Instinctive Meditation® is a form of meditation that invites you to approach life and your meditation practice with curiosity, awe and wonder.
You can create a practice that is unique to your own personal style. It can be different every time, and anything from deeply listening to music, spending time in Nature, doing something you love to do, or giving yourself permission to rest. I would be honoured to walk with you on your journey as your meditation guide.
The music is an excerpt from my latest composition “Space”.
Text in video reads: Approach something new with curiosity. Even the most subtle thing can be an invitation. Explore without expectation. Make it an adventure. Allow the journey to be the journey, in both your inner and outer worlds. Curiosity, awe, and wonder are super powers.
Image shows handwritten words on lined notebook paper: Art as revelation of self. Breath as an art material, Breath cycles as life & death. Visual mantra practice.
As so often happens, I was looking for something completely different when I came across an old notebook. I think it was from an expressive arts conference I’d attended years ago.
I turned the page and this phrase was glowing off the page : Breath as an art material. Everything stopped as those words carried me away on a mind journey.
The way breath gives voice to poetry and stories. The collective inhale of a concert band before playing the first note. Blowing on a dandelion and sending off little white skirts as gifts to sky faeries. Shaping molten glass, or inflating two slabs of clay into a pillow. A deep grounding inhale and exhale before stepping onto stage and dancing. The play of rhythm between lovers.
How breath informs our senses. The sense of smell in cooking. More subtly reaching our instincts, sniffing out adventure, or danger, or a potential mate. Communicating emotions when words don’t suffice.
I began to wonder about using breath in other ways in art, such as using a straw to blow watered down paint on a surface.
What would it be like to receive a breath, and use the energy of releasing it through a paintbrush, in movement, or in whatever other way one might imagine? How does how you vary your breath affect the quality of lines, colours, textures, or gestures? What would the flow of creative practice be like while intentionally incorporating breath as one of the art materials?
I invite you to set some time for your favourite creative practice, and intentionally incorporate breath into your process. I’d love to hear what your experience is!
Image shows dappled sunlight on a grey stone wall with sharp green lichen (or moss)
The most simple thing can be a doorway into meditation. On my walk this morning, I was captivated by the unexpected green for this time of year , and the way the light was landing on this stone wall. I took the time to receive this beauty, and felt myself going into the beautiful relaxed awareness of meditation.
Your meditation can be as unique as you are, and may be different every time. Being open to allowing the experience to unfold, you begin to see doorways everywhere, and develop a deeper connection and appreciation for all that is around and within you.
This is the way of Instinctive Meditation®- meditation for modern humans.
Image shows a rippling sunlit pool of water surrounded by rocks and ferns.
I started as expected. The Way it is done. Eyes closed. Hands folded just so. Then I felt my bones pressing into the stone seat. A blade of grass Tickled my foot.
My eyes opened. I watched bees gather at the waters edge to share a drink and talk of sweetest flowers.
Two butterflies dared each other on invisible currents.
Bird landed, flitted and chirped.
A rock leaned over to talk to a tree.
Tree curve echoed the curve of the creek.
And I knew.
It is every bit as much a prayer, being part of things as they unfold, As to sit. As expected. The Way it is done. Eyes closed. Hands folded just so.
The other day I was talking with a friend, and they mentioned another friend who was holding on to ways of being that were no longer serving them and weighing them down. I gently told my friend that some of what they were dealing with was beyond the scope of friendship (i.e. a good time to bring in a mental health professional), and at times the best we can do is be a witness to someone else’s journey. And then I said:
“It’s like they have a bunch of rocks in their pocket! It’s like they’ve collected all these rocks of experience and habits over the years, put them in their pocket, and won’t get rid of them.”
We went on to talk about how sometimes it’s so challenging to release habits and ways of thinking that really aren’t doing us any good. Rocks in a pocket is a good analogy. Some are pretty and nice to take out to look at now and then, some get annoying and poke us, and others bunch together and take up space we could use for something else, weighing us down and slowing our journey.
I suggested it could be an interesting exercise to go out on a walk, collect rocks, or find some near a lakeshore or creek edge. Hold each rock, name what it represents, say what you’re making room for, and send the rock sailing into the water (being mindful of any nearby living things). Water is so purifying, and it would be satisfying to watch the ripples as the water settled back into calm.
My friend said it could be cool to do it on a hike and throw rocks into a canyon, to which I replied… you’d want to be sure no one was down below so you don’t bonk someone on the head with your troubles (i.e. transfer your burdens on to someone else).
If you’re not able to get somewhere to empty your pocket of rocks, I suppose you could write things on paper and burn them (be safe!), or as an acquaintance did years ago, put on some goggles and smash garage sale dishes in your basement, naming what each item represented. That person ended up making mosaics with all the broken bits! Some cities have rage rooms, where for a fee you can go smash stuff.
But there’s nothing quite so satisfying as flinging a rock with all your might, and watching it disappear into the water.
craftingthespirit.com 