Holding Space For Uncertainty

A short meditation to help you hold space and sit with uncertainty. Uncertainty can cause fear and anxiety and is not an easy thing to navigate. In this meditation, we will explore uncertainty and sitting with it through sensation in the body as well as visualization.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to today's mindfulness practice.

Today's meditation will focus on being present and saying yes to the moment at hand.

This is not a comfortable or easy thing that we are navigating.

It's messy.

It's real messy.

And guess what?

It's okay.

What you're feeling,

Thinking,

It's all okay.

So we're going to begin to learn how to hold space for these things and for ourselves.

To hold ourselves and the circumstances around us with kind compassion.

To begin to explore how to ground ourselves,

Find some calm and ultimately build your internal surfboard so you can begin to ride the waves of this current reality.

We are in this together and remember this as we practice.

You are in a shared experience.

You are in a community.

You are not alone.

And so I invite you to find a comfortable seat.

One in which you are both at ease but also alert.

And I invite you to close your eyes or cast your gaze down so as to reduce distraction while we practice together.

And I invite you as we begin to feel the contact points.

The sit bones on the chair,

The floor,

Maybe your hands on your lap or resting by your sides.

And I want you to breathe into these touch points.

Just noting that sensation.

And if you want to further increase the sense of grounding and being supported by what's around and beneath you,

I invite you to bring a hand to the heart.

And if you're close to the ground,

One to the ground as well.

So a hand to heart,

A hand to ground or hand to heart and hand to lap.

And just breathing into the sensations of touch,

Support and knowing this is here with you in your practice.

You are supported.

And now I invite you to rest your hands and begin to note your breath.

Bringing your attention to the tip of the nose.

Follow your breath into the body.

Abdomen softening,

Filling with air.

And the sensation of air moving up through and out.

Maybe noticing it in the throat,

The nose as you exhale.

Just take a few moments here to be with breath.

Be in body.

Being here.

And then your next inhale.

I invite you to repeat to yourself.

I am.

And on your exhale,

Here.

On your inhale,

I am.

And on your exhale,

Here.

And follow the rhythm of your breath.

Just repeating to self.

I am here.

And if at any moment you notice that the mind wanders,

Just come back to the breath.

Come back to those words.

I am here.

And now I invite you to tense the body.

Maybe make fists with the hands.

Curl the toes.

Bring the shoulders all the way up to the ears.

Maybe even scrunch up the face.

Whole body constricting.

And I just want you to take a moment to notice this.

As it's parts.

The feet,

The hands,

The shoulders.

Maybe there's even tension in the belly,

The face.

And then notice it as a whole.

Whole body constricting.

Holding on.

Tense.

And now I invite you to take a deep breath in through the nose.

And an exhale out through the mouth.

And as you exhale,

Soften the body.

Letting go.

So feet,

Hands,

Belly,

Face,

Shoulders.

Take a few breaths to just let that go.

And on this next breath,

Bringing attention to feeling the difference in the body.

That move from constriction and holding on to,

To breathing and letting go of.

This is your resting state.

The pull of the inner self to come home to here.

Taking note of the state.

Let's allow ourselves to bring to mind one uncertainty.

Maybe we'll visualize this as one dark cloud that you have at the moment.

And maybe start with that cloud.

Just see it.

One cloud in the sky.

It's passing by and moving.

But let's acknowledge it.

It is here.

And let's name it.

It is fear,

Worry.

Maybe you don't know what it is.

You just know it's a feeling.

And that's okay.

And let's welcome it and say it's okay that it's here.

And now that you see that cloud,

You've acknowledged it.

You named it and welcomed it.

I invite you to come back to your breath.

Come back to noting the body and just do a quick scan to feel any constriction that this dark cloud might have brought to the body.

Where do you feel it?

Is it maybe a tightness in the chest?

Did your shoulders creep all the way back up to the ears?

Maybe your jaw tightened?

Just with compassionate curiosity,

Know where you feel this dark cloud in the body.

And now I invite you to breathe into this space.

Becoming back and recalling that scrunching up sensation and also that feeling of letting go.

And I invite you to breathe into this space and try to find that same open,

Letting go sensation in the body with your breath.

And as you note your inhales and exhales,

Sharing the words with yourself,

It's okay.

And with your breath,

Inhaling and saying,

I am here and it's okay.

I am here and it's okay.

And as you do a few rounds on your own at your own pace,

Seeing if you can feel the space that you're creating in the body.

Maybe you see that cloud just move by.

Maybe the breath moves it away from your view.

And just be here for a moment.

Really being curious about the breath and the effect it has on you in this moment.

And now I invite you to picture yourself seated on a mountain.

Maybe this is where you're viewing the cloud.

And I invite you to feel the stone surface beneath you being supported,

Strong ground beneath you.

And on your next breath,

I invite you to begin to breathe as if through the heart.

Can breath float in and out?

Can breath surround you?

Breath from heart,

Breath is light,

Breath is warmth.

And can you feel the shift in your body?

Lightness,

Being,

A sense of presence.

And now I invite you to bring to mind something or someone that brings you joy and just place them in the mind's eye.

Can you feel them with you?

Can you feel them breathing through their heart?

Can you feel their light,

Their compassion?

And just sit in that light and compassion for a moment.

And now I invite you to see if you can share that warmth with yourself coming back to breathing through the heart.

Can you share that warmth back to you?

Breathing through the heart,

Sharing warmth and compassion.

And on your next breath,

I invite you to see if you can share that warmth and light and kindness out beyond you.

Maybe even visualizing still being at that mountain beyond.

Breathing through the heart,

Sharing warmth,

Sharing compassion.

And I invite you to just stay with your breath,

Taking note of what that warmth,

That compassion,

That kindness felt like,

That sensation of breathing through heart.

And see if you can make note,

A way to put it in your pocket,

To take it with you throughout your day,

Throughout the week.

A place to come back to,

To ground and feel supported.

And now coming back to your breath,

Refining those sensations of the touch points,

The sit bones,

The hands on knees or thighs.

And I invite you once more to bring your hand to heart,

Another hand to the ground or to your lap.

And just breathe through your hands here.

Hand in heart,

Hand in ground.

And we'll close out our practice,

Taking a deep inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth.

And just bring your attention back to the seat,

The room,

The noises around you.

What is here now?

Opening the eyes.

May you take this practice with you.

This invitation to resource and find your inner home state,

Your inner calm.

It's with you here always.

May you allow the messy to be messy and revisit this internal source of rest and kindness,

Groundedness and calm.

It's always here.

It's within you.

May you be well.

And thank you so much for practicing with me today.

Reviews

Perfect! Just perfect! Mahalo!

That was so helpful. I feel so much better. Thank you!!!