Part Six Practice: Your Longtime Ritual

(light meditative music) Hi, I'm Ella. Welcome to this longtime practice, a ritual to help you connect with the longtime whenever you'd like to. Before we begin, take a moment to find a small object that could represent the longtime for you. It could be a pebble, an acorn, a seed, anything that connects you to the long past, the long future or time itself. You can hit pause if you need to. With your longtime object in the palm of your hand settle into a comfortable seated position, letting your body release, feeling your eyelids gently close, resting your awareness on the breath moving in and outta you, feeling the support of the earth beneath you and the space of the sky above you. As you breathe, inhabit this unique position between earth and sky that you are in in this moment. This is your space, your time. With your eyes closed, bring to mind a forest that you are sitting in the middle of. Imagining the soft moss below you and the dappled light through the leaves above you as you breathe in the fresh woody air. You're not alone in the forest. Your nearest and dearest are sitting either side of you. Feel the warmth of having the people you care about nearby and send them good wishes. May they experience peace. May they feel held. As you look to the left and right of those you know, there are many more people stretching out as far as the eye can see. Somewhere in your being you know these are all the people alive in the world today. This forest is a lot bigger than you first thought. Send good wishes to all the beings sharing this moment of life with you. May they experience peace. May they feel held. Glancing back behind you, you see a vast gathering of people, vegetation, animals. Somewhere in your being you know that these are all the beings that have ever lived, a vast array of life. Feel the gratitude for all the life that has come before that has led to yours. Take a moment to send out thanks to all your ancestors, human and more than human, the plants, the creatures. In front of you you realize there is a vast gathering of people vegetation and animals stretching out as far as the eye can see. A few of the people directly in front of you look familiar as if they might be descendants of people you know. Somewhere in your being you know this is everyone who is yet to be born, all the future generations of beings to come stretching way, way out. Take a moment to send warmth and care out to all these future beings. May they experience peace. May they be safe and well. May they feel held. As you breathe in and out, feel connected to this great web of life, awaken to this vast community that you are an essential part...