The Great Mother

Unknown Artist. Please comment and credit if you know who created this beautiful work. 

Open with a deep breath. 

In.

Out.

Still yourself. Steady yourself.  

Breathe again. Sigh. Feel the fullness of your lungs and the relief of letting go.

We are about to journey into the depths of the earth beneath us, wherein lies the great mother. 

Feel the planets collective yearning for unconditional love, support, presence, understanding and nurture. We all have it to a greater or lesser degree. 

As you breathe, bring your awareness into the area of your heart. Feel the pulse. The rhythm. Breathe into this. 

Draw the energy of your heart up as you breathe in. Draw it up through your chest, throat, mouth, nose, brain, skull and out the top of your head.  

As as you breathe out, draw the energy of the heart down again in the opposite direction so that it returns through the skull, brain, nose, mouth, throat, chest, via the heart and down into the diaphragm, stomach, belly, intestines, pelvic bowl and out through your base into the space and ground below you. 

Keep repeating this breathing: In, drawing energy up: Out, drawing energy down.

In, breathing the heart energy up. Out, breathing the heart energy down.

In, flow up. Out, flow down.

Feel the ease increase as the channel clears. As the energy of the heart flows up and down through your body and into the space above and below you.

Rnjoy this smooth sensation. Relax into it until it breathes you...

On the next out breath, breathe further down  into the earth. 

With each out breath, breathe deeper and deeper down.

Through the grass, mulch, dirt, earth and rocks, into layers of stone and streams and crystals. Through molten lava and right to the core of it all... Earths core. 

Offer the energy of your heart to the earth as you breathe.  

You are connecting to the Great Mother. To the pulse of the planet. To the heart of it all. 

You are offering your love from your heart to the heart of Mother Earth.  

Acknowledge her. Honour her.  

She is the mother of us all. She gives and gives and asks for nothing.

She teaches us to know ourselves. She teaches us that we are supported no matter what. She teaches us that we to can give and want for nothing as its in the giving that we learn our true unconditionally loving nature.

Offer her your love and acknowledgement in ernest. 

Send her your love. Through your breath and your intention.  

You will feel her receive it. She always does. Allow this to occur in its own natural time.  Witness the shift in feeling occur when this happens. It is validating and teaches you to trust in something larger than yourself.

Now as you draw your breath in again, allow the Great Mother Earth to flow her love back to you. Allow Mother Earth to send you her pulse of love.

Draw it up with your breath into your heart.  

Feel the extent of her love and how much she supports you... Supports all of us and all life. 

Thank her.  

Receieve her thanks to you in return. 

Give yourself some space around this moment to let it sink in. 

Breathe... 

Gently return your attention to simply breathing and gradually draw the energy back into your heart until it feels still once more, though maybe a little fuller and richer in the true sense of the word.

You are loved. 

Rest gently tonight knowing you are wrapped in the arms of the all embracing Great Mother. 

Lovingly,  

Zoe  

Connection

"Each one of us matters, has a role to play​, and makes a difference. Each one of us must take responsibility for our own lives, and above all, show respect and love for all living things around us, especially each other."

Jane Goodall, Reason for Hope: A Spiritual Journey.

Apologies, Artist unknown. Please credit in comments if you know as i'd like to honour them. Thank you. 

There is a purpose to connecting with others beyond that which we may understand. Listening to those impulses can be crucial to igniting love and hope in others hearts.  I hope this excercise awakens dormant connections that like little seeds with some nurturing can allow new relationships and possibilities to unfurl.

Take a moment to think of someone you know who is dear to you who you may not have thought of in a while. Picture them in their essence.  Visualise them in your imagination. 

Now ask yourself why you have chosen this person to reflect on. What characteristics, qualities and feelings are they evoking in you and how might it relate to your life? What is the reflection they offer you? 

Is there a lesson that needs resolving? Is there something you feel to share with them? Joy? Laughter? Understanding? Conversation? Presence?  

