Jumbo,
Dear traveler.
Welcome,
Karibu.
This is Rashma of Safari and Soul.
And I'm so very glad that you're joining me here today.
Today's meditation is best done just as you're waking up.
As you're rising from your slumber and your day is beginning.
Find a position that lets your body be at ease.
Whether that's seated or still lying in your bed.
And allow your eyes to gently close.
Or just soften your gaze towards the floor.
Do a quick check-in with yourself.
Take a deep,
Full breath in.
Feeling any stiffness from your slumber,
Letting go,
Draining out.
And releasing that stiffness as you exhale.
Again.
Breathing in for a count of one.
Two,
Three.
4,
And letting go for 4,
3,
2.
One Let's take another breath in for one.
To three,
Four,
And exhale for four,
Three,
Two,
One.
As you feel relaxed and you feel your body starting to awaken.
There's no need for a rush just yet.
There is nowhere to be just yet.
It is still only early in the morning.
Here.
It is just past 6am.
And the world is just beginning to wake up.
And the world has not asked anything of you yet.
If you're near open windows.
Feel the air coming in.
The cool morning air.
With your eyes closed.
Imagine yourself at a large window.
Or on a porch.
In the blue-gray hour before sunrise We are just beginning.
At the cusp of dawn.
The air is cool and clean and refreshing.
The sky at the horizon is still dark.
And just beginning to peel.
The deep ink of the night is starting to thin.
Into something softer.
And the world holds its breath.
All night.
While you sleep.
It might have felt like the world was silent and still.
And yet the darkness was not empty.
The darkness was tended.
The night has its own quiet keepers.
Watching through the forests.
And chief among them.
Is the owl.
And in this case,
The African.
Wood owl.
Awake.
Through every hour you are dreaming.
Watching over the sleeping fields on silent wings.
As the world starts to awaken to the day.
Listen.
Listen to the sound.
The tall trees,
They come.
At exactly 6am.
Low.
Wrong.
And hurry.
Melody.
And then sing.
The owls are hooting at the edge.
Of the incoming dawn.
Not a warning.
Not a bad omen.
People.
May have misread this voice in different cultures or maybe believe in different things.
And that's okay.
In some it is believed that hearing the owl hoot signifies darkness or endings.
But actually.
.
.
In this moment if you listen closer.
This is a completion.
A night watch is done.
The owl.
Is a dancing.
In her deep and settled voice.
That all is well and it is time to go find rest.
And her mate responds.
The night has been kept.
And throughout that,
You are safe in it.
There is something profoundly gentle in a voice that speaks only when its work is done.
The owls do not cling to their hours.
As the light comes they let the night go without regret.
Without grasping.
And then glide home to rest.
And even as their last calls fade.
A new sound has already begun to join them.
Slow at first,
But getting louder.
One thin thread of birdsong.
Then another.
And then 10.
And yet you can still hear the last calls of the owl.
This is the changing of the watch.
The owls hand the world to the songbirds.
And the songbirds receive it with celebration.
For a few minutes.
Only these few minutes.
Only at this hour at exactly 6am.
Both voices share the same sky.
The keepers of the night.
And the heralds of the morning.
Overlapping.
Neither one wrong.
Both of them necessary and in their place.
Breathe with this hand over as you collect the owl and scorch your wrist.
Take long,
Deep breaths.
Breathe in the freshness of what is beginning.
And breathe out what is complete.
Inhale What begins in X,
Yeah.
Watch this finish.
Consider gently.
What night watch you might have been keeping just like the owl.
A worry that you have carried through dark hours.
A task.
A thought.
Agree.
A vigilance that has done its work.
Like the arrow.
You are allowed to say to yourself,
This watch is over.
I kept it faithfully.
And I can set it down now.
And consider what is chirping at the edges of your morning.
Some small new thing asking to begin.
Something that might bring excitement to you.
You do not have to force the sunrise.
Just like the birds don't sing the sun up.
They sing because it is rising anyway.
And so whatever is coming towards you today is already on its way.
Your only task is to create it.
The horizon is gold now.
With touches of pink.
And orange.
Perhaps you're starting to feel the sunlight,
Feeling the warmth.
Touch your face.
The owls have gone to sleep.
In the deep of the trees.
And the day belongs to the songbird.
Feel your own body waking with the world.
Fingers perhaps moving,
Wiggling,
Your toes wiggling.
Your breath deepening.
The small aliveness in your chest and the stiffness almost gone.
Take one more full breath in.
First true breath.
Of the full morning sun and let it out slowly.
Take your time here.
And when you're ready.
Let your eyes lead the way in gently opening up.
The night has been kept.
And the day has been welcomed.
And you,
My dear friend,
Dear traveler.
Like the world at six o'clock a.
M.
Are allowed to people.
Someone who has come through the dark.
And someone who is now welcoming the new beginning.
Go ahead with your day.
Feeling the new beginning.
And having left behind whatever needed to be left behind.
In the darkness of yesterday.
Have such a great day ahead.
Thank you so much for joining me.
And always remember.
You may leave the wilderness.
The wilderness,
Never leaves you.
