{"id":6957,"date":"2012-08-01T01:10:05","date_gmt":"2012-08-01T06:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=7164"},"modified":"2012-07-25T17:42:48","modified_gmt":"2012-07-25T22:42:48","slug":"meditation-moment-20","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2012\/08\/01\/meditation-moment-20\/","title":{"rendered":"Meditation Moment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Letting Go<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Lammas, also called Lughnassa, is the celebration of our first harvest and of the slowly lengthening nights.\u00a0 Grain and Corn Gods die in order to feed Their people.\u00a0 Some tarot decks assign Lammas to The Hanged Man, the card of sacrifice and gain.\u00a0 One of my favorite decks shows the Hanged Man as an infant in the womb, ready for birth, and that card is the inspiration for this month\u2019s meditation.<\/p>\n<p>This is a more advanced guided meditation, requiring an ability to let go of the limitations of time and space so that you can exist in two or more times\/places at once.\u00a0 You are going to form an affirmation on the spot that is unique to your life and needs at the end of this meditation.\u00a0 The affirmation should be positive (I am, I have, I do,) and concise.\u00a0 For example, \u201cI am grateful,\u201d \u201cI have a happy home,\u201d or \u201cI calm myself with music.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Before performing this meditation, ready your environment by turning off your cell phone, any alarm clocks, and putting a do not disturb sign outside your door.\u00a0 The temperature should be warm, lighting should be dim, and you might consider piling a bunch of pillows and blankets in the floor that you can sit on at first and recline on later if you wish.\u00a0 Dress for comfort.<\/p>\n<p>Stretch your entire body, paying special attention to areas where you hold tension, such as your neck and shoulders, and relax.\u00a0 Close your eyes and breath slowly and deeply, rocking yourself rhythmically as if you are standing in a warm sea, moved by gentle waves on a hot summer day.<\/p>\n<p>Imagine, or remember, yourself as a baby in your mother\u2019s womb.\u00a0 You are perfectly warm and snug, seeing your tiny world in shades of black, brown, and red.\u00a0 Air, food, and water come in through your navel.\u00a0 As your mother moves, you rock back and forth, lulled to relaxation and sleep.\u00a0 Every so often, the world contracts, hugging you firmly yet gently.\u00a0 The steady rhythm of your mother\u2019s heartbeat soothes you and marks the time.\u00a0 Other sounds make music for you, sounds that have no meaning to you yet.\u00a0 You are curious about them.\u00a0 You are curious about the occasional pressure and bumps that you feel when something in your mother\u2019s world reaches out for yours.\u00a0 You are comfortable where you are, but you also feel a primal urge to explore, to experience, and the day you start that journey approaches rapidly.<\/p>\n<p>The world you exist in as an adult is bigger, but still tiny, a cell in Mother Earth, an atomic particle in the immense universe.\u00a0 Adult you sees more colors, though at times the world seems black and white, or composed of infinite shades of gray.\u00a0 Explore the way you live in the present.\u00a0 When you breathe, do you take air all the way to your navel?\u00a0 When you eat, does your food nourish you, or does it make you ill?\u00a0 Do you drink enough to saturate your cells with cleansing, healing water, or do you drink too many toxins and empty calories?\u00a0 What habits have you formed to comfort yourself in this bigger, brighter, louder world?\u00a0 What adventures call you, what experiences have you not yet allowed yourself to explore?<\/p>\n<p>In order to make room for more good in your life, you must let go of the things that no longer nourish you.\u00a0 Perhaps the habit you need to change in obvious, like a need to quit smoking or a need to drink water instead of soda.\u00a0 Perhaps the habit to change is the way you talk to yourself, or in the thoughts on which you tend to dwell.\u00a0 Ask yourself now, \u201cWhat is the one habit I can change to make the biggest positive impact in my life?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rock yourself, hug yourself, keep yourself as comfortable as you can as you choose the habit you wish to release.\u00a0 After you have chosen, ask yourself, \u201cWhat habit would I like to develop in the old one\u2019s place?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Imagine yourself performing this new habit in a variety of times and places.\u00a0 Let it feel natural and comfortable to you.\u00a0 Create an affirmation for yourself that claims this habit is yours now and from now on.\u00a0 Then drift back into the memory of yourself in the womb, perfect and ready to expand your world.<\/p>\n<p>Feel full-body hugs massaging you in preparation for your release, encouraging you as you give yourself permission to let go.\u00a0 As you breathe in, repeat your affirmation.\u00a0 As you breathe out, give yourself permission to let go of the habit you are ready to release.\u00a0 With every breath, you move closer to your rebirth.\u00a0 Breathe in your affirmation, hug yourself, breath out your permission to let go, until you feel ready to open your eyes.\u00a0 Bring yourself back to the present by stating your affirmation aloud, firmly, three times.\u00a0 Repeat your affirmation many times a day until it is obviously true.