We're going to use this guided meditation today as a cleanse to be rid of some things that we do not need.
Allow yourself to settle into a comfortable pose here,
Perhaps seated,
Perhaps laying down on the back or the belly.
Give yourself permission here to be honest with yourself,
To acknowledge the things that are no longer serving you,
And to give yourself permission to let them go.
Take a moment here to simply breathe,
To be in the body as it is today,
Not the body that you had yesterday,
Or the body you imagine you will have tomorrow,
But the one that you have right here and now.
That is the only body we get to live in.
Just be in it here for all of its glory,
For all that it does for us that we do not notice.
Imagine that you are holding a piece of paper and a pen here.
Write down on this paper three things that are not serving you,
Three habits that you have sunk into that are not making you a better person,
That are not fulfilling your desires.
Imagine that you are writing them down here.
These don't have to be grandiose things.
They can be little everyday habits that you are simply done with.
Imagine that you are tearing this paper into three strips,
One for each thing you are releasing.
Listen to that sound as the paper tears,
And then fold each one up.
Hold them in your hand for a moment.
And then next to you is a backpack,
One that you would take out on a hike.
It is well worn.
It has seen many miles.
Place them in your pack,
Already packed for the day.
Zip it back up and then begin to gaze around you.
Find that you are in an expansive desert space.
Its warm colors surround you.
Reds and oranges and browns all at play against a bright blue sky.
Lift up your backpack and put it on.
It is not too heavy,
But it is substantial.
You've packed what you need here.
Gaze down at the ground.
Let your eyes trace the small cracks that have formed from lack of rain.
Observe their pattern.
Begin to travel forward here,
Noticing as you do that very small clouds of red dust are left behind you,
The shadows of your steps.
Observe the outcropping of rocks that seem to pop up from the flat desert.
Observe their layers,
Their sharp edges.
Some are very nearby,
Others far off in the distance.
Begin to notice a sound here of whistling wind.
Faint,
But consistent.
Follow that sound,
Allowing it to grow louder.
Begin to notice the landscape change a bit up ahead of you.
Realize that that is where this sound is coming from.
A canyon here.
Gaze over to the other side,
Only able to see the top portion of it.
Keep edging ever closer,
Taking in more of this vast space.
Begin as the wind whips up from the depths,
And continue to inch closer until you are standing right at the edge.
Allow it to be both awe-inspiring and terrifying at the same time.
Have a seat here,
Allowing the legs to gently dangle over the edge.
Appreciate what it is to really be on the precipice.
Invigorating and frightening in equal measure.
That deep feeling in the gut,
That this is something magnificent.
Gaze all the way down at the river below.
A deep emerald green cutting through the rock as it has done for millennia.
Observe the striations on the canyon.
Different colors and ages.
Begin to imagine what these layers have seen.
Some of them knew this space in a time when it was not desert.
Some of them thought that they were the impenetrable layer that the river was not going to cross.
But it has,
Slowly whittling this canyon.
Unzip your backpack here and remove your three pieces of paper.
Hold them in your palm for just a moment.
And then allow the wind to simply take them away.
Watch for as long as you can.
As they get tossed around,
Up and then down,
Separated from each other,
And then back together again as they dance away from you.
Watch until they are specks that dissolve.
As you sit here,
Give yourself permission to release them as many times as you need to.
The thing with habits is that the wind tends to bring them back.
It is not a failure.
It is simply another opportunity to release.
Inhale feel yourself pulling the vestiges of these habits out of your very cells.
And then leave them here.
