Embracing Darkness Slow down and rest in.
Take a slow,
Smooth inhale through your nose,
And a long,
Slow exhale out your nose.
As you slow the breath,
You welcome yourself back,
Gifting yourself your inhale,
And feeling a gentle release with the exhale.
Slow and steady,
Gifting your heart and mind what it needs,
Dropping,
Dropping,
Dropping deeper into your heart space with every inhale and exhale.
Breathing in,
Breathing out,
And as you drop into your breath,
You welcome the darkness behind your eyes,
That quiet space of refuge,
Curiosity and intuition.
From this space,
We take a journey.
You find yourself walking through a field.
The sun is setting and the sky and light is greying and darkening.
The field is edged with trees.
The birdsong gently fading.
The crows cawing and returning to their nests.
And as you walk,
You notice the sound of silence is getting louder,
And the sounds of the day and life fading.
Bats flit from tree to tree,
Catching the flies and insects as the sun begins to disappear.
The day is shifting from daylight to darkness.
You continue to walk despite feeling a little nervous.
And as the shadows appear,
You wish for the sun to return to ease your worries and your overactive mind.
Creatures of the night appear.
Moths flit in the darkness and slugs begin to line the path you're walking.
Fear begins to build within you as you can no longer see clearly.
Within this dark space,
Not only are you fearful of the shadows you notice,
But the shadows within.
The questioning of self,
The parts you try to hide.
You sit under the canopy of an old oak tree and take a few breaths to steady yourself,
Affirming in your mind that you are safe.
As you sit,
You notice the shadows you feared were a hawthorn bush and a large rock,
And you laugh to yourself.
You sit in the darkness,
The cool air on your face.
And the longer you sit in the darkness,
The less afraid you become.
The night sky,
Which you believed was pitch black,
Begins to glimmer with stars.
Your eyes adjust and you begin to view the world differently.
You can see the beauty in the darkness.
You can embrace the stillness.
Breathing deeply again,
Dropping,
Dropping,
Sinking into this blissful space in the night.
And just as we fear our own shadow and dark self,
The more we sit with it and befriend it,
We can find the beauty within.
The glimmers within us that,
When brought to the surface,
Become part of us,
Making us whole.
You gaze upwards,
Witnessing the clouds passing the moon,
And the moon lights your path.
You step up from under the tree and begin walking the path back through the field.
No longer afraid of the darkness,
But curious and open to witness the world differently.
Both the outer world and your inner world.
Recognizing that duality is part of the beauty.
The light and the dark are both necessary.
Knowing that morning will always come after night.
The sun will always rise again,
Casting a new light and a new day of opportunity.
Becoming more aware of your current location and weight of your body where you're meditating.
Bringing awareness back to the breath.
The gentle rise and fall.
The in and out.
Bringing your gaze up to your third eye internally between your eyebrows.
Breathing into that dark space behind the eyes.
Embracing the darkness.
Taking three breaths here,
Slowly,
Steadily.
Again affirming,
I am safe.
I am the light and the darkness.
I am the sun and the moon.
I am whole.
I am love.
Breathing deeply,
Placing your hands,
The palms of your hands over your eyes.
And gently opening the eyes behind the palms.
Allowing the light to filter in slowly and gently.
Having a stretch,
Moving your body in any way that feels good to you.
And welcoming you back,
Beautiful one.
With so much love,
From my heart to yours.
Namaste.