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Letting Go &nbsp; Lammas, also called Lughnassa, is the celebration of our first harvest and of the slowly lengthening nights.\u00a0 Grain and Corn Gods die in order to feed Their people.\u00a0 Some tarot decks assign Lammas to The Hanged Man, the card of sacrifice and gain.\u00a0 One of my favorite decks shows the Hanged Man as an infant in the womb, ready for birth, and that card is the inspiration for this month\u2019s meditation. This is a more advanced guided meditation, requiring an ability to let go of the limitations of time and space so that you can exist in two or more times\/places at once.\u00a0 You are going to form an affirmation on the spot that is unique to your life and needs at the end of this meditation.\u00a0 The affirmation should be positive (I am, I have, I do,) and concise.\u00a0 For example, \u201cI am grateful,\u201d \u201cI have a happy home,\u201d or \u201cI calm myself with music.\u201d Before performing this meditation, ready your environment by turning off your cell phone, any alarm clocks, and putting a do not disturb sign outside your door.\u00a0 The temperature should be warm, lighting should be dim, and you might consider piling a bunch of pillows and blankets in the floor that you can sit on at first and recline on later if you wish.\u00a0 Dress for comfort. Stretch your entire body, paying special attention to areas where you hold tension, such as your neck and shoulders, and relax.\u00a0 Close your eyes and breath slowly and deeply, rocking yourself rhythmically as if you are standing in a warm sea, moved by gentle waves on a hot summer day. Imagine, or remember, yourself as a baby in your mother\u2019s womb.\u00a0 You are perfectly warm and snug, seeing your tiny world in shades of black, brown, and red.\u00a0 Air, food, and water come in through your navel.\u00a0 As your mother moves, you rock back and forth, lulled to relaxation and sleep.\u00a0 Every so often, the world contracts, hugging you firmly yet gently.\u00a0 The steady rhythm of your mother\u2019s heartbeat soothes you and marks the time.\u00a0 Other sounds make music for you, sounds that have no meaning to you yet.\u00a0 You are curious about them.\u00a0 You are curious about the occasional pressure and bumps that you feel when something in your mother\u2019s world reaches out for yours.\u00a0 You are comfortable where you are, but you also feel a primal urge to explore, to experience, and the day you start that journey approaches rapidly. The world you exist in as an adult is bigger, but still tiny, a cell in Mother Earth, an atomic particle in the immense universe.\u00a0 Adult you sees more colors, though at times the world seems black and white, or composed of infinite shades of gray.\u00a0 Explore the way you live in the present.\u00a0 When you breathe, do you take air all the way to your navel?\u00a0 When you eat, does your food nourish you, or does it make you ill?\u00a0 Do you drink enough to saturate your cells with cleansing, healing water, or do you drink too many toxins and empty calories?\u00a0 What habits have you formed to comfort yourself in this bigger, brighter, louder world?\u00a0 What adventures call you, what experiences have you not yet allowed yourself to explore? In order to make room for more good in your life, you must let go of the things that no longer nourish you.\u00a0 Perhaps the habit you need to change in obvious, like a need to quit smoking or a need to drink water instead of soda.\u00a0 Perhaps the habit to change is the way you talk to yourself, or in the thoughts on which you tend to dwell.\u00a0 Ask yourself now, \u201cWhat is the one habit I can change to make the biggest positive impact in my life?\u201d Rock yourself, hug yourself, keep yourself as comfortable as you can as you choose the habit you wish to release.\u00a0 After you have chosen, ask yourself, \u201cWhat habit would I like to develop in the old one\u2019s place?\u201d Imagine yourself performing this new habit in a variety of times and places.\u00a0 Let it feel natural and comfortable to you.\u00a0 Create an affirmation for yourself that claims this habit is yours now and from now on.\u00a0 Then drift back into the memory of yourself in the womb, perfect and ready to expand your world. Feel full-body hugs massaging you in preparation for your release, encouraging you as you give yourself permission to let go.\u00a0 As you breathe in, repeat your affirmation.\u00a0 As you breathe out, give yourself permission to let go of the habit you are ready to release.\u00a0 With every breath, you move closer to your rebirth.\u00a0 Breathe in your affirmation, hug yourself, breath out your permission to let go, until you feel ready to open your eyes.\u00a0 Bring yourself back to the present by stating your affirmation aloud, firmly, three times.\u00a0 Repeat your affirmation many times a day until it is obviously true.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6957","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6957"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6957\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6759,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6957\/revisions\/6759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6957"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6957"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6957"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}