Dog Spirit Animal Meditation Going with the flow without losing yourself.
Find a way into stillness now.
Whether you are sitting or laying down.
The new body find the position it needs.
And let it go.
Let it be held by the floor beneath you,
By the surface underneath your hands.
By the simple ancient fact of gravity.
Which has Never once.
There you go.
Take a slow breath through your nose.
In a long.
Easy breath out through the mouth.
Feel the weight of your body,
Your feet,
Your legs.
The ball of your hips.
The line of his spine.
And let each breath be an act of arrival.
Not going anywhere yet.
Just arrive here.
You are here and you are safe.
Your Sheld.
Before we begin our journey.
Let's create a sacred space.
We call in the directions.
We ask the spirits of the circle to protect and guide what we are about to connect with today.
And we invite the animal teachers whose wisdom we need today.
We start at the East,
The place of the rising sun,
The place of beginnings,
Of first light,
Of the clear eye that sees what it is.
From the East,
We welcome Dragonfly.
Born in the water,
Transformed in the air.
Dragonfly sees in nearly every direction at once.
Return to the south.
The place of the warm sun.
The Fool's Summer.
The open heart.
From the south,
We welcome Otter.
Otter who slides into the cold water with a laugh,
Who floats on its back in the current,
And looks up at the sky.
As if the world is a gift.
Return to the West.
The place of the setting sun,
The place of water,
Of emotion,
Of the deep inner knowing.
From the West we welcome Semet.
Salmon who swims through the whole ocean and still knows the way home.
Then we turn to the north.
The place of winter.
Wolf Elder Wisdom.
Of the long,
Quiet knowing.
From the North.
We welcome herons.
Heron who stands in the middle of the moving river and is so still.
So utterly completely still.
Than the water parts around them,
As if they were always there.
And at the center of the circle.
Where all four directions meet.
We place our hearts.
Our intention.
Our willingness to learn.
This is a sacred space.
You are held here from all directions.
You are safe here.
Imagine that.
From somewhere close,
Across the sacred circle.
Directions that feels most alive to you right now.
It'll sheer the sound.
A quack.
A soft,
Familiar,
Almost funny,
And somehow,
Exactly right,
The duck arrives.
Not dramatically.
And not with thunder or fire.
All with a great beam of light.
Duck simply Models in view.
Pausants.
Gives you one sideway look from one bright eye.
Then the duck turns and begins to walk towards the water.
Can you follow?
The path is easy beneath your feet,
It's soft earth and damp grass,
And then the first gentle sounds of water.
Then hear it before you see it.
In return.
Moving but not rushing.
Clear and flowing with purpose over smooth sounds.
You reach the bank.
And stop for a moment.
Just watching.
The duck reaches the edge and without hesitation slides in and floats.
Just like that.
Perfectly naturally at home.
The current moves around Duck,
And Duck rides it,
Not fighting it.
Forcing it just present in the flow.
And duck looks back at you.
Come on!
Something says,
The water is fine.
And somehow in this sacred space,
In between worlds,
You step in.
Feel the water around you.
It's cool and clear,
Not cold.
And you are floating beside duck.
Carried gently by the current.
And let your body relax in this.
Notice first how the water moves.
It has its own rhythms.
It's not asking your permission.
It's not waiting for you to decide what to do.
It's simply moving.
The way it always moved,
The way all water moves.
Finding its way towards where it needs to go.
I can hear you are in it.
For a moment,
Notice any impulses to resist.
To swim hard in one direction.
To grab at the bench.
To stop the current or redirect it.
These are familiar impulses,
The desire to be in charge of what's happening.
To know exactly where it's going to be.
Certain before you trust.
And let those impulses arrive and then let them pass through you.
And feel something that Gokno knows that you are only just learning.
Beneath the surface.
Ducks' feet are moving.
Quickly.
You can't see them from here,
But they are.
Those are remarkable webbed feet.
Gently steering.
