Follow Up to WATERmeditation with Kate Moody
“Inner Light”
Monday, December 9, 2024 at 7:30pm ET
Kate Moody, founder of the Musical Sanctuary which offers contemplative approaches to prayer through music, readings, and mediation offered “Inner Light”.
The video can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o88hU6gmIU&ab_channel=WATERwomensalliance
Kate generously shared her notes which follow:
INNER LIGHT
Instead of getting caught up in holiday busyness, I try to follow the rhythm of the season – slowing down, quieting down, reflecting, remembering. And I appreciate this time to – in the words of the Santa Fe Center for Spiritual Living – “Remember God, Remind Each Other.” For me it’s important at any time of year to remember inner connection, but especially as the outer light fades away to the south…
I discovered the Connect & Glow meditation while reading A General Theory of Love by Fari Amini, Richard Lannon, and Thomas B. Lewis (https://citylights.com/psychology/general-theory-of-love/ ) which talks about the importance of limbic resonance for emotional and psychological wellbeing. LR happens when you spend time over time in healthy relationships, and is first imprinted on infants when their caregivers look lovingly into their eyes. At the time I was in a deep depression and was finding it challenging to be around other people, and both of my parents were distant, so it seemed likely I was lacking in the limbic imprinting. But I’ve studied energy, and as a musician I am immersed in it on a regular basis. So I had a thought: If everything is energy, including our thoughts, can I imagine limbs resonance? I tried imagining a gentle pulsing, like an energy massage, where I thought my limbic brain would be. And I got better.
You can close your eyes or leave your eyes open while I tell you about Connect & Glow. Like most meditations, it begins with a nice deep breath. As you exhale allow a wave of relaxation to wash through you. Relaxing your scalp and face, shoulders, chest, arms, mid back. Solar Plexus, Lower back, belly, legs, feet. With your awareness on your feet, imagine a dot on the bottom of each foot. Bring your awareness to your belly, about an inch below your belly button, and going directly inward, imagine a dot in the middle of your belly. Bring your awareness to your chest, and imagine a dot in the center of your chest. With awareness on your hands, imagine a dot in the palm of each hand. Bring your awareness to your forehead, and going directly inward from the center of your forehead, imagine a dot in the middle of your brain. With your imagination, draw a line from the dot in the center of your brain to the dot in the center of your chest. Draw two lines radiating out from the dot in the center of your chest through each arm to the dots in the palms of your hands. Draw a line from the dot in the center of your chest to the dot in the center of your belly. Two lines radiate out from the dot in your belly through each leg to the dots on the bottoms of your feet. If you stand back in your mind’s eye, you can see that you have connected the dots, and created a stick figure inside yourself, like a child’s drawing. Now imagine that you have a rheostat light switch. Slowly bring up the power, and the inner stick figure begins to glow with a warm, soothing light. Sit quietly for a few moments enjoying this warm glow, slowly breathing in and out. As you inhale the light of the Inner Stick Figure becomes stronger and brighter. As you exhale, the light radiates throughout your energy field in all directions. Relax and enjoy the feeling of radiant opening this visualization engenders.
Even though the earth is slumbering in the northern hemisphere, it is still full of aliveness and support and beauty. I can feel my feet connecting with the earth and tune in to and be in harmony with the rhythm of the season, letting that connection regulate my system.
Feeling comfortable in my chair I can be present in my body – enjoying creative flow as it moves through me – allowing ideas to percolate and ripen, creativity rising up.
I can breathe into my heart, and allow abiding love to suffuse my being with care and compassion, understanding and forgiveness. I can imagine my heart to be like the sun in this poem from 14th c Persian mystic Hafiz:
Even after all this time
The sun never says to the earth,
“You owe Me.”
Look what happens with
A love like that,
It lights the Whole Sky.
I can feel expansive and open in my mind, allowing helpful thoughts to arise, such as reminders to be grateful. One February I was on a ferry in the PNW, looking out the window at the grey after it had been grey for days and days and thought, “What can I be grateful for with this?” Then I noticed that, looking closely, I could see a pale lavender shadow in the cloud. This inspired a piano piece called Lavender Shadows, and this poem, “Thank You”:
Thank you for pink in the sky
this bare branch morning.
Thank you for robin egg blue sliver on the horizon,
for muffled evergreen sketched in charcoal and mist
on a steely lavender shadow of island.
I can have thoughts of gratitude that I draw into my heart where the gratitude is enlivened with love, that I draw to the earth, gratitude for being held in beauty and bounty.
As we go in to our quiet time, I encourage you to occasionally breathe into your heart, and enjoy the sweetness that lives there.
One more poem from Hafiz:
How did the rose ever open its heart
And give to the world all of its beauty?
It felt the encouragement of light against its being.
Otherwise we all remain too frightened.
Music Links:
Lavender Shadows https://bit.ly/4if6nM6
David Wilcox, How Did the Rose on Out Beyond Ideas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-R30_7zBRwI
How did the rose ever open its heart?
“Postlude”: Come Sing a Song With Me, by Carolyn McDade https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oisrO48boDQ
Slides:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1AuFFC9KC7ZqIEeESG7ap1AcH1m1IFu7XNdqgvIv3iqk/edit?usp=sharing
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Brief discussion ensured. One person remarked on the lighting up of the body, the stick figure conducting energy. The picture of the rose reminded her of the work of Elizabeth Thoman (https://www.waterwomensalliance.org/in-memory-of-her-elizabeth-thoman-chm/).
Another described her photos of irises, while one more imagined what cherry blossoms will be like. The power of images is clear.
One colleague appreciated the musical link which helped her transition to the event. The folksinger Sarah Thompson’s “A Song is Somewhere to Begin” (https://soundcloud.com/sara-thomsen/somewhere-to-begin ) and “Anthem” by Leonhard Cohen were also part of the mix. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8-BT6y_wYg )
We were apprised of a terrible antisemitic incident in Melbourne, Australia: https://religionnews.com/2024/12/09/australian-leader-blames-antisemitism-for-arson-that-extensively-damaged-a-melbourne-synagogue/?utm_source=RNS+Updates&utm_campaign=e924f47636-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_12_10_03_50&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c5356cb657-e924f47636-128592016 This tragic fire in a synagogue is a reminder of the world’s violence. Our solidarity is with the people of Melbourne.
This is why we meditate – to strengthen ourselves for the justice struggles that emerge.
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Thanks to Kate Moody and all who joined in the circle. May light shine upon you through the holidays and the New Year.
