May Meditation

Our monthly meditations are provided by our Journey to Inner Wisdom guide, Daidie Donnelley

The first of May was celebrated as a time of fertility and regeneration in cultures as far back as those of Babylonia and Sumer. In these cultures, Mayday marked the end of the barren winter and was an occasion for popular, often raucous celebration. The night before, logs were burned in order to bring life to the burgeoning springtime sun. The next day, trees were carried from house to house, decorated with flowers, or stripped of their branches and made into Maypoles wrapped in brightly-colored ribbons for celebrants to dance around. As an essential part of these Mayday rituals, trees were seen as the embodiment of the life force and a symbol of the spirit of regeneration. That the tree was such an integral part of the celebration seems particularly fitting as its very presence – its branches stretching up toward the sky, its roots dug deep into the earth – is a perfect visual manifestation of the celebration of life.

The act of celebrating – whether the solitary act of placing a flower on a table or under a tree to honor a special moment, or the more collective act of joining a larger group to sing, dance and make merry – is uniquely human. This urge to celebrate is as natural to human beings as the urge to love, and the coming together in an expression of joy has been part of human activity as far back as the beginning of recorded history. But in recent years, with the rise of technology, the frantic pace of modern life, the diminishing contact with the natural world, our impulse to celebrate is gradually being lost – and with it, an important part of our human heritage.

At a time that is fraught with conflict, pressure, bad news, it is more important than ever to take time to celebrate, whether with others or by yourself. So on this first day of May, take a moment to pause in honor of the spirit of celebration, the majesty of trees and the ancient ritual of Mayday. Pick a quiet place in a room of your house, on deck outside or in your backyard, where you can spend a few moments undisturbed. Stand comfortably, your feet inches apart, your arms loosely at your sides. Soften your gaze, looking in front of you and slightly down. Begin to focus on your breath, breathing gently in and out. As you breathe, feel your feet firmly on the ground as if you were a flowering tree your roots stretching deep into the earth. As you breathe in, feel the energy move up from the ground, through your feet, your legs, your trunk and bursting out your head, as if coming into bloom. As you breathe out imagine gathering energy from the sun and letting it flow down through your body, your feet, and into the ground. Repeat this two more times. As you breathe in, feel a joyous energy rising up and blossoming at the tip of your head. As you breathe out, feel the energy of the universe flowing down through your body into the ground.

Next, return your attention to your original stance – your feet a few inches apart, your arms at your side, your gaze ahead and slightly down. As you breathe in, slowly raise your arms to the side, making an arc upward until they are stretching above your head. As your arms rise, let your gaze follow, until your eyes, like your head are raised up toward the sky. Feel your feet rooted in the earth. Feel your own life energy moving up through your body and flowing out your fingers. Feel this posture as a celebration of life. Stand for a few seconds like this. Then bring your hands together over your head and down in front of your chest, your palms touching, your fingers together in a prayer-like gesture. Slowly bend your torso forward at the waist, your palms together and turning down until your fingers are pointing toward your feet. Bend down until their tips are close to the ground. Pause for a moment, breathing slowly in and out, then begin to rise, your knees slightly bending, your arms moving naturally to the side, your body straightening, until you are back to your initial pose, erect, your feet firmly on the ground, your arms loosely at your side. Repeat this whole movement two more times. As you raise your arms above your head, imagine you are a giant redwood reaching toward the sun. As your hands come together above and begin to lower, imagine your fingers as the tips of branches taking the light and moisture from the air, down through your body into roots in the ground. Feel the sap rising up, the moisture flowing down.

As you repeat these movements, know that at any moment of the day you can take time to feel the sap of celebration flowing through you. At any time you can make any person, place, or living being, an object to be honored, any occasion a cause for celebration. Alone, you can do something as simple as putting a rock or shell on a windowsill in memory of someone you love, or as complex as building a sculpture of driftwood to honor the day. Joining with others, you can sit quietly together in silent reverence or come together in ecstatic dance. There are an infinite number of ways to celebrate. On this first day of May, discover your own.

Join Daidie Donnelly on Sunday, August 11, 2013 for a one-day transformation vacation including a morning of spa services and an afternoon Vitality Quest focused on:

THE HEALING POWER OF BEAUTY; Coming Home to Your True Self.

Every day, wherever we are, we are surrounded by beauty. Yet in the rush of life, focused on thoughts and obligations, we often pass it by. If we took time to slow down and knew how to see beauty in the simplest things, it would open our hearts, soften our selves, and reconnect us to our true nature.

In this Vitality Quest you will learn to use all your senses to awaken to the beauty that is around and within you. You will learn to recognize beauty in unexpected places and to turn ordinary moments into causes for celebration. In the process you will come home to your true self and feel deeper kinship with your larger home, the earth.

Writer, Photographer, mentor and guide, Daidie Donnelley has devoted her life to the exploration and expression of beauty. She has fifty-five years experience in the creative arts and spiritual practice, over twenty years practicing as a psychotherapist and six as a life-coach. These experiences have given her a deep belief in the inherent beauty and wisdom in each of us.