Sunny Day
It is a beautiful day here in the northern hemisphere where I reside and the Universe beckoned to me, to have a chat outside. I have a lot of work to do today. I have procrastinated all week and now fear has crept in. The restless and sinking feeling that I won’t be able to accomplish everything I intended to accomplish, as if that is truly what I’m being graded on. I know deep down that this is a self-imposed grading system on productivity. This is not living from my true self. This is my shadow. She better buckle up, I am removing her power over me today by forcing her into the light because I listen when the Universe calls now (until I don’t and I then I suffer the consequences).
Of Shadow and Truth
Our true selves are often hidden away by a fierce protector, a true warrior, our shadow self. Our shadow often forces us into hiding after trauma or invalidation. While our shadow self is not an enemy, the shadow self most certainly loves to be in control. It is the thing that puts our lives on autopilot, instead of in the moment, as an attempt to keep the true self safe from further harm.
Acknowledging those places and moments of powerlessness and invalidation allows us to map out a path to growing our magic and our wholeness…
Our true selves yearn to come out to play, to create, and to live a life we love. A life we manifest through learning to call our power back to us, create our sacred spaces and rituals, and lean in to our unique journeys. Our true self calls forward a life where we begin to remember and rekindle the spark handed to us by the Goddess. We must claim it to ignite from a place of truth.
Grounding, Centering, & Balancing Technique
From experience and trust in myself, I know I need to speak to the Sun and the Universe today. Working with the Goddess and different energies are a significant part of my craft. Grounding, centering, and balancing my own internal energies allows my true self to shine through and renders my shadow powerless over my thoughts, feelings, and actions.
There are many ways to do this, but today, harnessing the energy of the sun sparked the creativity that brought this article to you today. I want to teach you how to utilize guided imagery and meditation to stand in your own power, the power of the true self, by releasing into the earth and then harnessing the power of the Sun.
It starts with the breath, as that is what brings me to the present.
Breathing happens in real time.
It happens at ‘now’.
I inhale slowly, feeling the coolness of the air making its way into my nostrils and filling my lungs. I feel the expansion of my rib cage and I briefly hold the breath. I release it slowly through my mouth, feeling the exhale pass over my lips before I start the inhale again. I begin to count, count to 4 for the inhale and count to 4 for the exhale.
I am present.
I am calm.
I am aware.
In my mind’s eye, I envision growing roots from the bottoms of my feet. They grow quickly, down. Down, down, down. To the core of the Earth. These beautiful roots through which I will release the fear and the self-imposed perfectionism that are preventing me from being fully present in my life today while I simultaneously draw in love and gentleness for myself. I picture pushing down the fear into the Earth on the exhale, the Earth willingly accepting the fear as it can be reborn into something wonderful. On the inhale, I picture love and gentleness being pulled up into the roots, through the soles of my feet, up my calves, thighs, pelvis, belly, and to my heart, where the energy swirls.
I begin to focus on the energy of the sun, the heat, raining down over the crown of my head, my crown opening to allowing it to be drawn down into my third eye. It swirls there for a moment, igniting the spark of self-love and acceptance before it swirls to my throat and brings the feeling of peace to my ability to speak my truth, and travels down further to my heart. It begins to swirl there and mix with the love and gentleness from the Earth below. I stay here for a moment, allowing the energies to combine, continuously breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth.
Feeling grounded, centered, and balanced…
I release the energy of the sun by allowing it to make its way back up through my crown and I release the energy of the earth by allowing it to move back down through my roots and drawing my roots back in. I wiggle my fingers and toes to bring me back into every day consciousness and silently give thanks to the Sun, Earth, and the Universe for showing up in my life, so I too can show up and do what I need to do today without fear and my shadow preventing me from moving forward. She has been ever the fighter, my shadow and fierce protector, but today she can relax.
This meditation can be used daily as needed to release what no longer serves us and call in what is needed in order to be whole. By drawing down upper world sources of energy and pulling up lower world sources of energy, we are able to better balance everything out. This practice can be very difficult at first so please be kind to yourself as you begin to work with the energies of the Universe.
This is the beginning of an awareness ~ it takes practice.
A candle and a key,
Stormie
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Feature Image Credit: Noelle Otto via Pexels