by Alan McAllister, CCHt PhD-phys
Imagine yourself out in a field walking through the tall grass. There is an abundance of wild flowers painted among the stalks, the whole waving gently in a southerly breeze. The sun caresses your body, and birds call nearby. Barefoot you feel the earth of the path beneath your feet, cool and slightly moist in the mid morning.
Your awareness drops through your body and into the earth; feel the receptivity of the Mother. Sinking down, you are embraced and nurtured. How safe it is to let go of fear and effort. Breath deeply of the cool morning air, and feel the chi spreading through your whole body, energizing and alive.
Still walking, turn and look behind, and now ahead and be clear that you are fully present and alive in this one place, this one moment, walking on the Earth.
Your feet drum on the Earth, aware of how it resonates and responds. Play the drum. Drumming your feet become light, moving, dancing. Dancing on the Earth you are dancing with the Earth; this is a waltz for two, echo and response, full of the joy and laughter that is born from a shared communion.
Dancing through the field, be free, fly, like the birds or the butterflies. Run, skip, twirl. All the while aware of the deep grounding in the Earth. Though you are leaping high you are still, centered, connected to the core of the planet.
Dance across the sand beside the sea, feeling the difference wrapped around the sameness. Dance across the moss deep in the forest and feel the deep communion with the Earth spreading out around you, embodied also in the trees, the animals, the whole web of life. Dance on the bare stone and hear it sing under your feet; across the windy clouds, and the fire of the lava fields. Dance around the world, in all its beautiful places and let yourself be aware of how you are never alone as the Earth is always your partner.
Walk down a city street and feel the dance beneath your feet, it is the same anywhere. Pound on the Earth, deep into its receptiveness, and feel the joy. Dance lightly on her and feel the fairy laughter, ohh how it tickles. Let her lead for a while, your feet and legs following her rhythms. Now improvise around the beat. Dance the drumming of the tribe, the patter of the rain.
Your heart expands with the dance, pouring out its joy, and anger, its laughter and tears. The whole rainbow of emotion, of feeling, of life. The Earth can accept this, all of you, with compassion and love.
Powerful and passionate, or whimsical and light. Dance the dialogue of life with the Earth, day and night, summer and winter, ecstasy and terror, listen/feel the answer, the response, the partnership.
Establish the dance and your feet will know the path. Be whole, be free, and yet deeply grounded, infinitely alive.
(© 8/2004)
Reading clip and recorded meditation available on the Recordings page.
