Humility

What does humility mean? How can we ground ourselves and connect into the community of living beings all around us as a pathway to humility? This reflection and guided practice is an offering to anyone seeking to rest on the solid ground of humility.
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Transcript

Hi there,

Welcome.

It's good to be here,

Good to be with you.

I'm glad you're listening.

I'm gonna reflect a bit today on humility and practice with opening up some spaciousness and connection to humility in our meditation this week.

Humility is such an interesting theme particularly as it relates to social impact work.

I think so many of us in the sector of social change,

Social justice,

Social impact have been humbled by the pain and the suffering we've witnessed or experienced in the world.

We understand and can be grateful for all of the many privileges and gifts we've been given because we've come up close and personal with the experience of suffering,

Needless suffering.

One of the challenges however can be how to right-size our experiences when we've been humbled.

How to allow ourselves to be connected,

One of many in connection,

Humble connection with everybody,

With all living beings.

Not above,

Not below,

Not better than,

Not worse than.

I have this image that comes to mind when I think about humility because of its connection to humiliation.

This image is particularly poignant for me.

The root of the word humility is sort of connected to soil,

To ground,

To the hummus,

To earth.

So this idea of humility as being grounded,

Connected to earth is really important for me.

And when I think about all of the ways that I myself and I have seen others sort of try to build these penthouses in the sky of our reputations,

How we're seen,

Protect ourselves from vulnerability,

Build up the facade of invulnerability,

Perfectionism.

When we do those behaviors,

When we have those underlying assumptions of needing to be better than or different than or unique,

I sort of have this image of building this penthouse up in the sky,

Detached and away from the ground of the earth.

And when we're so high up,

So disconnected from the earth,

There is the reality that anything that grounds us,

Anything that brings us back to connection with the earth has the potential to feel like humiliation because the fall is far.

It doesn't have to,

But it has the potential.

And so this image of being grounded,

Being connected to the earth or sort of building up the facade of better than is really helpful for me because when I'm connected to the earth,

I can acknowledge my mistakes.

I can acknowledge my humanity.

I can acknowledge my vulnerability.

I can be grateful for what I have without it feeling like a fall.

When I get too built up into ego or reputation,

That penthouse in the sky,

Any acknowledgement of vulnerability,

Of humanity can feel like a fall,

Can feel like a hard thump.

Now I also have this experience of sort of digging down deep,

Humility that lacks a sense of perspective,

Of enoughness,

Of gratitude,

Of acceptance,

Of worthiness,

Of value.

My self-critic can start to dig this hole into the depths of the earth and say,

I'm not good enough,

Not honor the things that make me fully human and all my gifts.

And so similarly to the penthouse in the sky,

There's this like tunnel that can be into a territory of self-critic and self-loathing.

And that's not humility either.

Humility is resting on the ground in relationship with all living beings,

In relationship with a power greater than me,

Right-sized.

And so as we think about practicing today with meditation,

There's actually so many gifts of humility in our spiritual traditions.

And I encourage you to explore in your spiritual tradition a notion of humility that can support you.

A lot of times humility has been co-opted by institutions or folks with power to right-size us,

Right?

Somebody saying,

Be humble.

And sometimes when we've experienced that wound,

Right?

The sense of our agency and power being stripped away with the teaching of being humble.

It can be really hard to find our way to a spiritual practice that nurtures a sense of humility that isn't about shaming,

Self-critique,

Digging that tunnel or isn't about reacting by building up that penthouse in the sky,

Just resting here on earth.

And yet I do think the spiritual traditions in their practice,

In their interpretation have a lot of resources for us to lean on.

I myself had this experience with the idea of bowing,

Right?

I used to think of this bow as subservience,

As representative of oppression and sometimes it likely is.

And yet I have come to practice with the bow in my spiritual practice,

Whether it's yoga or meditation,

Or in a spiritual sacred space or building a temple.

I've come to understand this bow as an act of reverence,

Gratitude,

And connection,

Interdependence.

I'm here to resting on this earth and I'm grateful.

That's the experience of the bow I have.

And I also have come to understand it for me,

My floating head,

If you did the body scan meditation with me,

I can get very intellectual and my mind can take over and sort of prop up all of my sense of self with thinking.

And so I've also come to understand the bow as a way of dropping my head below my heart,

Letting my heart lead as an act of humility.

So these are just some reflections that I share as we begin.

I do invite you to practice today using a bow to open and close your practice.

This may be a bow from the seated posture.

This may be a bow from the standing posture.

I'm going to encourage you to get as close to the earth as possible in your practice.

So maybe that's sitting on a cushion on the floor,

Pillow on the floor,

Yoga block on the floor.

Maybe that's lying down.

