Walking Each Other Home
Through mindfulness practices, focusing on antiracism, we increase our emotional resilience, recognize our biases, and make real our common humanity. "Walking Each Other Home" is a guided embodied meditation practice. Recorded - Jan 5, 2023
Transcript
Welcome to Project Sanctus,
Walking Each Other Home.
This is our weekly embodied mindfulness practice.
And we are back from our own break.
We took a couple weeks off.
Our business mantra is rest,
Restore,
Repair,
And resist.
Rest,
Restore,
Repair,
And resist.
So rest comes in a lot of forms.
And for us,
It was here at Project Sanctus,
It was the last two weeks of the year off,
Not doing really anything connected to Project Sanctus,
Except our own,
You know,
What's already embodied and the unconscious competencies that we carry in embodying anti-racism values and behaviors and consciousness.
So this is Thursday morning.
Right now,
I don't know when you're watching.
It's a wonderful day.
A wonderful way to start the day is through a mindfulness practice,
Remembering that mindfulness,
And I was just talking about this last night in a group,
That mindfulness is the chance,
Is the opportunity,
Is the moment,
Each and every moment,
Where we get to begin something again.
We get to begin the day.
We get to begin the minute.
We get to begin a conversation.
We get to begin a relationship.
We get to begin a thought.
We get to begin a feeling,
Whatever it is.
Even if your coffee isn't good,
We get in every moment,
Mindfulness is in every moment,
The opportunity to begin again from an ocean of awareness.
So if your coffee wasn't good,
You have a moment to begin again,
To make it anew,
To just pause.
Mindfulness is a place of infinite possibility,
Infinite possibility.
Say that.
Say that for yourself.
Mindfulness is a chance to begin again from an ocean of awareness,
A place of infinite possibility.
It is the very practice of freedom.
It is the very practice of freedom and liberation.
So we start our new year.
We start 2023 in a mindfulness practice about engaged,
Calm,
Abiding.
Calm,
Abiding.
Say those words to yourself.
Calm,
Abiding.
What does abiding mean?
Abiding means almost like a forever kind of thing.
But abiding,
Right?
Being in,
Staying with,
Recognizing that each and every moment I can begin again.
So if you're comfortable and you want to close your outer eyes and turn your attention inward,
I would even encourage you to put your hand on the middle of your chest,
Your heart space,
And feel the heart beating.
Feel it moving life throughout your body.
For some people,
We may want to leave our eyes open and maybe lower the gaze onto something sacred.
I keep several sacred objects on my desk in front of me to gaze upon,
To bring my attention and intention from the outside world just to this moment,
Right?
To this mindful moment.
And as always,
Follow the breath.
Feel it as it moves in,
Fills you up,
And then feel it as it moves out,
As you empty,
As your body is emptied.
So as you continue to focus on the breathing,
Think back in the last month,
Even,
Maybe week.
Have you ever felt physically exhausted?
Maybe heavy hearted.
You know,
Heavy hearted has been alive for me a time or two in the last month.
Or maybe just so exhausted or soul weary is the other term I use.
Or maybe just kind of feeling stuck.
But in that kind of stuck,
In that maybe weariness or confusion or bewilderment,
You might feel tempted to maybe drink a little bit more,
Smoke a little bit more,
Or even just check out.
Meaning just disconnect from people,
Disconnect from the world,
Disconnect from the news.
Sometimes just reading the news or the headlines can move us into that place of maybe a sense of weariness or bewilderment.
Certainly right now,
As we watch and listen to our government unable to govern itself,
As we hear about other police shootings,
Or maybe even as we think about and hear about what's going on at the US border,
The border with Mexico.
Regardless of how you think about it,
Believe or feel about it,
It's still,
However you hold any of the things going on in the world that make us feel a little weary,
Whatever your belief,
Your ideology,
We can all feel maybe some exasperation or frustration.
Or if you're like me,
Maybe you've rolled your eyes a time or two more.
So it's okay to think about these times and these moments,
Because they are opportunities when you're in it.
It's the opportunity to move into an engaged calm that is always abiding.
We just need to engage it.
And it's gentle practices of like the breathing and what we're doing this morning.
