Hello and welcome.
The following is a guided meditation by Renee Seals,
A somatic movement educator,
Energy worker,
And astrologer.
This meditation is intended to help support your embodied meditation practice.
If in the recording you are prompted to do something that doesn't feel good for your body,
Please adapt and modify to make it work for you.
Please also note that the content of this meditation sometimes explores deep and subtle states and memories,
And sometimes guided visualizations.
You are encouraged to work with discernment as you practice with them.
If any of the guidance Renee offers feels too activating or uncomfortable,
Please listen to your body's knowing and pause the recording until a later time if you wish to return to it.
These guided meditations range anywhere from 20 to 40 minutes and do not require any supplementary equipment to participate.
We hope you enjoy.
All right,
So we'll begin our meditation and as always you want to find a place to be comfortable in your body.
It doesn't really matter what you're doing,
But try and be somewhere and in some arrangement so that you can really give your attention to your inner landscape,
To your felt sense,
To the images that arise behind your eyelids,
To the feelings and kind of sensation qualities that travel through your tissues and through your emotional pathways.
You might find that actually when you go to sleep could be an interesting time to do these meditations in that there is an opening into less commonly accessed levels of awareness that could give you some interesting dreams.
So wherever you are,
There you are,
And let's take a couple of moments together just to collect and to get centered.
So when I begin a meditation,
It's really important for me to bring my attention to the present and this means that I consciously decide to stop thinking about the future and all the things I'm going to do or have to do.
It means that I put aside my remembering and kind of digesting of what has happened in the past and that I take a break from the people and things that have my attention for the most part and know that they will still be there in 20 or 30 minutes.
I can go back to them,
But for this amount of time it is a gift to all of my relations that I spend time centering.
And so we do these practices not just because they're a benefit for ourselves,
But because as we become more centered and more inclusive in our beings with ourselves,
That translates into our families,
Our partnerships,
Our friendships,
Our children,
And the ways that we exist and interact in the world.
So honor yourself for arriving and as you breathe,
Feel each breath as an honoring and as an acknowledgement.
The most challenging part of having a practice is showing up for it.
So if you can take this moment and just feel that you're here,
You've shown up,
Your body is here,
Your attention,
Your intention.
As you breathe,
Notice how your breathing feels.
Notice the sensation of breath as it travels in through your nose or through your mouth.
Notice the touch of your breath at the back of your throat and notice the ways that your breath moves into your entire body.
And the image that I like to use is breathing like water seeps through sand.
So there's no forced inhalation or ballooning but rather a steady and consistent seeping and absorbing of your in-breath through all the tissues of your lungs,
Through the surrounding tissues,
Into your arteries,
To the channels that bring oxygenated blood to your entire body,
To all of your cells.
You feel the exhale as a combined effort in your entire body of every single cell,
Transforming energy,
Transforming the in-breath,
Turning it into the life force of this organism of your body.
Letting the byproducts,
The CO2,
Whatever byproduct of foods or the consumables that you don't need travel out on the exhale.
So I'd like you to imagine that you're breathing in and out through your nose,
Through your mouth,
Through your mouth,
Through your mouth,
Through your mouth.
So I'd like you to imagine your entire body full of rivers and streams.
There's a map of all the waterways in the United States that I'll try and remember to include a map of big kind of major pathways,
Major rivers and waterways,
Big veins and arteries,
And then smaller and smaller and smaller channels that blood and breath move through.
If you can imagine that in your entire body,
These channels kind of branching out how they connect to your lungs and to your heart.
They're larger along the length of your spine and there are large channels around the junctions between your torso and limbs,
So in your groins and pelvis,
Around your neck and shoulders and armpits,
Big branches and big channels,
Okay,
Moving from your central axis from your spine out into your arms and legs and hands and feet.
And our bodies need oxygen,
Which is carried in blood.
Every cell needs that oxygen,
Just like life on earth needs water.
So as you inhale,
Can you feel the way your inhale spreads from center to periphery?
And as you exhale,
Just imagining this continued spreading,
This seeping,
And absorbing into your whole body.