And if you're going to practice today in the lying down posture,

I'll just invite you to start by standing and get yourself into the lying down posture by having a bow.

Now obviously these are all invitations and so practice however you wish.

I'm just giving this preview so that you can find a posture today that is connected and close to the earth and that perhaps allows you to practice with a bow to open and to close.

All right,

So with that I think we'll begin.

Allow yourself some time to arrange your space if you need to.

As we begin here,

If you are in a sitting down posture,

I invite you to lower your head to your chest to bow.

If possible,

If you're kneeling,

Maybe take a child's pose.

Lower your chest to the earth,

Your head to the earth.

Be slow with this bow.

Allowing this bow to open your practice,

To allow you to drop in to the body and the heart,

To connect the heart to the earth,

To be here now,

One of many living beings.

If you'd like to practice lying down,

You may start with a standing bow,

Allowing yourself if you're able to bow to fold your body,

Lowering your heart,

Your head to the earth,

Maybe touching your hands to the earth,

Being gentle and slow.

And as you rise up,

Inviting yourself into a lying down posture,

Heart open and facing up,

And yet connected,

Head,

Heart,

Hands,

Feet,

All in the same plane,

Connected to the earth,

Resting on the earth,

One of many living beings.

As you find yourself settling in to a posture,

Whether seated or lying down,

Allow yourself relaxation and alertness.

The middle space,

This relaxation and alertness,

Not vigilant and searching for my words or for your attention,

And yet not disconnected,

Asleep or checked out.

The space where relaxation and attentiveness and alertness are both present.

Feel the connection to the earth in this moment,

Whether through your sit bones,

Your feet,

Your legs,

Or whether through the back side of your body.

Allow yourself to feel held by the earth,

A resting place,

A cradle,

A foundation.

Feel yourself in this connection to earth,

Imagining the soil beneath the surfaces where you're resting.

All of the nature and life that support the earth beneath you.

Resting here,

I am grateful for the earth beneath me.

That may be a phrase you choose to repeat to yourself,

Or maybe there is another way of honoring the connection with the earth beneath you.

Resting here,

I am grateful for the earth beneath me.

Resting here,

I am grateful for the earth beneath me.

Resting here,

I am grateful for the earth beneath me.

If you find yourself getting taken away,

Distracted by thought,

Distracted by the imagery of that soil and the earth beneath you,

Invitation to return to the body,

The experience of this body resting in connection with the earth right here,

Right now.

What is the felt sense in the body right here,

Right now?

Resting here,

I am grateful for the earth beneath me.

Resting here,

I am grateful for the earth beneath me.

Resting here,

I am grateful for the earth beneath me.

With this awareness of the body resting in connection with the earth,

I'll invite you to extend your awareness outward,

Honoring the connection with all other living beings,

The tree,

The plant,

The animals,

Other human beings.

We are here among many living together in connection with this earth.

Resting here,

I am grateful to be connected to many living on earth together.

Resting here,

I am grateful to be connected to many living here on earth together.

As you extend your awareness outward,

If it helps to imagine a circle of living beings,

To imagine the plants and the trees and the insects and the animals and the other human beings in a circle together,

Shoulder to shoulder,

Touch to touch,

Extending out width-wise.

Resting here,

I am grateful to be one of many living on earth together.

The option to return to the contact with the earth is always there for you.

If the words or the prompts distract you and get you caught up in language or thought,

The invitation always to return to the felt sense in the body of being here among many,

Not alone and together.

Resting here,

I am grateful to be one among many living here on earth together.

Allowing yourself to fully return to the body,

The sense of contact with the earth,

The breath,

The breath.

Allow yourself a few deep breaths if it supports you.

As we bring this period of practice to a close,

Invite you to bring your hands to your heart,

Either in prayer or simply in contact,

Touch to the heart.

Invite you in whatever way you are called to,

To close this practice with a bow,

Touching your chest and your head to the earth,

Touching your hands to the earth.

If you are seated,

Taking a moment in the bow to stay connected to the earth,

Maybe through your hands,

Maybe in child's pose.

If you've been lying down,

Being so gentle as you raise your body to stand and bow,

Lowing your head below your heart,

Touching your hands to the earth.

We bow in gratitude for the connection to the earth.

We bow in gratitude for being one among many.

We bow in service.

We bow in humility.

Thank you for practicing with me today.

Hope to see you,

Hear you,

Connect with you soon.

Reviews

Gentle and true. Thank you for reminding me to bow.

Thank you for inviting us to rest on the sacred ground of humility with gratitude, presence and connection.

Thank you Perry, for a really insightful and clear perspective on humility. I enjoyed your thoughts very much. 🌸❤️🙏 Catherine

Beautiful. So much to reflect on and give gratitude for. Blessings to you study group mate from OSIS. Deb