
Not only your friends,
Of not only your family,
But of black people everywhere who have found,
In the most trying of times,
A way to celebrate ourselves,
A way to cherish one another,
A way to love one another.
This joy that we carry,
That we share in,
That we share in,
Pushes us forward,
Guides us.
Nobody knows joy in the way that we do.
We choose it day after day,
Generation after generation,
And we use it as a form of resistance,
As a way of saying I belong,
I am here,
And I am happy to be me.
They will never cheapen our value as long as we find space and time to celebrate ourselves and one another.
Inhale deeply into your nose and exhale slow and controlled as you are surrounded in generations of love,
Success,
And celebration.
Your success,
Your celebration,
And your achievement cannot be contained.
You will find your way.
Even in the darkest of paths,
You will find support and be met with great celebration as you journey and continue in this lifetime as a black person on this planet.
Be proud of who you are and where you have come from.
Be proud of the past of your people,
Not solely for our survival,
But for our moments where we have triumphed.
Allow that energy to be the one that carries you forward.