Is this a connection that is teaching you something about others or about yourself?

In your imagination, thank them for having touched your life in some way. Good or bad, it was just a moment of energy that is now in the past. 

Now watch their image dissolve into the darkness of your mind and release all feelings associated with them.

Come back to yourself. 

If you feel to and if it's appropriate, contact them when you next can. Connect. 

You never know how you might touch someone's life through simple actions.  

Always with Love  

Zoe

The Quietness

Look out the window. Look up in quiet wonder at the sky.  Be with this quietness.

Simple.

Painting 'You would have been so proud of her' by Shawna Erback.

Two Black Cockatoos

Today as I was doing a mega clean out of the garden shed before hard rubbish day, 2 enormous black cockatoos majestically cruised over head and I stopped to gaze in quiet awe.

In my imagination I instantly saw them as myself and my man. We were gliding in congruence with them. At that moment and afterwards I felt a great freedom, expansion and elation in having witnessed them.

This following meditation is written in honour of the experience from a gratful heart filled with wonder at their magic!

Thank you Black Cockatoos!

Sandy Mc Lean - 'black cockatoo' 

Close your eyes and come and meet me on an iner journey through the skies of your mind...

First start down here on earth. 

You are in your physical 'home'. 

You are surrounded by 'things' down here on the earth level. Picture these 'things' that surround you. Old clothes, kitchen appliances, furniture, books, a broken lamp, a suitcase without a wheel! What 'things' surround you? Some of them may be useful and some may have outlived their use.

See these 'things' as extensions of yourself and the energy you put out into the world. Is it harmonious? Is it uplifting? Or is it confusing or chaotic?

Feel what surrounds you and decide now if it truly is an expression of 'you'. 

Now I offer you to rise. 

Glenn Brady - 'black cockatoos'

Rise up. 

Out of your 'things' and your surroundings. See your home and space getting smaller as you drift higher and higher above it into the sky! 

Feel the sense of freedom! Feel the liberation of letting go! You never were any of those things! You are a free being! "You can't take it with you" as 'they' say (and 'they' seem to be right)!

Now feel how it is to soar... To glide in a clear blue sky that washes over you with the sun which is close and warm. 

You are free. 

Elspeth McLean - 'red tailed black cockatoo dream catcher' 

You celebrate experiences! 

Your true 'home' is the sky and what lies beyond it! In fact you are always 'home'  regardless of your surroundings.

How does is feel to be untethered and free of earthly 'things'?  

How does it feel to be free? 

Enjoy your discoveries! 

You have a wild part in you that is always this way and always will be.  

We are all free! 

Let yourself soar in this freedom for as long as you like...

When you are ready to return, picture yourself gently landing on some grass.

Feel your toes spread as they bury themselves in the soft grass and your whole body is supported by the earth once more.

You may choose to view your surroundings differently and perhaps take action to revise them accordingly. When the time is right and if it suits you. Or you may just enjoy this moment.

You are back, only now you know you can 'rise above it all' whenever you want. 

Good night. May you dream vividly.

Listen

Beautiful artwork by the incredible Stephen Mackey  

There is a gentleness and a receptivity available if we choose it. We needn't be on the front foot all the time.  Sometimes it is preferable to stop, take a breath and just listen.

Allow yourself to do this now.

I can hear my own breath, the steady breath of our baby sleeping nearby, my jacket rustling, a cockatoo outside and a hum from the fridge. Oh and a ticking clock too. 

What can you hear? 

Pick each sound out and as you do let yourself relax into it. Fully accept where you are. 

Now let's go deeper... 

Listen for the wordless, soundless silence that is present within and through us. The energy beyond the physical sense reality. 

Let yourself dissolve into the abyss... Beyond presence and into pure experience.  

For me the sound here is colour. It's clear and blue and light filled. The feeling I get is a fizzy tingling and sense of freedom.  Then there is the indescribable... 

What do you experience? How do you feel? Just be with this...  whatever it is for you. Experience... 

