Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Embodiment

Illustration: Tahnee Kelland

The One Who Is at Play Everywhere says,

There is a space in the heart where everything meets. Come here if you want to fi nd me. Mind, senses, soul, eternity — are all here. Are you here?

Enter the bowl of vastness that is the heart. Listen to the song that is always resonating. Give yourself to it with total abandon. Quiet ecstasy is here, And a steady, regal sense Of resting in a perfect spot. You who are the embodiment of blessing, Once you know the way, The nature of attention will call you to return. Again and again, answer that call, And be saturated with knowing, “I belong here, I am home.”

– Lorin Roche, The Radiance Sutras

Illustration: Tahnee Kelland

Illustration: Tahnee Kelland Our existence is vast and expansive, as that is the ever expanding nature of the Universe. Within this course we have explored the sacred dance of the masculine and feminine, yin and yang, and the cosmic vibration of the planets that circulate within our solar system. You have taken the courageous journey of tuning into the cosmic vibration within you, and from that deep resounding place I hope you have found home. I hope this work stays with you as a constant companion as you move through the natural dance of forgetting and remembering who you truly are beyond roles.

By the time you fi nd yourself reading these words for the fi rst time, I hope you have felt as if you have been danced with in your darkest and lightest hours by something so much greater than yourself. I hope you

have found an avalanche of liberation to be exactly who you are and nothing and nobody else. May you fi nd the qualities and vibrations within you that you came here to embody, and may you feel safe to come home to the body you chose to walk you through this tender and complex lifetime. May you feel the readiness to take back your full sense of sovereignty through an unapologetic ownership of your true essence. This course is here with you always, to help you remember the stories and feelings that you came here to live. The dance of our humanness is truly sacred and I believe that what deeply connects us is so much more profound than what makes us feel separate from others. Within the most open of hearts, a sacred fi re burns. Within this fi nal chapter, we begin to open up the doorways into meditation. In all of my years of practising and teaching yoga and meditation, I have gone through the sacred journey of remembering to forget, and forgetting to remember. And I now remember that meditation is simply allowing ourselves to uninhibitedly love what we love. Meditation is the middle way between us and spirit. It is the place where we come back to through all, the residing place of the quality of our own Soul. Inside of all that we deeply long for, all that annoys us, our heartaches and deepest impulses. It is the urge that we have to merge with the soul, and our embodiment practices are simply giving into that natural urge.

There are thousands of doorways into meditative states of consciousness, and I am not talking about sitting still with closed eyes only. I am speaking to the delight that comes through all of our senses — tasting delicious food, listening to our favourite music, being alone with nature hearing the birds and inhaling the dewy air. I am speaking to noticing the breath in every situation, and staying with our embodiment. I am speaking of the way the gentle sunshine feels on our skin, or the feeling of a wave crashing against us. I am speaking of the entire dance of our human existence, and calling in the deepest acceptance and savouring of it all while we are here.

Many modern meditation techniques are drawn from an ancient way of living that no longer resounds with the times we are here to live. In my own experience I have found that meditation practice can far too easily become a process of internalising our shame and judgements about ourselves, through following methods originally meant for those who chose to renounce the world. We do not have to ever push away the fl ow of thought. The fl ow of our mind is genius. Through the sensation of allowing and welcoming all parts of ourselves and our human experience, we can fall into deeper waters of consciousness and truly come home. To bring this sacred course to a close, here I offer just 12 doorways or practices in which I have been initiated into through my yoga lineages or have naturally discovered myself as a human being, that remind me of the essence of each archetypal energy. The hope is for you to start to understand your own doorways and feel into your own experience and what it is that you love. May you explore these practices with gentleness and patience, and perhaps even fi nd yourself creating a meeting place for this dance in the form of a sacred altar or meditation space at home. Remember, there is no right or wrong. As a starting place it can be so helpful to keep the container of your meditation practice within a space where you know you feel safe and at home. May you feel safe to turn within and to listen deeply to the gentle whispers of the heart. May you begin the journey of getting to know yourself as the essence of your Soul. What does it feel like to be you as vibration? May you practise for the highest and best for yourself, and for all of existence. And may you come to fi nd that everywhere you are, you are always home. May you feel your existence as the exquisite, unique and magnifi cent work of art that it truly is.

