Part Four: Selective Watering Process | Guided Meditation with Peggy Rowe-Ward

Good day to you wherever you are.

Please join me in a short meditation,
practicing with our inner community.

So as ever we begin with grounding.

Ground right where you are.

Inviting your body to be
relaxed, and stable and solid.

And if you need more help with solidity
just imagine your favorite mountain,

in front of you.

Recognizing the mountain
in the first breath,

and then now being the mountain,
feeling the mountain that is you.

Good, and then putting your roots down.

Our teacher always invited us
to have as many roots as possible,

so we have land ancestor roots,

we have spiritual roots,
we have cultural roots,

and his encouragement
is to keep all of our roots,

to not chop any of them off.

So as I sit with my roots today,
I'm on Cherokee land,

I have a deep connection with Jesus and Mary
with my spiritual roots, early ones,

and then later in life this big beautiful root
with Buddhism and Thích Nhất Hạnh in particular.

Just putting down your roots,
beautiful roots.

Whole body, right here.

Front, back, sides,
overhead, underneath the body.

Asking yourself, am I safe?

It's OK to softly open your eyes

and move your neck very slowly
to look around real slow.

Safe to the left, to the right,
above, below, behind me.

Cast a circle
like you are in a place of safety.

Thầy used that language
in, uh, Vietnamese and for meditation.

Just a circle, around you,
of safety and beauty.

Tuning in on your heart today,

and the intention for practice,
which is great motivation.

My intention is to be in harmony
with my inner and outer communities.

Yours might be very different.

Listen, listen, listen.

So, once again we're going to
move to our island of self,

or our safe place in nature,
however you want to refer to it.

Traveling there,

and you might take the curious inner path
that we identified our first meditation.

Perhaps you might take a spiritual—
spirit animal, to get there

but walking on a path,
flying, just landing, boom,

into a beautiful and safe place
in the natural world.

I find this very important
for my practice.

This is the world we live in.

So land there in your
safe and beautiful place in nature,

feeling your feet on the ground.

Aware of what's beneath your feet.

In this moment,

we had a heavy rain last night,
so the earth is very moist under my feet.

What do you notice?

What do you notice in terms of
any sensations of the air, sun, or sky?

Whatever vegetation is there
or isn't there, just notice.

So today we're going to
invite a small council for this day.

And you can decide if you want to
imagine you're at a round table

or if you're all seated on the ground,

but to welcome inner community
for a circle of wisdom on this day.

Welcoming land, spirit or blood ancestors
to come forward on this day.

And some of us see things
really clearly with our inner vision

and some of us know things,

some of us sense things,

some of us feel things,

so just tune in to
your own beautiful way of knowing.

Tuning in to
whoever has come forward today.

This day for me, again, it's Thích Nhất Hạnh
who generally comes forward for me.

Thank you Thầy.

My grandmother...

Today I'm aware of
my mom, my grandmother, Thầy.

And noticing what you notice,
even as they're coming forward,

as you're sensing them,
what do you notice with your body?

I notice that I'm leaning forward
a little in this moment,

and my heart area's
a little more expanded,

and I feel a little brighter in my mind.

What do you notice?

I'm noticing
some moisture in my eyes,

rather touched and grateful,

for this deep friendship
that lives inside of me.

This deep wisdom.

This is kind of a
get acquainted meeting

so however you'd like to
greet whoever is there,

however you'd like to
express your gratitude...

And maybe it's wordless,
maybe there's words...

And stay open as you explore
how to communicate this wisdom circle.

And just for a few more moments

just see if you can soak in and savor
whatever has happened

that is good and true
and beautiful for you.

Seeing if you can notice
this community member as they come forward.

Example in my life, my grandmother, I— I—
I often smell her perfume that she wore.

With Thầy I often recall the sandalwood incense
that I know from our monasteries.

Noticing what you notice.

With Thầy what I most notice is the smile.

And before we send them off

just seeing if there's anything else
you could say to express your gratitude.

What I heard from my crew in this moment
is to ask for more help,

that I'm loved and cherished
and they're ready to help more.

So, thanking them,
bow, smile, hug, however you choose.

They can leave,

and you leaving
your safe place in nature, your island,

and coming back to your meditation place.

Hand on the heart, hand on the belly,
anchoring in anything good for you,

any— good isn't the word good,
it's about the energy of goodness,

it's a stream, it's always flowing.

Our feet are always
in the river of goodness.

Coming back.

Staying open to exploration.

And some of you
might want to sketch or draw.

And just really receive with love
whatever you heard that was beneficial.

And thank you for practicing
and please enjoy the bell,

coming back to your day refreshed.

(Bell sounds.)