The 4S's Meditation (Strength, Struggle, Support, & Spirit)

The 4S's meditation is a guided exploration of Strength, Struggle, Support, and Spirit. You'll be invited to explore each of these aspects of life, identifying what is working and what is missing and feeling the truth of your experience deeply in your heart.

I recorded this meditation at the beginning of a meeting with my men's group. You could listen to it in a group you're part of, or on your own.

Transcript

So let's begin by taking a deep breath. Yeah, I'll mute everyone. Oh Josh, You need to mute yourself for some reason. Let's all begin by taking a deep breath in, Holding, And releasing. Pause, Taking another deep breath in, Holding, And releasing. Pause, One more deep breath in, Holding, And releasing all the way with a sigh. Giving your body a shake, Shaking your shoulders, Your hips, Opening your jaw, Moving around your facial muscles, Really getting your pelvis, Opening up those legs, Those hips, Stretching your feet. As we begin this meditation, Really getting in your body, Making fists, Squeezing them, And release. One more time, Shake all of that out, Releasing any tension that you can easily let go of, And come back here to silence and stillness, Allowing your breath to be natural and smooth. Feel yourself in your body, Slowly sinking down into the chair and into the earth. As you bring your attention more fully into this present moment, Letting go of any extra thinking or planning or any emotional armoring, And allowing your heart to be open here to yourself in your own experience. It helps to put one hand on your belly, One hand on your heart. You can try that and come into greater contact with yourself. These are very intense times and very challenging times, And it's easy to get externalized and lost in all the different voices, The churn of social media. So in this time, We're coming back to ourselves, Imagining all these pieces of yourself that you've left out there in the world and different relationships. Imagine they're coming back to you as if the core of your being were a strong electromagnet. We'll switch on the power and have all these parts, All these filaments, Return to your core and reorganize as you reclaim your energy and your sovereignty, Letting go of unhealthy attachments, Dissolving any cords, And finding yourself in a fuller expression of who you are. Relaxing and softening, Allowing that process to continue in the background if it's not complete. Meanwhile, You're letting go of any parts and pieces that belong to other people other energies that have been stuck in your own body and nervous system. You're allowing those parts and pieces to be filtered and cleaned and returned as gifts to the people and places they came from. In your mind's eye, Seeing these pieces, Returning to them as you begin to feel even clearer and lighter and more coherent. If you get distracted, Just bringing your attention back. No judgment, No blame, Just restart. As you sit here, Bathed in your essence at the center of your own world, I'd like to offer four questions to inspire some insight and self-reflection. The first question is, What are your strengths? And not answering this from your head or from what you already knew coming into this meditation, But really tuning in and feeling right here, Right now. What are the ways in which you're strong? How is strength showing up here? These could be strengths of character, Intellectual strengths, Physical strengths. What are your strengths? What are your strengths? Letting go of that inquiry, Feeling that sense of strength, Not the specifics but that overall feeling tone of strength in you. And take a breath into that as we move into this next question. What are your struggles? Where are you challenged? Where are you resisting and straining? Being honest, What's hard in your life? Exploring for yourself, Again not from the mind but from this present moment. Asking your whole body and being, What are your struggles? What are your struggles? And now letting go of those specific struggles and tuning into that sense of struggle in you, That specific signature of your nervous system, Your tensions and brain when you're in struggle, Can be really helpful to recognize. Now we'll move on to the third question which is support. We are surrounded by support and this is a two-part question. The first of which, Where do you have support? Where and how are you supported? And again feeling the support in your body, Feeling the presence of your ancestors behind you, If they are a source of support for you. Maybe you have friends, Allies, Men, Women in your life. How are you supported? Really taking it in. And expanding the scope to include material support, The food you eat, The air you breathe, The home you live in, Nature. Take it all in. And we'll transition now from this felt sense of how supported you are to acknowledging any gaps in support, Any places you feel unsupported and like you could really use some more support. So feeling both the gap, The lack that may exist for you overall or in specific areas of your life, Your work. And becoming clear on what sort of support you need and want to ask for. I'd like to ask one more question and we've been going through the four S's. Strengths, Struggles, Support and the final one is Spirit. So I invite you to tune in to Spirit, Whatever that means to you. Spirit could be outside of you. Spirit could also be inside of you in your own body. And however you authentically connect with Spirit and how Spirit is showing up in this moment. Asking Spirit to share with you what it wants you to know. What is today's message from Spirit? And tuning in once again with your breathing, Allowing your breath to soften and open. And let this message from Spirit sink one or two layers deeper into your muscles and into your bones. And as we conclude this meditation, I'd like to read a quote from a fabulous book called Outrageous Openness by Tosha Silver. And she asks, So what if the highest expression of the personal divine is you, Precisely as you are in this very moment, In all your full authentic and wounded glory? And I'll say that again. So what if the highest expression of the personal divine is you, Precisely as you are in this very moment, In all your full authentic and wounded glory? So as you breathe with the reverberations of those words, Any insights you gain throughout this meditation, I invite you to come back into your breath and your body and find some subtle movement. Moving your feet, Your hands, Your fingers, Your toes. And over the next few breaths, Slowly opening your eyes and taking in the world around you, Making sure not to leave yourself in your own center. And as you come all the way back, I want to thank you. This was the 4 S's meditation and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day.