Honoring Our Ancestors

A quick note before we begin. This exercise involves bringing to mind people in your family who may have passed on from this life. It may not be suitable for everyone so please be gentle with yourself. Hello there, I'm Rosie and welcome to the special meditation on remembrance and honoring our ancestors. With this meditation, we celebrate Día de los Muertos or Day of the Dead, but this meditation can be done anytime you feel the need to reground yourself in a sense of belonging or feeling nostalgic for lost loved ones. The Day of the Dead is a holiday that we know originated in Mexico where it is mostly observed but it is also celebrated in other places, especially by people of Mexican heritage. I invite all of you, this entire community of all backgrounds, beliefs, and ethnicities to celebrate this very special holiday in honor of those who came before us. Sure, the theme is death but the point is to demonstrate love and respect for deceased family members and ancestors that live on. We honor the ones that came before us so that we can learn from their path to create our own. This meditation is created to remind us that we are exactly where we need to be at this place at this time. Settle in because you're in for a lovely treat. If we experience our mind becoming distracted, remember to come back to your body and your breath. The idea is to get to a place where you can rest and be guided through the many layers of who you are. Go at your own pace, be gentle and if you need to take a break or let go of my guidance, you can and come back when you feel ready. You can do this practice with your eyes open or closed. Begin to relax your shoulders, the muscles of your face, the back of your neck, your front body, your back body, and your lower body. Become aware of your surroundings, aware of the space around you. As you scan the entire circumference of your space, begin to settle in. Keeping this gentle awareness, begin to take a couple of deep breaths. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth in a soft and unhurried way. As you breathe in, filling your body with air and as you breathe out, just noticing how the muscles in your body soften. Do this on your own as your body and mind continue to settle in. Just one more time. Breathing in through the nose, and as you breathe out, feel your body relax in the ground more deeply on whatever base it's on. Think about who you are and where you are in this moment. Remember that every part of you has been woven together by the fabric of your ancestors, the good and the bad. Their experiences, their pains, their joys, all run through you and shape you. Begin to visualize...