Posted by Tension, especially tension that has built up over a long time, doesn’t necessarily disappear when the external cause of the fear that tightened us up is removed. It can become habitual. So this week in class my guided meditation was focused on releasing the accumulated and recently exacerbated tension so many of us have been experiencing.
To release tension, we don’t make an enemy of it. It is futile to try to get rid of it or push it away. Instead, let’s remember that most of the human body is water so we can access the water element in meditation. We can imagine draining tension from the body, letting it flow down and out with each exhalation of the breath. Without any effort on our part, tension flows down and away. You might follow it from your scalp to the soles of your feet, letting it go, like a river to the sea. Do this for as long as you need to feel a deep release. Then do it whenever you feel that habituated tension present again, wherever you are, even if you only have a few seconds. (Read more on water meditation.)
Celebration
After meditation in our Zoom class, we shared favorite moments of the inauguration and celebration, the ones that brought us to tears, the ones that let our hearts sing. So many!!! If you watched, what were yours? If you didn’t, check some of them out on YouTube and be uplifted by the celebration of all Americans who have helped to make a difficult eleven months easier and safer for us all. In class many of us found this Bon Jovi performance particularly joyful.
Setting Intention
We were inspired to set personal intentions for how we each would participate in co-creating a world where every voice is heard, where all feel safe, and the earth has a chance to recover and come back into balance that supports all life. If that inspires you, take a moment to set, or reset, your intention that makes use of your skills to address your areas of concern.
Back into the fray
Having released tension, enjoyed a sense of interconnection, and set intentions for our own engagement going forward, let us not be disheartened, or let tension be reactivated, by partisanship in our government. Seeing the fear that drives them, we can send metta, infinite lovingkindness, to all those elected, that they may pause, release tension, access inner wisdom and compassion, and then respond wisely to the important matters before them.
And may we do the same.
Image: Creek Study, a watercolor by Will Noble
STEPHANIE NOBLE 