Working with the current.
Making tiny,
Almost imperceptible adjustments.
Not fighting the river,
But navigating it.
This is the secret.
Going with the flow doesn't mean having no direction.
It means.
.
.
Trusting the current enough to stop fighting it.
While quietly beneath the surface.
Still knowing where you're pointed.
Interests.
Ask it yourself gently.
Where am I pointed?
Not where is the current taking you,
But where are you pointed?
What is the thing inside you?
That knows what you are moving towards.
Even when the surface of your life feels uncertain.
Even when you can't see very far ahead.
And let yourself feel it.
Not a plan,
Not a goal.
Another strategy.
Shield it as something more like a compass.
Something in your chest that knows.
And notice something else about Doc beside you.
Notice how the water moves off Doug's feathers.
Everything in the river throws pet duck,
Every piece of debris,
Every ripple.
Every cold batch.
Slides off.
Nothing clings.
Not because Doug is indifferent.
Not because Duck doesn't feel.
But because Doc has a kind of protection built into every structure of who Doc is.
A medicine of waterproof feathers.
I invite you to think gently,
Without judgement,
Of something in your life that has been soaking into you.
Something you've been carrying that's not really yours to carry.
Distress or some situation.
Someone else's fear.
An old story about.
Was possibly.
For you.
An opinion about who you are.
Let it come to mind.
I feel it meeting the surface of you,
The way water meets a duck's back.
It touches.
Is it knowledge?
But then it all rolls off.
You feel it?
You don't disappear from the contact.
You're not cold or unfeeling,
You're simply protected,
Whole.
Instill yourself.
To the current.
It's slush day.
Shifts here,
It picks up a little.
A few small rocks ahead,
A bend you hadn't noticed.
For a moment,
You might see a flicker of old fear.
I don't know what's around the bend.
The duck is still beside you,
Still floating,
Still calm.
Still steering those invisible feet.
To remember.
This is not the first river you've been in.
Not really.
Life itself has been moving like this your whole life.
You have always found your way through.
Even when you couldn't see the bat.
Even when the current surprised you.
You navigate the band together.
And on the other side,
The river opens into something unexpected.
Poland.
Still and quiet.
Sunlight across the surface.
The current releases you here.
Gentle.
Do you prefer?
Always releases what they carry into calmer water.
And you find yourself floating in stillness.
Just breathe in.
Stillness has a flow.
Being so present that there's nothing to resist.
Nothing to fight.
Just this moment.
Justice.
Light.
Just this quiet aliveness of being here.
Let yourself rest here.
Let yourself be held by this water.
This light.
And when you are on yours,
Ready.
And take all the time you need.
May your awareness begin.
Gently journey back.
Feel the weight of your physical body again.
Your hands,
Your feet.
The surface you are resting on.
And take a deep breath.
And let you exhale.
Bring one thing back from this journey,
One feeling,
One knowing.
Something the duck showed you today about how to move through this season of your life.
Maybe it's an image of those invisible,
Webbed feet.
Quietly steering even while everything on the surface looks effortless.
Maybe it's a feeling of something rolling offshore,
Like water,
Or with tether.
And maybe he is simply the membrane,
The current.
And the discovery that you didn't dissolve and that you moved through it and arrived still yourself in still water.
Whatever it is,
Hold it.
And let's take a moment to close our sacred circle with gratitude.
Seeing the animals,
And seeing Duck,
Our teacher today.
And just know that our sacred circle is always open.
It's never broken.
Take a full breath and breathe it in.
And let it go.
Begin to bring gentle movements back into your body,
Your fingers,
Your toes.
A soft stretch if your body wants it.
And when you feel ready.
Poke him in the eyes.
Welcome back.
Cary Duck with you today.
That quiet steadiness beneath the surface of the water.
Of the waterproof heart.
The knowledge that you can be fully in the current of your life and still,
Always.
Know the way home.
Welcome back!