Illustration: Tahnee Kelland

Illustration: TLisa’s Balcony from creativemarket.com ARIES LETTING GO Lie down in a nap-like position, or shavasana, on your mat, fl oor, bed or couch. Perhaps you would even like to be in nature or outside, this can truly be practised wherever you are. Scan through the body, just noticing. Now let gravity completely take your body, letting go of each and every part as you scan. Notice any habitual holding patterns and gently let them go upon each exhale. Feel all the parts of the body in touch with the surface below, until you begin to feel a part of it all.

Now imagine that gravity completely disappears and you are now suspended in space. Allow yourself to envision the expansive cosmos you are completely immersed in. Feel yourself as weightless. Celebrate that you got here, to complete lightness through letting go. Take note of the quality of this feeling — yourself as pure light. And know you can cultivate this feeling at any time.

TAURUS IMMERSION OF THE SENSES Find yourself out in nature, completely immersed or even just in a place that makes you feel at home. It could even be your own backyard, a particular tree that you feel connected to, or the beach. As you walk, sit or swim, gently scan through your senses. Inhale your surroundings through sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing.

Pause to savour each sense for as long as it takes before moving onto the next one. Allow yourself to dissolve completely into each moment and exploration. When you are ready, go uninhibitedly into one sense and stay with it throughout your time in nature. Feeling through the senses can expand natural feelings of contentment and joy, opening us up to the raw portal of presence.

GEMINI WHITE LIGHT BREATH Find yourself in a comfortable seat and gently close your eyes. Begin to scan through your spine as you notice your natural breathing rhythm in and out of the nose. Draw your awareness to the end of your nostrils, noticing the fl ow of breath hitting your top lip. Stay here for a little while, just noticing. Begin to gently lengthen the breath through your nose, taking a gentle pause between the inhale and exhale. Stay with this simple breath until you feel the mind begin to settle. As you next breathe in, imagine yourself breathing in the most purifying white light, and as you breathe it gathers up any density, any stuckness and agitation. Retain the breath up the top as you feel the white light swirling within you, gathering. As you exhale out of the nose, imagine grey smoke moving out of the nose and letting go of anything that is creating stagnation or imbalance within the body.

TLisa’s Balcony from creativemarket.com Illustrations:

CANCER 3 PART BREATH Find yourself in a comfortable seat and gently close your eyes. Come home into the body through the gateway of the breath. Notice your natural breathing rhythm, fl owing and out of the nose or the mouth. Begin to pay attention to the natural, calming rhythm created by the breath within the stomach and chest. Dissolve into these motions, feeling yourself as the natural rhythm and motion — as nature. Now as you next inhale we will feel the breath f lowing through the body in three parts. First you will feel the belly, followed by the navel and the chest expand. And as you exhale, feel the chest dropping down, followed by the navel and the stomach. There is no need to force the breath into these energy centres, but more so feeling the attention intimately on these three parts of the body and how they dance with the breath. Perhaps you would like to relax the spine and enter into intuitive motion, assisting the wave-like fl ow of the breath. Feel yourself as form dancing with formlessness.

LEO I AM Throughout your day, begin to notice the sounds you make when you are resonating or agreeing with what is going on around you — this is when your Soul sings yes to its own expansion. Create more intention and gusto around the sounds of enjoyment and reciprocity. The sounds ‘ahhhhhh’ or ‘oooooo’ or the gentle humming ‘mmhmm’ sounds we make when we are in deep acceptance, listening or agreeance are sounds that make up the mantra ‘aham’ meaning ‘I am’ in Sanskrit. So in effect when we make these sounds we are saying ‘I am’. Soak into your body the feeling of yes. Listen to its vibration and quality.

VIRGO ENJOYMENT THROUGH TASTE A deep exploration of enjoyment through taste — the next time you deeply crave to eat something, bring it into your meditation practice. Create the doorway through taste. Notice every motion, every sensation, every texture and more than anything else, notice the feelings that arise within the body. Expand upon the feelings and feel into the vibration and energy of what you are experiencing and tasting. Draw in the experience of pleasure and embodiment, watch what rises and falls away within the mind —accepting all that comes.

