Map your surroundings and expand your awareness by holding six cardinal anchors in your mind simultaneously.

English

This standing, eyes open meditation incorporates the cardinal directions to flex mental muscles associated with perception and awareness. This serves to link the imaginal and physical into the mind to usher in intuition, guidance, and the ability to Hold More. This is also a part of a larger meditation series incorporated in this teacher's Reiki Level 1 and 2 Courses. (10)

Cardinal Direction Meditation

Hello! My name is Eden, and I am a therapist, Reiki teacher, and meditation guide. Now, whether you've found this meditation through one of my Reiki courses or just through the web of life, welcome! These meditations are intended to deepen your relationship to your intuition and gifts, and facilitate an understanding of your own internal landscape. Each meditation is also a tool that can be offered to yourself or a client, so I invite you to notice what shifts within you before, during, after, beyond the meditation, cataloging the effects with words and feelings and sensations, just letting yourself take note. Allow it to be personal and universal. Let's begin! Today, we are going to go to the mental gym, flexing this muscle inside the mind that allows for more. And you'll see what I mean in good time. But this is actually an open eye meditation. I invite you to go outside, or in the comfort of your home, and find a comfortable standing position. In whichever way you're facing right now, we are going to call that North. So go ahead and just let your eyes wander around the scene in front of you, and find something in your eye line that you maybe have never even noticed before. Maybe a texture, a shadow, a cobweb. It can be super small. And holding that thing in your eye line, getting acquainted with it, noticing the shape, the edges, the colors. Really solidifying that thing in your mind, moving it from the outside in. Good. And now gently, we let that thing go. And rotating 180 degrees so that you are now facing what is South, directly opposite from your North. And here we do the same thing, taking in this scene, letting your eyes wander until they find something novel, something small, particular. And getting to know it. There's an intimacy here with the world around you, holding whatever it is in your eye line, and then moving it into your mind as you trace the edges, notice the texture, the color, the weight, solidifying it in your mind. Good. And now gently continuing your rotation, just 90 degrees, so that you face West. And from here, we do the exact same thing. We find something around you, within your eye's reach, we get to know it, we familiarize ourselves with it, and then we bring it in. And rotating again now towards the East, 180 degrees, directly behind West. Same thing, different scene. Scrolling through, choosing something, settling on it, noticing the intricacies of it. Breathing into it, and bringing it into your mind. And through your awareness, through your ability to notice and see. Beautiful. And we let that thing go in the East, and go ahead and turn back towards North. And until we move into the North again, we will first look down. So gently tuck your chin, and finding something below you, beneath you, that you can also invite into your mind, that you can get to know. That's here in the space with you. So good. Bringing that in, from the outside in. Good. And we let that go, and finally we lift our chin to the sky, to the ceiling. Same thing, last scene. Finding something specific, familiarizing yourself with it, introducing yourself to it. And then bringing it into your mind, through your noticing, your awareness, your presence with it. Bringing it in. And then we let that go. Coming back to a neutral spine, facing that North, we let our eyes find that thing again that was in the scene in the North. Letting your eyes land on it, saying hello to this old friend. And as you gaze onto this familiar object, start to invite in the mental picture of whatever existed for you in the scene to the South. The thing that you chose that is right behind you. Can you see it in your mind's eye as you let your eyes see the thing in the North? Can you soften and open the mind so that you can hold two things at once? And maybe, just maybe, you let yourself sense these two things, mapping out where each of them are in space around you, letting this be relational, imaginal, and physical. And maybe noticing a softening and opening in the mind that makes this a little more possible. Maybe you're able to pinpoint exactly where in the mind this is for you. Good. Opening up that awareness. And then we let those two things go. Go ahead and rotate now towards the West. Same thing, different scene. We let the eyes rest on the thing that was in the West. Familiarizing ourselves with it again. Hello, old friend. And then letting the mind also usher in and picture whatever was in the East, directly behind you now. Letting the eyes hold the West. Letting the mind hold the East. Seeing both. Holding both. Letting the whole body soften. Letting the mind relax to make this just a little more possible, a little easier. And maybe you let those two objects ground you, mapping them out in relation to you, knowing if you were to toss a stone at each of them, where to land. Relational, imaginal, physical, all at once. So good. And then we gently let those two go and go ahead and face North again. Dropping the chin to chest and we find that thing below you, beneath you. On the ground, the floor that you met earlier already. Same thing, new scene. And ushering in that thing above you as well. In the sky, the ceiling, picturing that in your mind's eye as you see the thing beneath you. Holding two things at once. Opening up your mental capabilities to receive and hold more. The mental gym. Maybe you notice a particular muscle flexing and softening as you practice this. Just noticing. Good. And now we let those go. Go ahead now and still facing North with that long spine, close your eyes from top to bottom. And slowly, gently, whatever order works for you, start to usher in all six objects. Around you, North, South, West, East, bottom, top. Mapping out the space around you in your mind by having these six anchors around you. Knowing exactly where they are without needing to see. Can you bring all six of those into your mind? Maybe this feels like being held in your environment. Maybe this feels like holding all six of them in the palms of your mind. Just noticing internally what it's like to hold all six of these at once. Knowing this is personal too. Everyone's minds are a little different. But can you soften the physical body, let go of the mind, so that the awareness can soften and hold them all? This is the practice. This is the mental gym. Flexing perception, awareness. Awareness. Letting the world in without needing to see. And however feels true to you, you can now gently release all of those six chosen items. Taking a deep breath into the belly. And ushering in any little movements that feel supportive to you and the body now. And when you're ready to return to this space held by these objects, gently blink the eyes open. Welcome back.