Joy Of Connecting To Our Senses - RESILIENCE Practice & MEDITATION

​It's midsummer in the Western Hemisphere, a pivotal marker since ancient times of the turning of the turning of the wheel of the year, at the time of longest light. Amidst the work day responsibilities, the daily rituals, the creating and producing, a time to pause and give thanks and refuel resilience through a celebration of life through all of our senses.

We have been taught to look outside ourselves for joy and fulfillment. To fix ourselves rather than to be restored and transformed. To believe someone else has the answers, rather than to connect with the guidance of our body and it's innate desire to move towards what feels good. We have been given quick highs that create sharp lows, in place of sustained, nourishing fulfillment. Not so very long ago, our ancestors, were connected to innate ways of finding meaning, connecting with joy, moving through hardships and stress, in communal, creative and celebratory ways.
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​Food was not just a fuel for bodies, it was a grown, harvested and brought to the table in reverence that was expressed through slowing down, taking in the pleasure of taste, and the gift of the season and the grace of the Earth. It was eaten together, and followed at times with song, story, crafting, dance, firelight and friendship, with loving laps or gnarled hands braiding hair, offering touch, or the warm presence of home animals, all leavening the hard day's work, the tribulations of the time, the stressors of the unknown. All providing natural ways of returning to laughter, contentment, expression, meaning making, upliftment, connection and hope, so necessary for the soul.

There was time and space, literal, to look at the horizon daily and see it's vastness. To marvel at the colors of a sunset, to recognize the beauty of birdsong, to lay back and open to awe under the brilliance of stars. To find some way to feel a part of the larger universe through feeling connected to the cycles of sun and moon, the planting and harvest, the light and dark at play all around and inside us. 

Experiencing the world through taste, sight, sound, touch, scent and allowing ourselves meaningful time each day to connect with pleasure, play, fun and creativity are necessary remedies of the soul. They are also in our own hands, in our power, to create and enrich our lives with. They belong to no one culture, and certainly no profession or academia. They belong to the rich, wise traditions, housed in our bodies, imbued with the best of our heritage which when tapped into intentionally, contain the way back to our most resilient self.

May this midsummer meditation (in video) provide you with the very reminders and resources you need to fill this summer and all the days ahead with the sensory play and pleasure that is a return to your wise and resilient self.

​What are your favorite ways to restore and reset your energy in summertime that involve your senses?
What does summer taste like? Ice cream, watermelon, peaches, sweet tea? 
What does summer smell like? Tang of sea air, fresh cut grass, jasmine in the sultry night air, hot pavement?
What does summer sound like? Outdoor music, summer thunderstorms, crashing of waves, laughter at barbeques
What does summer touch/move like? swimming, biking, digging, weeding, dancing
What does summer look like? Whether you had these experiences or its your first time. What would you create this summer if you were to use it to replenish yourself through the senses. 
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Share with us your resilience play and pleasure in comments below.

Let's play ourselves whole again and use our joy to reengage with purpose in the world.
With much love and midsummer blessings,

Anjuli

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