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LIBRA BALANCING BREATH Find yourself in a comfortable seat, with your spine straight. Gently close down the eyes and bring your awareness to the natural rising and falling of the breath. Find home here within the breath, noticing its quality. Gently lengthen — begin to lengthen through your in and out breaths, gently pausing between.

Raise your right hand toward your nose. Your right thumb will come to cover the right nostril, the pointer and middle fi ngers will gently touch the forehead, and the remaining fi ngers will come to cover the left nostril. Close the right nostril and inhale through the left nostril. Cover the left nostril and exhale through the right. Inhale through the right, exhale through the left. Inhale through the left, exhale through the right. Continue with this balancing breath, feeling both sides and the middle way between the two sides. Accept all that comes within your experience. As you come out of the breath, allow the right hand to fall back down, returning to the natural breath once more.

SCORPIO MERGING WITH WHAT YOU LOVE Merge with your favourite music. Blast your song so loud that you feel that it is permeating through your being. Before you shake and move your body, feeling the music come to you, you might like to set the space and create an intention around your practice. It could be anything such as remembering your breath, letting go or feeling the divine inside of you.

Drop into the body, into the breath and allow the body to move you. Let go into the music, feel your hips and body swaying, rocking, undulating back and forth and circulating around. Allow the process to naturally fl ow, as if you only have to do 50 per cent and the music does the other 50 per cent. Feel the waves of energy rippling up and down the spine, imagining yourself as cosmic unfolding.

SAGITTARIUS MANTRA Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu is a Sanskrit mantra which radiates the vibration of love, radiance and happiness out into the Universe and all beings within it. This mantra is beautiful as a chanting practice, its vibration truthful, peaceful and joyful. Chant this mantra, or call this mantra into your life, in order to call in more trust on your path toward your deepest purpose.

TLisa’s Balcony from creativemarket.com Illustrations:

CAPRICORN GROUNDING MEDITATION Gently come to a relaxed standing position, in a safe place at home or in nature. Close your eyes and begin to feel the quality of your breath. From the crown of your head, slowly scan down the centre of the body and feel into each energy centre — the crown, the third eye, the throat, heart, solar plexus, sacral and root. Continue the scanning down the legs and into the feet. Bring your attention, vibration and energy of the Earth in contact with the soles of your feet. Feel the space between. Now, begin to imagine unbreakable cords of light or roots shooting out from the feet into the Earth. Allow all of your attention to dissolve into this part of you. The roots continue and continue grounding you down into your place here on the Earth. And as you ground, feel a lightening sensation within your body. Trust in the body to let go more and more as your cords reach deeper and deeper into the Earth. Let go as if you are a tree, swaying in the wind.

AQUARIUS WAVES OF HIGHER CONSCIOUSNESS Gently fi nd yourself in a comfortable position, seated or standing. Settle through the breath and the body. Gently inhale through the nose and as you exhale, make a steady ‘shhhhh’ or ‘shooshing’ sound out of the mouth as your body relaxes and folds forward to the Earth. Continue until you have fully emptied the breath. As you inhale, split the inhale into parts as you sip the breath in through your nose and lift, sip and lift, sip and lift — consecutively. As you reach the top, retain the breath and relax the jaw, feeling the waves of higher consciousness permeate through you in this space between. As you release the breath, let it fall out of the mouth. Pause between rounds of this breath to feel your experience and connection to cosmic energy.

PISCES IMAGINATIVE PRACTICE Come into a space that makes you feel at home. Perhaps in a room with soft candlelight where the mind can go to rest and dream. Gently close your eyes and huddle your body in comfort and tenderness. Begin to imagine a place between Heaven and Earth made of pure light consciousness. This is a place with plenty of rainbows, within a realm containing the highest, most purest of energies and consciousnesses. Allow yourself to fl ow free into this realm, create your own reality of cosmic unfolding and feel it electrifying through your body. Allow the gift of your imagination to run wild, in this realm between matter and spirit.