Video Transcript
Hi friends, it's Michele Mattix of Sedona Meditation Experiences with another episode of Sedona Meditation Adventures. This is my mostly weekly show where I come out to beautiful places in Sedona in the desert southwest to explore the outer terrain while practicing mindfulness and meditation tools and exploring the inner terrain. Thank you for joining me this week this week. I’m out on a very windy place so we'll see how far this recording gets. The wind wreaks havoc with the microphone so we'll see. I’m actually by what we call the Birthing Cave in Sedona. I hiked up there it's pretty early but it was still quite crowded. It's a crowd of people up there with maybe four or five people. The nature of the birthing cave is the sound really carries and people were chatting – “where you from”, “what's your experience been like?” And the conversation that happens a lot. People come to places like Sedona in part or in full to really dive deeply into quiet and healing and to explore that inner terrain. It's understandable when you meet people - you want to find out about them and be curious - but it's kind of staying up in the busy mind. Chatter, chatter, chatter, chatter. Just taking the time to be quiet - just ground and appreciate this beautiful place where we are. It reminds me of why people come here to do retreats with me. If you're thinking of a retreat in Sedona, yes, part of it is seeing the beauty of Sedona, for sure, and exploring that outer terrain. But a big part of it is exploring the inner terrain and giving yourself the time and the space to really slow down and be quiet, be still, and see what happens. That's the beauty of meditation - you get to see what happens when you just quiet down and let your nervous system unwind and really get into those subtler rhythms that move through you all the time but that you completely miss out on when you're busy, busy, busy in your mind. I’ve had a few people come to do retreats with me recently for various reasons. Sometimes the stress of life gets to be too much. One person I worked with was facing a life of medication as her mother had done. My client chose to see about doing it differently and using tools like meditation to try to lower her blood pressure. Whatever health concerns stress brings on, we all have that choice: You can keep going busy, busy, busy and just pop the pills OR you can use the medical diagnosis as a wake-up call and choose to do something different. If you're in that boat or you just want to unplug from your busy life for a while and reset the peace button within, consider coming and working with me with a retreat where we can really work together to dive deeply, spend some quality time in nature. It will not only deepen your meditation practice but give you skills and tools to really change your life. Will you join me for a short mindfulness exercise now? If you're outside like I am find a comfortable spot. If you're inside that's okay too. Please don't do this while you're driving or otherwise occupied. Give yourself the gift of the space and time for a little bit of mindfulness. And when you're ready, go ahead and close your eyes. And just take a few deep breaths to center yourself. Notice what stories are moving through your mind and consciously let them go. They'll be there when we're finished but for now just let them go. And as you tune into your breath you can imagine the wind blowing across the landscape like the breath that blows through your body. Each breath a breeze carrying bits of this beautiful world into your lungs, into your body and when that breath leaves your body there are bits of you circulating through the world. We'll meditate here in silence for a minute or so. Continue to watch your breath. Were you able to let go of the stories in your mind and find a moment of peace? That's what it's all about - flexing that inner muscle and choosing to do things a bit differently one little bit at a time. Thank you for joining me this week. And if you are thinking of Sedona, reach out let's talk about a retreat. My retreats are completely customizable. I do them by sessions. We don't spend the whole day together but we work in sessions that are 75 minutes long and you choose how many of those sessions you want to participate in. Usually it's two - once in the morning and once in the afternoon - but it could be one, two or three a day and you can spread them out over however many days you'd like. Thanks for joining me this week. I look forward to seeing you next week. In the meantime, this is Michele Mattix saying goodbye for now.