“Good to meet you, welcome. Shall I sit? Lie down? Where?”
[This post is part of a series that begins here.]
What joy to meet new beings on the journey set forth by this meditation project. What an honor to be invited graciously into homes and into lives. Strangers at the threshold on the way in; strangers no more on the way out that very same door. The joy and honor that I feel holds true for those whom I have known already, too. Present at the onset; through the experience, amplified tenfold.
During meditation, some sit on the ground, others on a cushion; some lie down on a couch, others, on the floor. There are only right ways when one listens to the call of what feels safe and supportive.
Following meditation, we talk. We explore the experience. With a few prompts, we see where the exploration goes. I’ve heard about people’s individual somatic experience, how the practice is felt in the physical body. I’ve heard reflections on the emotional experience. I have been witness to it all, and I take none of it lightly. Each story, each revelation, each tear, all of the minutia, I vow to hold it all with care. Never in my notes do I even dare to write the person’s identity.
No two experiences alike. Themes emerge, emotions overlap, but each meditation moment bespoke to the person, to the time, to the place, undoubtedly shaped too by whatever came before.
Physically, sensations experienced and shared sound like this:
warm, warmth, “I felt warm light through my closed eyelids”
expanding
in my chest
i felt my heart, the front and the back of my heart, i felt “an outpouring from my heart”
a “rising of some kind of energy”
a softening
“my whole body buzzing”
my body felt like it was “in a bubble, resting, floating around, moving, but still in rest”
from my solar plexus to my heart, energy
balanced, “i tend to hold a lot on one side of my body; in this today, I felt balanced”
my hands - this is where i felt pleased, my heart - this is where i felt hopeful, and my throat - this is where i felt sadness
“it landed in my bones. feeling seen - yes, that landed in my bones”
and, the tears. the tears. the tears.
All of this, sitting in a stranger’s living room.