Hi there!
My name is Courtney,
Also known as Self Care Creature,
And today I'm going to be sharing a meditation on the web of interconnectedness.
I invite you to get comfortable wherever you are.
This meditation is especially great with connection to the land.
So if you want to do this,
Take this outside.
There's an invitation there,
Not required,
And it's also a nice one for lying down and having before sleep.
Wherever you are,
Begin to close your eyes,
Allow your breath to soften,
And feel your body settling here,
Like soil after a spring rain.
With each inhale,
Perhaps feeling the belly expand,
And that exhale,
Letting the belly release,
Perhaps you feel it fall towards the spine,
And really just imagining yourself out in a favorite place in nature as you're settling in here.
Inhale,
Draw in the scent of the earth,
Of green things waking,
And exhale,
Feel yourself sinking deeper into your seat,
Into the land beneath you,
Into this very moment.
Now imagine,
Beneath you,
The earth stretches wide,
Alive,
With a vast,
Unseen web.
Threads of roots in mycelium,
Threads of water flowing underground,
Threads of memory,
Threads of bone,
Threads of stone,
A tapestry woven over thousands of years,
With every living thing connected by its own unique strand.
You too are woven into this great web.
From the soles of your feet,
From the base of your spine,
Feel your own threads reaching down,
Spiraling softly into the soil,
Weaving gently into this living tapestry.
As you breathe,
Feeling into no separation,
As you breathe,
Feeling into no otherness,
Only the quiet knowing that you are already part of it all.
Feel how your roots intertwine with the roots of the trees,
How they brush against the pathways of small creatures,
How they touch the tendrils of mushrooms,
How they nestle beside the resting places of ancestors.
Take a moment here to honor them,
Breathing in to those who walked before,
Full exhale,
Breathing in to those who tended these lands,
Full exhale,
Breathing in to those who spoke the languages of leaf and wind and rain,
Full exhale.
Continue to offer your breath as a thread of thanks,
Offer your heartbeat as a rhythm of belonging.
Next,
Sense how this web extends beyond the soil,
Beyond the land,
Reaching up through stems and stalks,
Through trunks and branches,
Into leaves and blossoms and even birds in flight,
A shimmering lattice of life holding the grasses,
The rivers,
The animals,
The stones,
The clouds,
And you.
You are held within it all,
Your own single thread,
Vital and necessary,
Woven beside a thousand thousand others.
Can you feel the pulse of this great weaving?
Can you feel into how every being is both giving and receiving?
Can you feel how every breath is a gift shared between leaf and lung,
And how every step touches the earth that nourishes you?
Continue to breathe here,
Just feeling into this for the next few moments.
As you draw in your next breath,
I invite you to place your hands over your own heart,
Or gently place your hands on the ground,
Whatever you're most comfortable with,
And imagine in your mind's eye holding this offering of intention.
You may repeat after me,
Silently to yourself,
Or aloud,
Or just listen.
I honor this web.
I honor the threads that weave me into life.
I honor the ones who came before and the ones yet to come.
May I walk gently.
May I weave wisely.
May I remember my place in this great belonging.
Sit and breathe here for a while,
Feeling into your body and feeling into this connection with the land that surrounds you,
No matter where you are.
Let any words,
Feelings,
Or images arise and pass through you like wind through leaves.
Trust that the land knows.
The land knows you.
Even if you do not yet know all of the names of the land yet.
And trust that your thread matters.
You're welcome to bask here as long as you like.
Maybe you drift off into sleep from here.
Or,
When you are ready,
Begin to gently draw your roots and your threads back into your own body.
Feel them gathered softly beneath you,
Within you,
Whole,
Connected,
And grounded.
Taking a couple of final breaths right here.
And as you exhale,
Open your eyes.
Find a little movement in your body to bring the sensation and awareness right back to this moment.
Carrying this remembering with you into the rest of your day or evening.
