Taking a seat

“As we take the one seat and develop a meditative attention, the heart presents itself naturally for healing.  The grief we have carried for so long, from pains and dashed expectations and hopes, arises.” - Jack Kornfield

Meditation has helped awaken me to my body and in particular my sitting bones and discover the meaning of taking my seat.  It means that I give myself permission to stop and turn inwards and encounter my heart and body and their capacity for healing.  Grief is complex and I am aware that when I encounter loss other losses reveal themselves for healing.  What I didn’t realise was the suddenness of the pain that I would face when I reached the perimenopause.  I felt disbelief and a sense of loneliness that I had not previously encountered.  It felt like I really was now on my own and this was the beginning of the end. 

“I notice that to be able and willing to take my seat and meditate gives me the strength and courage to face grief with an open heart that helps me to trust that I will be able to find my way through this loss.”

Rachel Podger

Meditation has shown me that I can be with this well of grief and all of the other losses that I have experienced in my life and trust my heart to reveal these to me when I am able to bear them.  I can hold them in loving awareness and be with them and as I do this I notice that the love that I felt for the people who have died and the dreams and hopes that I had - and have passed - will be replaced by others that are different.

I notice that to be able and willing to take my seat and meditate gives me the strength and courage to face grief with an open heart that helps me to trust that I will be able to find my way through this loss.  We all have access to our seat and to the benefits of meditation, it feels like a secret that has been shared with me and I hope that I can share it little by little by taking my seat and connecting with the joys as well as the losses that are revealed to me.