So as you breathe,
Can you feel that your breath is almost a fluid breath,
That there's a wave in that can ripple into every corner,
Into every tissue,
And as you exhale,
There's a wave out and that that wave out continues to move past your own body,
That the wave in comes from places outside of you,
And so your breathing,
Though it is a wave in your own body,
Is also part of a larger wave that's rippling all around you.
And every inhale you just receive that breath,
You let it kind of wash through your body,
And every exhale you release that breath and let it wash out.
So deep within the structure that supports us,
We have the fluid of power,
The fluid of power at the depth of our bones.
So as you breathe in and as you accept your inhale like a wave,
And as you breathe out and as you release your exhale like a wave,
Can you let your breath move into the core of your bones?
And with your breath,
Can you really feel the power at the center of your bones?
You're tapping into their vitality,
To their aliveness,
To their adaptability.
Imagining that at the the core of your structure there is a thick,
Viscous,
Nutrient-rich,
Like dense,
Amazing fluid.
It's like vitamin e oil or something,
Like it can it can heal everything,
And it has all of the nutrients and power that you need to be able to move your body forward.
So you can feel the energy,
The energy that you're breathing,
The energy that you're breathing,
The energy that you're breathing,
The energy that you're breathing,
The energy that you're breathing,
The energy that you're breathing,
The power that you need contained within it.
And just one drop is so potent and that is at the center of your bones.
Remembering that within yourself,
Remembering that within other bodies,
Remembering that within the earth,
Feeling in the center of your bones,
You're moving your body down into the deeper layers of earth,
Into the powerful currents that run below the crust.
And then we'll bring attention to the place in our bodies that's the kind of low belly pelvis.
And so if you bring your hands,
Bring one hand to your front body in the space that's kind of halfway between your belly button and your pubic bones,
And then take your other hand to your back body to your sacrum.
And now consciously relax and soften this place in your body as you breathe and let your inhales touch the inner body all the way around the surface.
So the front of your sacrum,
The back of your pubic bones,
The inner wall of your low abdomen,
And then all of the stuff,
All of the tissues that are contained here.
And so at this level of our bodies,
We have at the front body,
The bladder,
At the back body,
The rectum.
And then between them,
We have the reproductive organs.
So we have the organs of life creation,
Of elimination and defecation,
Which results in further life.
So this is something that we forget in our shame-based culture that can't deal with shit,
Is that we consume food and we're part of nature.
We were meant to just poop it out and that substance then composts and turns soil into rich life-giving substance that can grow more food for consumption and for life.
Unfortunately,
We've created a lot of systems based on shame that don't acknowledge the importance and necessity of this part of our body and kind of seek to hide it or sanitize it.
So,
Gosh,
This part in our bodies holds so much tension.
I work with people all the time who are incredibly fearful and detached from their reproductive power,
From their creative power.
And I feel that all the time in my own body,
This clenching and gripping and asleepness.
And this part of our body holds so much power and it's a place that,
Of course,
Can create and give life.
It's also a place where when it's violated,
And by violated,
Of course,
There's rape,
But there's also violation that happens through imagery,
Through words,
Through emotional manipulation,
And through the perpetuation of ideas of shame.
On some level,
All of us are experiencing sexual trauma.
All of us.
We are all experiencing the impact of living in a world that does not value life and that seeks to destroy and exploit it.
And this register is here in our bodies.
This is the part of your body that first registers fear.
So when there's a threat,
We instinctively kind of crouch and have the instinct to run and your asshole gets tight and your groins and lower belly get tight and you get ready to defend.
A good percentage of people are walking around with like chronically tight assholes and tight lower bellies because they're in constant fear and you might be one of those people.
I know that a good portion of the time I am.
The world is a scary place.
So take the time right now to really breathe into this lower part of your body,
To feel that wherever you are,
You're safe.
See if you can consciously relax your pelvic floor.
See if you can consciously relax your belly.
See if you can let the energy of your mind and your heart drop all the way down into this base of your body.
Let your jaw soften.