Those gentle practices that support you in staying grounded,
And staying grounded as you open up to information that might cause pain,
As you open up to experiences that are mind boggling,
I guess,
For lack of a better word,
As you open up to experiences of suffering.
So take a deep breath,
Feel a big inhale,
Fill the body,
And then rest your attention on the out breath as it empties your body.
So again,
Take a deep breath and turn your attention inward.
Maybe you put your hand on your heart space,
And then the out breath.
Let's do that a few times.
Rest your attention on the in breath and the out breath,
And just follow that flow.
Again,
Calm,
Resting,
Abiding on the in breath and the out breath.
And just follow that flow for a minute.
In breath,
Out breath.
And now bring the attention to the in breath and breathe in for a count of four.
So one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold your breath for a count of seven.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
And then release the breath for a count of eight.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
So we're going to do that two more times.
Breathe in for a count of four,
Hold the breath for a count of seven,
And then exhale for a count of eight.
Okay,
We're going to do that two more times and begin.
Let's do it one more time.
And now just settle into a natural rhythm.
Just settle into a natural rhythm of your breath,
Maintaining awareness of just how deeply and fully that you're breathing.
Feel the depth of the in breath go deep into the lungs.
And then as you gently exhale,
Feel how deep from within it comes,
Moves up through the lungs and out.
So just settle on that rhythm for just a moment,
Natural rhythm,
And rest on this river of rhythm,
Rest on that long,
Broad,
Deep now.
Remembering that mindfulness is beginning again from that ocean of awareness.
And as you breathe in,
Expand your awareness to love,
Expand your awareness to its warmth,
To its softness,
Expand your awareness to your desire for peace,
For well-being,
For yourself,
But also for others,
Settle into your natural breathing rhythm.
As you call to mind your desire for peace,
Your desire to ease suffering,
Your desire for well-being for yourself and others.
And again on the next in breath,
Consciously focus on the love that exists in your heart,
Because it does exist.
You may have moments that it's hard to tap into,
But it does exist.
However you define that with every breath in,
Just expand,
Increase your awareness to its warmth,
Its softness,
And the characteristics of love that are unique to your experience of it.
The characteristics of love that are about peace,
That are about well-being,
That are unique to you.
You don't have to take on anyone else's meaning of love.
It's yours.
It's yours alone.
It comes from your lived experience.
And then as much as you can,
Allow yourself to just feel the compassion that is in your being.
The compassion that is part of that love that lives in that place of grace within each one of us.
See if you can't have a moment or notice feeling that compassion for yourself,
For any points of pain or suffering in your life,
In your body,
As well as anyone else you know who's suffering.
Wherever they are in this very moment,
Your mindfulness practice of this calm abiding extends not just energetically,
But by residing in that natural rhythm as you move into your world.
As you move out of this time of our mindfulness practice and back into being in the world,
Whether in person,
Online,
In your home,
At work,
Strangers on the street,
You bring that natural rhythm of peace,
Of well-being,
Of love that resides in you,
That resides as you.
That's how it's abiding.
That's how it moves through the world.
Not just because we think it,
Not just because we feel it,
Not just because we know that energy moves out from us,
But because we can be it in very small ways.
It's very powerful.
So as you move through your day,
If you notice someone is suffering,
Bring yourself back to this moment.
Bring yourself back to your natural rhythm of your breathing and consciously send support,
Consciously send that peace,
Consciously send that well-being to anyone you believe who may be in need of it in this moment,
In this moment.
Remembering that when we pause,
When we notice suffering around us,
Mindfulness is our chance in that moment to begin again.
If you're listening to this at the end of the day,
Then take the ideas into your dream time.
And when you wake up in the morning and move through your day again,
Remember to return to the natural rhythm,
The natural rhythm that is your breath,
That is your opportunity to start any moment over again from a place of infinite possibility,
Because that is the practice of freedom,
That is the practice of liberation.
And call to mind your desire for peace,
For well-being,
And focus on the love that exists within you.
So let's take a couple of deep breaths before we end our time together.
Inhale and exhale.
Inhale and exhale.
You are already loved and you already belong.