Even for a second. 

Just be.

Now gently come back through the layers.  Once again become aware of the sounds from and around you.

Now you are fully present again only you still hold an inner frequency shift.

May you go about the rest of your day with lightness. 

Present Time

Celestial Exploring by Kagaya  

Settle yourself with a couple of deep breaths.

Imagine your mind has tenticles reaching out of it into the future and into the past. Some of these tenticles are connected to people, some to situations and some to imagined fantasties and fears.  

Regardless of positive or negative charge, what these tenticles are attached to are dilutions of your thoughts and energy. They have nothing to do with present time or your current surroundings.  It is freeing to remember this.

Relax.  

Now imagine these tenticles releasing their attachments and gradually drawing back towards you. Back into this moment. This present time. 

Without the attachments, the tenticles just become energy. Pure potential.  

As the tenticles of energy come back in to your being you feel how much more enlivening it is to have your thoughts closer to your immediate surroundings. 

Colours might be brighter and your feelings might be steadier.  

Notice your breathing, your surroundings, your immediate environment. Enjoy being wherever you are and whomever you're with. 

It is calming to know that all of you exists in this moment. 

You are now in present time. 

Feel how freeing this is. 

Enjoy this sensation.

Have a beautiful day. 

Tenderness

Gustav Klimt 'mother and child' .

Close your eyes.

Allow yourself to be held by imaginary arms. 

They might be the arms of your mother, the way she held you when you were small.  Or the arms of a lover, as they held you close to their heart. Or the arms of mother urth, the way she envelopes you in her waters and her sands.  Or the arms of the air as it drifts by your bare skin on a windy day.  Or the arms of a child as it reaches out to you to be nearer. Or the arms of you father as he carried you while you slept.  Or the arms of your friend as you remember stories from adventures you shared. 

Find the arms that call you and let them hold you.  Envelope you.  Nurture you. 

In these arms is all the care and acknowledgement you yearn to receive.  A recognition of your being-ness not of your achievements, just of you.

Feel these arms.  Surrender yourself to their embrace.

Feel their tenderness.

Know you are loved. For you are.

Come back from this feeling with a few deep breaths in and out to stabilise yourself.

Rest gently tonight.

we are all made of stars

"We are a way for the universe to know itself. Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can, because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star stuff," Carl Sagan, COSMOS 

A meditation.

Tonight before you settle yourself for sleep find a star in the sky. Go outside or look for it through a window. See it.

Then, as you arrange yourself comfortably in your bed, cup one hand over your heart and think of the star. See it. In you. In your heart. 

You are the same. You are made of the same matter that makes up everything in the universe. Feel the magnificence of this. The simplicity of what we all are.  Allow this notion to fill you with wonder, for it is wonderful, as are you.

Sleep softly amongst the stars. Goodnight xo

Artwork - The Universe Within by Nathan Jalani Taylor 

the heart

How often do we consider an organ in our body as anything other than functional?  When was the last time you acknowledged or thought of your heart?  In a functional capacity we all know it as a pump for blood around our body.  Emotionally though we have all felt heartache or warm glowing joy from that region. Today I offer you a quick little process that only takes a minute to actually feel our hearts rather than scientifically interpret them.  

An exercise if you are feeling adventurous.

Like most exercises i offer this process can take as short or as long as you like.  Be kind to yourself and do whatever your life, time and energy allows for.  

I feel like many people don't actually meditate even for a second because they believe it has to take time and needs to be done in a space conducive to it.  I offer you another viewpoint, that mediation integrates with our day to day activity so it becomes fluid throughout our life.  It can happen in a moment, any time anywhere.  

