Water Tradition
When I close my eyes and think of water a montage of images pops into my head. The autumnal calm of a lake with mist and loons calling. The babbling brook, perfect for building rock bridges and dams. The river teeming with life. The ocean powerful and playful.
I find myself over and over again drawn to the banks of water. In times of anger, joy, and sadness I have sought out this elemental being. Celebrating or grieving with it. I feel a particular kinship to water knowing that it helps to balance my fiery nature. I often use it as a meditative tool using the imagery to wash away my pains both physical and emotional. Afterwards I am left with a feeling of being cleansed and refreshed.
When I sit and meditate on water and its role in my life I begin to think about our house. We bought it knowing it had a mold issue and a leaky roof. My husband looked at the damage and assessed that it had been a slow leak, one drip at a time, for up to 40 years. When we went to fix the roof that was the assumed problem, we found that actually what had happened was the water had been running along the roof, and had actually worn a hole in the house over time (this was due to improper installation of the roof to begin with). Over years and years the water wore down the house until it had worn its way through, drip by drip, until the whole wall itself was in need of repair.
Water is tenacious. It will continue moving in its given direction changing a landscape over time. In nature this can be the Grand Canyon, in a home it is like the scenario described above. It will show you all your weak spots. The areas that need to be addressed. The things that if you don’t deal with them now are going to cause you so much time and effort to deal with in the future. It’s hard to ignore a leaky roof, so the question is what are the leaks in your rhetorical roof?
For me it’s my temper and anxiety. When I start to get angry or anxious I begin to imagine a leaky roof. This passing moment is the drops falling from my ceiling. The thing that if I do not address will cascade into a much larger issue. So I take the time to make some deep breaths or shift my perspective patching my trouble issue. I also do the longer term work of being in therapy and having a regular meditation and yoga practice. I don’t just teach this stuff, I live it.
Today it the day to start you Mindful Tradition with water. Begin to examine the areas in your life that need to be worked on. Deal with these things now before irreparable damage is done. If this is something you want support with then reach out today and set up your free 15 minute connection call to get started on finding your own Mindful Tradition.
Water Meditation
1) Find a comfortable seated position, lift tall through the crown of the head, melt the shoulders down the back body, and let the hands come to rest comfortably on the thighs.
2) Begin to take deep mindful breaths both in and out of the nose. Elongating the exhale until it is twice as long as the inhale.
3)Imagine yourself standing outside in the rain. Allow your body to be covered by this warm refreshing rain. The rain is now melting away any physical, emotional, or spiritual stresses. Allowing yourself to be completely cleansed by the gift of this rain.
4) In place of everything that has been washed away you are now filled with flexibility, kindness, spaciousness and fluidity. These are the attributes of water. These are parts of your being at all times, because you are made of water.
5) Stay here as long as you need to meditating on these qualities until you feel in your very being that you are these things. When you are done you may rise up on continue on your day in an empowered and fluid way.
