The Source

This meditation is a companion to Love Your Rebellion, Issue 17: Riot. To complete the final steps of the activity, purchase Issue 17 here.

Created by Rebecca Martinez-Thomas, LMFT

"The Source" Audio Transcription

(Intro)

Hello and welcome to Love Your Rebellion, issue 17, Riot. Together, through this issue, we will explore riotous abundance, even in the scarcest of backdrops.

The activities in this issue are a practice in embracing the varied opulence of your bold, flourishing, inner and outer worlds. They have been developed to build upon each other and are recommended to be completed in the order they appear. First, we will create awareness of abundance and scarcity at the source, the body. Then we will establish a tool for shifting perspectives, explore our varied resources, and learn how to preserve resources for seasons of scarcity.

A riot is often defined as a violent public disturbance but is also defined as an impressively large or varied display of something. A laugh riot is joyful. A riot of colors is exuberant. Riot is abundant.

In order to explore and attempt to increase our access to abundance we also need to acknowledge scarcity. Droughts, shortages, and limitations are real, and ignoring them would risk falling into toxic positivity and spiritual bypassing. Scarcity has been wielded by the dominant powers throughout history to create an environment of competition over collaboration, to justify the unequal distribution of resources, and to distract from the inefficiency and inequity of the system. Scarcity as a system and a mentality has been built which means that it can be dismantled. We can begin this dismantling inside ourselves and our communities through experiences of abundance. 

Before we do this, it is important to note that scarcity in and of itself is not all bad all the time. It is not wrong to have a scarcity mindset, especially when it's a function of self-preservation. Like stress, in moderation, and when necessary, scarcity actually has benefits like increased focus and effective prioritization. There may have been a time in which a scarcity mindset served you, but does it still?

In spite of the reality of scarcity, there is still, and always will be, a core sense of self that we can return to. By making internal shifts towards a more abundant mindset we can create changes to our behavior. Social constructs give us narrow lanes to live within but switching to a more open perspective allows for more options for our lived experiences.

This first activity, The Source is an embodied guided meditation and will help you connect to your body to develop a felt sense of scarcity and abundance. Mindfulness allows us to tap into the abundance of time (by being in the present moment, which is as infinite as it is fleeting), and breath by bringing our focus to the constant ebb and flow of air into and out of our bodies. 

(meditation)

To begin, I invite you to find a quiet and private space where you can rest comfortably while having room to move. 

We will now take three breaths together, during this feel free to move your body in any way that feels good. Take a deep breath in, filling up with air, hold for a moment here, and exhale.  Inhale again, sending your breath down, hold, and breathe out when ready. Last one together, deep breath in, be here, be now, and breathe out. Now allow your breath to return to normal. 

What comes to mind when you think of abundance? What about plenty, enough, infinite, or boundless. What would living through abundance look like? How could you act from a place of abundance?

I will now guide you in a series of body poses. Remember, you know your body the best. Be gentle with yourself and go slow moving in and out of these postures. 

(pose one)

If accessible to you, move your body in a pose of shielding. This might mean squatting or crouching down, crossing an arm over your body, maybe your legs are crossed too, chin tucked in, shoulders rolled forward, maybe your hands are cupping your face or sides of your head. One arm might be out straight, blocking an oncoming threat.

While here let’s take a couple deep breaths. What emotions, or images, or words come to you while in this position? Take in that awareness and then release. 

(pose two)

Then, if accessible, move your body to a pose of power. This could mean standing, with your feet planted, maybe a foot apart, chest forward, gaze forward, the crown of your head pulling up, shoulders rolled back and down, maybe your arms are bent at the elbow, hands are on your hips. 

Let’s take another breath here. Note what you feel and what comes up for you when in this pose. And release that.

(pose three)

Next, let’s move into a curled pose. Try to make yourself as small and unnoticeable as possible. Your limbs might get pulled in tight to the body, your eyes might shut, maybe your head is turned down and to the side, your face might scrunch, lips pulled in.

Take a breath from this position. What do you notice being stirred up from holding this pose? And release. 

(pose four)

For the final pose, let’s go big. If accessible, move your body in a way to take up as much space as possible. This might mean spreading your limbs wide, stretching out in every direction, gaze slightly up, and maybe even making your face big, opening your mouth wide like a roar might come out. 

Again, let’s take a breath here. Really bringing your awareness to how you feel in the pose. When you are ready, release. 

(closure)

Consider what poses gave you a sense of abundance and what conjured up aspects of scarcity for you. Now imagine what your pose of abundance is? What body position feels abundant to you?

We will now close with affirmations:

Everything I need to be is already within me. I am abundant.

I have the capacity to grow and learn. I am ever expanding.

Within me is boundless. I am infinite.  

Abundance is all around me and within me. 

From all of us at LYR, thank you.