856th Week: Returning to Steadiness

ByNancy Napier

For quite a long while now, I have invited myself and others to find the fundamental and ever-present steadiness that is an inherent part of our core presence. Within this living presence of centered and grounded awareness, there is always a steadiness that is undisturbed by anything that may be happening in our lives. It’s a practice I’ve cultivated and returned to again and again, and the habit of orienting to the steadiness that cannot be disturbed has proven to be a powerful and useful resource.

One example of the benefits of settling into the underlying steadiness we all carry at the core of our being is a mundane one, but one that has had particular importance to me. As the child in my family who felt responsible for caring for my mother’s happiness (definitely a child’s perspective!), I developed an underlying anxiety around caregiving. Needless to say, this anxiety was readily present over the years whenever animal members of my family needed medication or some other challenging treatment. Inevitably, I would be anxious—anything but calm—and that never helped. What I discovered in recent weeks, when three feline members of my household had medical issues come up, is that my practice of orienting to my internal steadiness has offered an opportunity to meet these medical needs with a calm presence that I didn’t know was possible. 

For this week’s practice in conscious living, I invite you to explore the following practice to see what it might offer to you. 

  • Begin by finding a place where you can sit down and feel supported and comfortable. If that’s not possible for you, find support for your body in whatever way is available to you.
  • Gently follow your next out-breath down into your body, into yourself, finding the place inside where you naturally settle. There’s nothing to “do”. Simply notice your natural internal landing place and notice what it feels like to settle there.
  • Now, notice that in this place of settling there is a steadiness that is always there. If you find that you don’t easily notice it, ask yourself what it would feel like if you could experience its presence.
  • In whatever way makes sense to you, notice the quality of this steadiness that is always undisturbed. It’s like the deep currents in the ocean that are undisturbed by storms that may occur on the surface.
  • You may notice how your body responds to the presence of this steadiness, and perhaps also notice the quality of your thoughts and feelings as you touch into this internal “home base”.
  • Drawing on last week’s practice of choosing a frequency, notice your experience if you choose to resonate with steadiness today. Notice even more closely any shifts in your body, thoughts, and feelings as you take some time to touch into the qualities of this ever-present steadiness.
  • Also, remember the foreground/background dynamic that is part of your underlying wholeness. Even when you can’t experience the steadiness directly, it’s there in the background. You can invite it forward by orienting to it, by again choosing to resonate with its frequency.
  • Spend whatever time you’d like with your core steadiness and please remember not to make this into any kind of “doing”. It’s an invitation to being, to resonating with an aspect of your core presence that can support you through experiences life brings your way.
  • When you’re ready, reorient yourself to the environment around you, perhaps wiggle your fingers and toes, and come all the way back, even as you continue to resonate with the frequency and qualities of your core steadiness.

As with all these practices, please remember to bring along curiosity as your constant companion. Curiosity opens us to receive new experiences. And, also please remember to pat gently on the head any judgments that may arise, allowing them to move on through. Judgments tend to close us off from new experiences. And, most of all, allow yourself to engage this practice in the way that suits you best, perhaps using what I’ve shared as a jumping-off place for a deeper exploration in your inner journey.

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September 2010 Audio Meditation

ByNancy Napier

2023 May Meditation
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ByNancy Napier

This month, we expand the everyday relationships you have with the world around you. Imagine you go to a store–notice how it is to recognize that when you enter the store, you are immediately in relationship with it. You have joined the community of presences that comprises the store. Take a moment to offer gratitude and blessings to the store and to everything and everyone within it, acknowledging within yourself the inevitability of relatedness, of community, every time you move in and out of a particular space, be it a store, a park, a recreational environment, any building–anywhere at all…

Please remember never to listen to guided audio meditations while driving or using dangerous machinery.

If you’d rather see images of nature as you meditate, here’s link to the youtube version…

https://youtu.be/RSQCVdJEFIU

888th Week: Drawing on Nature’s Presence

888th Week: Drawing on Nature’s Presence

ByNancy Napier

Note: At the bottom of this written practice there is a recording of it, if you would prefer to listen. In the practices that contain a guided meditation, please remember never to listen to these recorded meditations when driving or working with dangerous machinery.

As I sit in Central Park, one of the great gifts of this time is that I can soak in the steady and quiet presence of the large trees that surround me. Above and beyond the beneficial chemicals that the trees naturally emit, and above and beyond the oxygen they offer in the process of their own respiration, there is also the radiating quality of their steady stature and strength. Even though I’m sure that I project onto and into them qualities I imagine or need, I sense that the presence and qualities they exude are not all from my imagination. What I feel in my body is a deep response to the gifts offered by the trees, which include the physical and emotional nourishment I receive from the time spent with them.

This got me to thinking about all the different aspects of nature that we encounter all the time if we are lucky enough to either live in the country or to be able to spend time outdoors in parks, near lakes, the ocean, and more if we live in an urban setting. Because I live in New York City, Central Park has been an important resource for me, a place I can go and soak in the gifts of nature’s qualities. There are other parks, as well, and all of them offer gifts of healthy nourishment and well-being to those of us who are urban dwellers.

For this week’s practice, I invite you to become even more aware of the aspects of nature that support your sense of steadiness, grounding, upliftment, well-being, contentment, and more. For example, there may be boulders or other stone people in your immediate environment, perhaps in your backyard if you have a yard with your home. As you lean on them, or look at them, notice their steady presence, notice what it’s like soak in their solidity, their strength. Or, there may be birds and you find that you can imagine being one of them, flying over the landscape. Notice what you experience in your body as you do this. There may be bodies of water where you can find inspiration and where you may even be able to swim, kayak, or in other ways engage the water directly. You can even connect with clouds or with the wind currents that flow around the planet, imagining that you have that freedom of movement and then noticing what happens in your body.

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