Meditation on the 7 Sacred Directions

_Read the original post on Elephant Journal_

Sitting or standing tall, feel where your body meets the ground.

Face East. Inhale deeply, reaching your arms toward the heavens.

Exhale and sigh, a few times. Let go of tension, frustration, worries and storylines with each sacred breath.

Thank you, East, for bringing the sunrise.

We give thanks to the teachings, the teachers, the time and space to practice, the warmth of wisdom.

Thank you, South, for providing the harvest.

We give thanks for your comforting hospitality, hugs and heartfelt conversations.

Thank you, West, for the masterpiece of each evening’s sunset.

We cherish you for bringing the dark night and shimmering starlight and for enabling our destiny to manifest.

Thank you, North, for blowing the cold winds of change.

We appreciate you stoking the fire and reminding us to huddle together, to cuddle and cooperate.

We remember, again, to appreciate this moment, whatever joys and challenges it presents us with.

Look up. Thank you, sky, for the clouds, wind, sun and moon, for giving us height, for allowing us to stand tall, here now.

Look down. Feel your soles on the planet.

Thank you, Earth, for your infinite love and nurturing nature, for your nutrients and sacred waters, plains, mountains and stones.

Thank you for grounding us in reality, in gratitude, in the moment-to-moment experience of breath and the evolution of change and the promise of consistency that surrounds us.

Thank you, Heart, for breaking open, for melting, for feeling the vast prism of emotions, for accepting, for cultivating awareness and compassion, and for sparkling.

East, west, north, south, earth below, sky above.

Bring it all back to the center of the heart.