Feel that your body is vital and is connected to the body of the earth.
Regardless of what the circumstance or situation of your body is in this moment,
Feel that it was created and birthed from a womb.
And feel that in this part of your body,
Again regardless of circumstance,
There is the memory and the ability for life,
For the perpetuation of life.
Because this part of our bodies is the warehouse for shame,
See if you can breathe forgiveness,
Acceptance,
And love all the way down into this part of your body.
And love all the way down into this part of your body.
That whatever is there,
Whatever you might find there,
There's nothing to run away from.
You don't have to run.
You can just hold it and be with it and know that there's this larger body of water that's your whole body,
That's all these tributaries and streams and pathways and everything can move.
And so if you're experiencing deeply held emotions that are traumatic,
That are angry,
That are fearful,
As you touch into this part of yourself,
It's very important to connect into the larger whole.
So to go back to the first visualization of all those rivers and channels and streams.
And it could be counterintuitive to let these more negative,
Quote-unquote negative feelings spread out because maybe you don't want to pollute things,
But you have to let them move.
So the deep waters of Scorpio can become very stagnant and a breeding ground for toxicity.
So we want to just feel that those waters can move.
And the first part of movement is just feeling,
Okay?
They're there.
And like oil or like fat,
When there's coldness,
It gets hard and stuck.
So if you can direct your breath in such a way that it feels warming,
And if you're experiencing a lot of emotional feelings come up,
You might want to repeat this meditation with a hot water bottle at some point.
So there's warmth in this part of your body.
There's containment and a nurturing feeling.
And then as you exhale,
Letting whatever feelings are there just kind of stream out into these other pathways.
Feel them stream into the the larger rivers that run into the central channel and imagine them being exhaled.
Now it can be so scary to look at darkness and shadow,
And we worry that if we're to let it out that it will consume everything.
It's a very valid worry and when shadow arises it can become the only thing that we see.
And if it is the only thing that we see,
Then it will consume.
But this is part of our healing work together,
Is to hold space for recognizing pain and recognizing the pain that we're experiencing.
And this is part of our healing work together,
Is to hold space for recognizing pain and recognizing trauma,
Acknowledging it,
And simultaneously recognizing,
Remembering,
And recognizing that there's health,
There's wholeness,
There's healing.
We have to remember the health and goodness in our water.
We have to appreciate and recognize the health and the goodness in our bodies.
So feeling into the any deeper,
Maybe darker feelings,
Feeling into more of a global kind of movement,
A fluid exchange that is not good or bad,
It just is allowing for the personal to meet the collective.
And the deep held stories that are in our bodies to then be released to know that this exhaling of your personal pain is not filling the world with your pain,
It's actually just releasing your stuckness to it,
That the earth and the world and the consciousness that is encompasses everything and will mirror back to us what we fixate on.
Just feeling the way that you can acknowledge and hold space for your pain and your pain,
And just feeling the way that you can acknowledge and hold space and also remember and be spacious.
And then coming back to the power at the center of your bones,
And feeling that the more that you allow these deep feelings to resolve and to not be stuck,
That this structure,
Your core power,
Gets fed.
So when we get stagnant and stuck in waterways somewhere in our body,
Then all of the water suffers.
So we have to keep things moving.
These last few breaths,
Maybe you want to let out a sound on your exhale.
Stretch out your jaw and stick out your tongue and you can yell and you can moan and you can scream.
Just feel the exhale allowing it to move out of your body.
And then as you inhale,
Come back to just your sense of place,
Your sense of being,
The container of your skin.
Feel that right now you're safe.
That you have what you need,
That you can make choices.
So I want to acknowledge that you might need more time with this meditation and you might need to take it into some different places,
In which case I hope that you will do so.
So taking your time to close in whatever way,
Think about your own life,
Taking your time to close in whatever way feels appropriate.
Again,
Honoring and acknowledging that you come to practice at all,
That this is really the hardest part is just showing up,
Giving thanks for your body,
Giving thanks for your blood,
Giving thanks for your breath.
Peace.
