Archive for July, 2010
Summer Sun Meditation
Friday, July 2nd, 2010
Sit quietly..with your spine straight…breathe slowing in and out through your nose. Allow the exhale breath to last a little longer. Keep breathing until your whole body relaxes. Breathe through each part of your body.
Allow an image of the sun to come into your awareness. Allow whatever color of the sun come to you that feels really good. Sense it’s presence just above you. Invite the rays of the sun to come into you. Allow the sunlight to brighten every thought and feeling. As you breathe in, sense the warmth of the sun and as you breathe out, sense the light of the sun. Bathe in the sun.
Connect with your own sun – the light that is you. Imagine sending this light out to someone you love so they can also bathe in the light. Spend some time bathing in the sun. When you are ready, slowly let the imagine of the sun go. The light is always there within, ready to shine. Bathe in the light of you in all ways.
Bring the light into your heart. Know that the light is always available, always there, and always ready to be shared with those around you.
Namaste,
Mary Anne
Sitting in the Abyss of the Vast Unknown
Thursday, July 1st, 2010
Non-doing keeps showing up. I decided to take the summer off from giving workshops, retreats, and healing circles. After announcing this in my newsletter, I thought, “What will I do with all this time off?” Quickly, I began a list of all the things I could “do” this summer. I started to look up classes and programs I could attend as a participant – none of which really excited me. Then my best friend invited me to do nothing – to stay in the abyss of not knowing and see what shows up. This has become my new practice – staying in the abyss and just listening for what is next.
I started with an easy topic – listening for what ought to be my next book to read. I stared at my bookcase for a few moments, reading dozens of book titles. I watched as my hand was drawn towards Byron Katie’s book, A Thousand Names for Joy. In each chapter, Byron Katie reflects about the Tao Te Ching. About ten pages into the book, Katie quotes the Tao, “Practice not-doing, and everything will fall into place.”
Katie reflects:
“The Master leads simply by being. “Being” looks like doing the dishes, answering the phone and e-mail, shopping, going to work, driving the kids to school, feeding the dog, doing one thing at a time, without a past or future. She doesn’t empty people’s minds. She doesn’t have to (even if that were possible). The way she helps people is by living out of don’t-know, can’t-know, no-need-to-know, not-possible-to-know, nothing-to-know.”
And just as I was writing this blog, my friend Joe Monkman posted a blog about taking a day off and giving ourselves permission to change our routine. In his Fishing for Soul blog he wrote, “Let go and allow your self to do one new or different thing today. Give your self the gift of not doing. Permit your self to BE. What might you create from that place? The possibilities are endless.”
Joe’s blog was another reminder to do nothing – just be and see what gifts arrive. Or as my friend said to me, “Just listen. Nothing else to do.”
I am sitting in the abyss of the vast unknown and have no idea what will appear. It is frightening and thrilling at the same time. As T.S. Elliot said, “Teach us to sit still.”
What gifts are awaiting you in the abyss of the vast unknown?
Mary Anne