Tag Archives: practic

I spent a month sitting under my magnolia tree. Not a month straight. A month of mornings. And it changed the way I live. On the inside.

Several years ago I completed a meditation teacher training that prepared me to teach meditation to young people in schools. It was another jump into one of the “deep” ends of meditation, as people say, and it was glorious. Glorious in its supportive container, its approach, framing, and guiding – an abundance of wisdom and a swaddling of fellow travelers along the path. We had head-teachers, cohort guides, and companions. We all taught and learned from each other.

After I completed my practicum and received my certification, I celebrated by getting my nose pierced. And after our final online gathering I felt the emptiness of losing that nest, the organized safety net with its deadlines and accountability, it’s scheduled gatherings and required reflections. I felt the lack of those supports and routines immediately – an unmooring. I didn’t want my new way of being to fade, so I decided I would meditate every morning for thirty minutes. And I did.

I’m doing that again to create a book for us. Something we can hold to help us remember that we are humans being in the midst of all our doing. I’ll post some pieces here and hope you’ll share some feedback to help me craft what is most needed for your own dive into the deep.

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When you hold one hand in another
there is a heaviness
that is both light and solid

your hand, I mean,
I’m talking about when you
hold the weight of your own hand

resting one hand
inside the other
a nesting

Try it now ~

Cupping your hands
one inside the other
sense the weight of you

sense the weight of tenderness.

How tender is your care for your own sweet self?

Try resting your shoulders
and arms and let them be pulled
toward the earth…

Allow the gentle downward force of gravity
to be a soothing balm
like you’re setting down
every single thing you carry
every
single
day

the things you hold even in the night
in your sleep you’re carrying them ~

Just for now, just for this moment,
set down what you are carrying.

Try this ~

Notice the sensation of your feet
resting against the ground
the grass
the growing world.

Notice the sensation of your hips
resting in the seat of your chair
that’s resting against the ground
the grass
the growing world.

Notice the way the crown of your head
is floating into the sky
even as the the sides of your neck are softening
the tops of your shoulders sinking
and your arms
elbows
arms
wrists
hands
fingers are moving closer to the ground
the grass
the growing world.

Notice the sensation of being held by creation.

Even as your body stretches upward
with each of your breaths
your body relaxes downward
with each of your breaths

You are a growing being
resting against the ground
the grass
the growing world.

So as you nest your hand
inside your hand,
become the tender loving care of the creation that holds you
because you are what you have always longed for.
You belong to your own dear, sweet, and precious self,
a gift, from you to you.

Just for fun? Try this~

Notice if you’d like to switch the nest of your hands
allowing the other hand to be the cradle
of tenderness and loving care.

Feel the difference.
It is new. Awkward. Lighter Maybe?
It is similar. Odd. Fun Maybe?

Switch them back if you’d like.
Notice the ways you are opening into choice, ease, and freedom
inside the frame of this earth and sky,
this greening grounding
growing world.

You get to chose what your hands hold.
You get to chose which things you pick back up.
You get to chose to lift with your legs instead of your back.
You can allow the earth to lift you and all the things you choose to carry.

Remember that as much weight as presses down on her, the sweet, dear earth pushes back up just as much.

You are not alone.

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How do you feel now?
What do you notice most?
What is resonating deep inside you?
What mysterious door have you walked through?

What is challenging you and what are the judgements your mind offers?

What kind of poem would you like to write now?

What kind of art would you like to create?

What kind of breath would you like to take?

xoxoxo,

A.