Grounding Yourself: Setting the Intention
Find a comfortable seated or lying position. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths, feeling your body settle into the space. Inhale deeply through your nose and exhale slowly through your mouth.
As you breathe, set an intention to explore the forces shaping your experience of limitation and expansion. This is a meditation on awareness—not to force change but to observe and understand.
If at any point this meditation feels too challenging, pause and rest in a place of inner peace. There is no right or wrong way to engage.
Step 1: Noticing Constriction—Where Do You Feel Resistance?
Turn your attention inward. Scan your body slowly from head to toe. Notice any areas of tightness, heaviness, or restriction.
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- Do you feel a tightness in your chest?
- A weight on your shoulders?
- A clenching in your jaw or hands?
These sensations may be linked to moments when your voice wasn’t heard, when fear held you back, or when external pressures felt overwhelming.
Now, ask yourself:
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- What does this constriction feel like?
- Does it have a texture—sharp, dense, rigid?
- What emotions arise as you notice it?
Breathe into these sensations, acknowledging them without trying to change them.
Step 2: Finding Openness—Where Do You Feel Expansion?
Now, shift your awareness to areas of lightness, ease, or movement in your body.
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- Maybe there’s warmth in your chest.
- A sense of openness in your breath.
- A gentle energy in your hands or feet.
Let this feeling of openness grow with each breath. Imagine space expanding inside you—wherever you feel lightness, imagine it gently radiating outward.
Ask yourself:
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- How does this openness feel?
- Does it have a quality—flowing, soft, steady?
- What emotions arise?
Breathe into this sensation of openness, letting it fill your awareness.
Step 3: Moving Between Constriction and Openness
Now, gently shift your awareness back and forth between the sensations of constriction and openness.
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- Notice how your body reacts when moving between the two.
- Does one feel more familiar or dominant?
- Can you hold both experiences without needing to push one away?
Allow them to coexist—both are part of your lived experience.
Imagine a river flowing through a rocky canyon. The rocks are firm and immovable, but the water finds a way forward, shaping and shifting the space around them.
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- Where do you feel like the water—moving, adapting?
- Where do you feel like the rocks—strong but maybe stuck?
- How can the two work together?
Step 4: Reclaiming Your Space and Agency
Now, focus on your breath—your constant source of power and presence.
As you inhale, imagine drawing in the openness and freedom you discovered.
As you exhale, imagine softening the places of constriction, making space for movement.
Ask yourself:
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- What is one small way I can invite more openness into my life today?
- Where do I have the power to make a shift—no matter how small?
Trust that you already hold the agency to shape your experience.
Closing the Meditation
Take a few final deep breaths. Slowly begin to wiggle your fingers and toes, reconnecting with your surroundings. Gently open your eyes when you’re ready.
Breathe in the awareness that you always hold agency. Carry it into the world.
Reflection Questions:
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- What did you notice about how constriction and openness appear in your body?
- Did one feel more familiar or comfortable than the other?
- What is one small way to invite more flow into your daily life?
Resilience Strategies:
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- Anticipate Cycles: Change comes in waves—openness and constriction will arise.
- Small-Scale Movements: Change doesn’t have to be dramatic. Even the most minor shifts matter.
- Emotional Resilience: Use breath and awareness to ground yourself in moments of challenge.
Appendix 1: Introduction to Applied Meditativism
Meditativism bridges traditional meditation practices with active engagement in societal issues. Unlike conventional meditation, which often focuses on relaxation, stress reduction, or achieving inner peace, Meditativism frames meditation as a tool for investigation and inquiry. It encourages moment-by-moment awareness for personal clarity and understanding and transforms the social, political, and cultural forces that shape our lives.
Meditation as a mode of investigation invites us to observe, question, and explore the dynamics within and around us instead of using meditation solely to calm the mind.
Meditativism harnesses this awareness to delve into the complexities of our experiences, uncovering patterns and insights that inform purposeful action.
Meditativism emphasizes that external forces—like Democracy and Fascism—also reside within our bodies, minds, and daily interactions. Through this reflective inquiry, we reclaim our agency and influence our inner world and societal structures.
Meditativism unfolds through three interconnected dimensions:
- Reflective Meditativism: This dimension encourages deep contemplation, inviting us to explore how personal experiences and societal structures intersect. Reflection helps identify internalized systems of power and fosters self-awareness as the foundation for broader understanding.
- Embodied Meditativism: Moving beyond intellectual reflection, Embodied Meditativism focuses on sensing how societal forces manifest physically. It prompts us to locate experiences of oppression and liberation within the body, recognizing the profound connection between mind and body in navigating these dynamics.
- Applied Meditativism: The final dimension transforms insight into action. Applied Meditativism uses the clarity gained from reflection and embodiment to engage with the world purposefully. It bridges mindfulness with activism, fostering justice, harmony, and collective growth by aligning inner awareness with outward action.
In contrast, many meditation practices prioritize detachment from external concerns, promoting a sense of serenity and separation from worldly struggles. While these approaches can be valuable for personal well-being, Applied Meditativism insists that meditation can also be a gateway to societal engagement. By integrating mindfulness with activism, Meditativism transforms inner clarity into outward action, fostering justice, harmony, and collective growth.
Appendix 2: The Theory of Working with Opposites
A foundational concept in Meditativism is the theory of working with opposites. This theory recognizes that dualities often shape human experience—light and dark, freedom and oppression, joy and sorrow. Rather than rejecting one side of these opposites, Meditativism invites us to hold both in awareness, exploring how their interplay shapes our understanding and responses.
Identifying Opposites: Begin by identifying opposing forces within your experience. This could be as simple as noticing physical sensations of tension and relaxation or more complex emotional dynamics like fear and courage.
Exploring the Interplay: Once identified, explore how these opposites coexist and interact. For example, experiencing tension and relaxation can highlight the spaces where transformation happens. Similarly, acknowledging both fear and courage can deepen your understanding of resilience.
Holding Both in Awareness: The goal is not to eliminate one side of the duality but to hold both in balanced awareness. This practice fosters a more profound sense of integration and helps us navigate life’s complexities with greater clarity and equanimity.
Applying the Theory: In societal contexts, working with opposites allows us to see how forces like Fascism and Democracy are not just external systems but also internal dynamics. By engaging with these opposites, we reclaim our agency and foster a more profound connection between our inner lives and societal engagement.
This approach transforms oppositional thinking into a dynamic inquiry process, fostering personal growth and collective transformation.