As you begin to arrive in a comfortable seated position,
Allowing the body and mind to settle,
Notice the support of the earth beneath you.
Feel the inhalations gifting you with energy to elongate your spine up towards the sky,
And the exhalations gifting you with rest and an opportunity to let go of tension.
As you sit here,
Let the boundaries between you and the earth below you start to soften and dissolve.
As you sit here,
Let the boundaries between you and the space around you start to soften and dissolve.
Notice that with every breath you are taking in the air surrounding you.
You are taking in the life force power within the air.
This is prana merging with you,
And you are merging with it.
With every inhale,
It is becoming you,
And with every exhale you are becoming it.
There is no separation.
You are not a drop in the ocean.
You are the entire ocean in a drop.
With these words,
Rumi is giving us the message of how strong every person is in reality versus what the mind may be thinking.
Rumi says that you are the ocean,
Meaning you are much more powerful than you consider yourself to be.
When we think of ourselves as just a drop in the ocean,
We feel small and insignificant.
We can underestimate ourselves and think that we are powerless because we believe we are separate from the power of creation that is everywhere.
If we see ourselves as separate from the world,
It is easy to dismiss our actions as irrelevant or unlikely to make any difference.
So take a few deeper breaths now,
And imagine looking out on a seamlessly endless ocean.
Vast blue-green water spreading out in all directions around you.
The water merging with a huge open sky and a vast horizon.
Notice how that feels in your body.
What is happening?
Is your mind more calm?
A sense of peace and spaciousness becoming available that wasn't there before?
Does your body relax and your breath soften?
This is the experience Rumi is pointing us towards,
Reminding us that the true nature of the universe and ourselves is pure bliss.
These moments of clarity lead us to a deeper connection with all of life,
Where our environment is not seen as something out there,
But something we are part of and have a role to play in.
Spiritual connection to the world is moving beyond individualism towards seeing ourselves as an interconnected part of all creation.
We are inseparable from the world and every choice we make will have ripples that extend beyond us.
What may seem tiny and insignificant by itself always adds to a bigger picture.
And when we integrate our spiritual understanding into our behavior,
We bring it alive and give it the power to influence our world.
This is the experience Rumi is pointing us towards,
The true nature of the universe and ourselves is moving beyond individualism towards seeing ourselves as an interconnected part of all creation.
