Stay Strong, Go Further

Guided Meditation

The morning is an opportunity to start refreshed from the night's slumber and wake to meet the sun. The sun, bright, filled with natural energy, ancient wisdom, and a beauteous power to warm the body. As we step into ourselves and move to go outside.

Take a deep breath and allow your body to relax. Gently check in with your feet and tense them tightly and allow that tension to be felt and then release. Tense your legs and allow that tension to be felt, and then release. Tense your core and chest, allow yourself to feel that tension to be felt and release it. Tense your arms and hands and shoulders and feel that tension and release. Tense your neck and your face and feel that tension and then release. Take a few deep breaths, allow yourself to settle into your body, and be comfortable in your own skin.

The first two steps are hard because your body is getting used to the motion and deciding whether to continue forward or to walk back into the house and simply relax. As you take the next several steps, you start to notice the houses, the street, the trees, the gardens, the flowers, maybe a few people walking by, maybe people with dogs, and then the sky, the clouds in it, and the warmth of the sun. You start to feel the breeze, how your arms briskly swish passed your waist, how your legs feel as they move with each step, how your breath quickens the further you go.

The mind begins to wander, looking at the leaves of the trees, the flowers that they bear, the way that the grass is a glorious green, the way the pavement is a perfect deep grey, the sound of your footsteps against the ground, the vibration it causes in the body, the freedom of movement in the arms and shoulders, the determination of each movement, the focus of the body without the focus of the mind.

Thoughts begin to trickle through the consciousness. Thoughts that float through the mind and beckon to be caught by your attention. Some thoughts pass gently through your mind space, others flicker like sparks of light, and yet, others meander like a heavy ethereal dark mist. As we walk and the motion of the body creates energy within us, the thoughts start to come faster, they start to go faster. The body starts engaging with some of the thoughts, wondering this and wondering that, asking the universe of this, asking the universe of that. Making plans, thinking of the day before, thinking of the next move, thinking of tomorrow, next week, next month, next year. Thinking of responsibilities, thinking of mistakes, regrets, sorrows. Thinking of happiness, joy, peace. Thinking of the movie you watched, the show you watched, the book your reading, the work you have, your family, your friends, the thoughts just come until it is just a white noise of focus as your body continues to create energy.

After some time, you begin to notice your body again. You have spent the last several moments outside of your body and deeply engaged with your mind. As your body comes into your consciousness, you begin to focus on your breath, heavy, tired. You begin to focus on your limbs, which have created so much movement for you, your feet, which may be feeling the tightness of your shoes and the weight of your body, your legs, numb with the tension building in the calves. Your mind begins to work again, how far have I walked, should I walk further, what is waiting at home? And then, there is a weighing of thoughts & options.

The answer, that comes in softly at first, like the first steps when you walk out the door, then builds momentum, like the next steps thereafter, then comes in clearly like the observation of the flowers born in the trees, “stay strong, go further”.