Read this through then close your eyes and follow the steps you remember.  There is no correct way here, just a practice of 'tuning in' and connecting with yours inner being.

close your eyes

take three breaths through your nose. in. out. in. out. 

place your hand on your chest over your heart area

feel the beat

think of a flower

feel if it changes the feeling in the space of your heart

observe this change if there is one

acknowledge your heart for the wonderful work it does for your body - even as you sleep it is always doing its humble, constant work

thank your heart

be with this moment

thank yourself for taking this moment

open your eyes 

Enjoy this beautiful rainy evening if you are in Melbourne like me.  Enjoy whatever you're experiencing wherever you are in the world and remember, if you're not enjoying anything, "this too shall pass"...

blessings 

Zoë

I don't know where this image is from but i'd like to thank whoever created it.  Please tell me if any of you know the source so I can acknowledge it.  It speaks straight to the heart.  My friend Danielle sent it to me as I was going into the hospital to give birth to our baby.  The next photo on my phone after it is of our baby girl.  The biggest heart expansion i've ever felt.

the garden

Follow me down the Garden Path where the fairies live and life is magical...

As a new mum to our darling baby girl Velvet and passionate partner to my magnificent man the d-man (Damon Gameau), I understand that life requires some gentle care or 'gardening' as i like to call it.  We need to pull out the weeds and remind ourselves to stop and smell the Jasmine on summer nights.  Occasionally we need to plant seeds that later need to be harvested when the time is right. 

Where we live, we are surrounded by nature.  Ferny lush greens and massive eucalypts. There are waterfall walks nearby and we get fresh spring water to drink from a family business down the road.  

Our own garden is like fairy land.  It is green all year round and full of flowers in every season. Right now the daisies are in bloom and the lilacs are starting to throw their scent around as well.  The rosehips are budding on the bush but they are still green and yellow.  In the coming months they will turn orange then red then deep magenta at which point I will collect them to make jam or just nibble at them straight off the bush.

We are lucky up here.  Being constantly surrounded by nature reminds us that we too are natural creatures.  We, like the earth, have seasons.  If we are aware we can learn to reflect on these cycles in our own lives and become harmonious beings in touch with our surroundings but not ruled by them.

To me this makes maintaining our inner "garden" easier.  We can notice the seasonal shifts within ourselves and know that they will pass as does everything in this life.  The key is to not get to attached to any one state of being.  Yes it is winter now but spring is coming and so forth.  If you're a gardener you'll know that within the dormancy of the winter soil lies the potential for a full blown harvest of flowers come spring time. 

The message of nature can be even simpler than this.  Just in it's presence there is a majesty and effortlessness that allows us to feel our own majesty and effortlessness should we just give ourselves a brief enough moment to do so.

Here is a wee exercise if you choose to try it.

Wherever you are look up from your i-whatever and find the nearest natural object.  It might be a plant or rock paperwight on your office desk.  A fallen leaf at the foot of the bench your sitting on.  A beautiful green tree outside your window.  Sand beneath your beach towel. Snow on the footpath.  

Whatever it is stop and just observe it.  Like a baby would.  Openly.  As of you are seeing it for the first time.  

Now allow yourself to feel into it.  What quality does it have?  If you were to describe its 'personality' what would you say about it? 

Right now on my laptop I have a crystal.  It's blue.  Pale, pale blue.  Very sparkley from lots of little points but it looks soft.  It feels gentle, calm and steady.  

So what do you see and feel? Take a moment.  It can be brief. 

Now close your eyes and holding that image you've been gazing at, allow it to be absorbed gently into your body in the space where your heart is... give permission for it's qualities to be absorbed into your own being.

Enjoy this moment.

Now resume whatever it is you were doing, trusting that this subtle change you just felt can stay with you.

For those of you who have never meditated or believe you can't guess what... this 'exercise' we just did was a 'meditation'.

Meditation can be simple.  It needn't be hours on end sitting in a cave in tibet (though it can be this also sometimes and that's fine too).  Meditation ideally is life.  Or moments in life that become more frequent until there is so little space between them that they become more of us than the other stuff.  More on this to come in a post down the track i'm sure... stay tuned.  

Ooodles of love your way in the meantime and thanks for reading my first ever post!

Zoë