Sometimes, even when you know you’re right, it can be difficult to stand in your truth in the face of your adversaries. Sometimes your adversaries live in your own head. We second guess ourselves. It’s what humans do. A documentary of Maya Angelou’s life is called And Still I Rise. Dr. Angelou was a living example of embodying truth, courage, confidence, and strength no matter what life brings. What are the qualities she carried that gave her this powerful presence? We’ll be calling on some of these qualities as divine attributes to awaken the presence within ourselves. If you find yourself needing a confidence boost, wanting to cut through the voices and the what-if’s to present yourself and your ideas in a way that commands more respect, join us for a practice that will help you own your truth with more certainty and inner strength.
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Embodying Truth With Confidence and Strength
Our topic is embodying your truth with confidence and inner strength. First, let’s come into our prayer and healing circle. Let’s all come together as one in the name of the One most merciful ever compassionate. Come together in our circle, sitting together side by side, shoulder to shoulder, elbow to elbow, knee to knee. We sit in our circle and together, let’s take a full and gentle breath. As we exhale, let’s bring our heart center, the funnel of energy at the center of your chest. Let’s bring the heart center to face directly toward the center of our circle where our hearts can come together as one at the hub of our wheel, with each of us like spokes on a wheel, creating a container.
Call On The One, The Most Merciful, Ever Compassionate
Together, let’s call on the One, the most merciful, ever compassionate calling on the essence of divine light. Just bring your heart to face directly into the center of our circle and imagine, envision, perceive as however you perceive this stream of divine light, streaming into the center of our circle, streaming into this group heart, this hub of our wheel, and this center of our container. We call on this essence of divine light, this existence of the life force energy, the electricity that runs through all of us as one, giving life to our physical forms, giving consciousness to our existence, giving breath to our lungs and beating to our hearts. As your heart center is facing into the center of the stream of this divine light and this eternal life force energy, focus your breath so that you are breathing in through your heart center and breathing this divine light and this eternal life force energy.
Breathe this into your heart space, filling your lungs and infusing your oxygen with this vibration of divine light and this eternal life force energy, surrounding and infusing into your heart and your fluids, and circulating to every cell of your body. As you exhale, relax, release, and let your heart space be soft. I’m calling on this essence of divine light, this eternal life force energy and calling on the essence of unconditional love. This is the existence of divine love. That is the existence that we are born into and that we are made of and the ocean that we swim in.
It is the love that exists regardless of any conditions or anything that we do or do not do and that we are or are not. It is the existence of divine love. Calling on that essence of divine light, the eternal life force energy, the unconditional love, and the eternal compassion. With each breath, breathe in through your heart space. Breathe in this essence of divine light, unconditional love, and eternal compassion. Let this vibration infuse into your oxygen and your fluids, filling all of your chest space, your heart space. As you exhale, relax, release, let all of this space be soft, releasing any tension.
The poet Rumi says, “Your task is not to seek for love but merely to seek and find all of the barriers that you have built against it.” Let’s breathe into all of your heart space and as you exhale, release those barriers, release those blocks and allow this vibration or divine light, unconditional love and eternal compassion to flow freely into your heart and circulate to every cell of your body. Breathe in this vibration of divine light, unconditional love, eternal compassion, and as you exhale, just relax, release, and soften and let all of the tissues of your body drink in this vibration. Take this in and take a breath and let your breath move all the way into your belly. Let your belly expand as you inhale and draw this vibration, divine light, unconditional love, and eternal compassion all the way down to fill all of your belly and all of the core of your being.
I want to invite your conscious body to drop into your physical space. Just let yourself drop in deeper. Sometimes we can be up and out of our bodies, not settled in and fully relaxed into the physical space. Take a minute and stretch out your toes and your feet. Feel your presence all the way into the soles of your feet and notice how your seat is connected into your chair or whatever surface you’re on. Pulse the muscles of your pelvic floor of your seat and just pulse and relax. As you relax those muscles, let your conscious energy body drop in and rest into your seat. Pulse your muscles, relax and drop in deeper and deeper.
Every cell of your body knows its origin. Share on XLet your energy move through your pelvic floor, through your hips, through your legs, your knees, your shins, your calves, your ankles, your feet, your toes and extend all the way through the soles of your feet and into the earth. You’re still breathing in that vibration of divine light, unconditional love and eternal compassion. With each breath, breathing in this vibration to fill all of the core of your being and infusing your oxygen and your blood with this divine nourishment that is circulating to every cell of your body.
Every cell of your body carries consciousness. Every cell of your body knows its origin. Its origin is the subsistence in this divine light, unconditional love and eternal compassion. Invite every cell of your body to turn to this light and this vibration, to open and receive and to allow itself to be cleansed, to release its blocks and barriers and to return to its origin of divine light, unconditional love, and eternal compassion.
Then a full and gentle breath breathing into your heart space and into your belly. As you exhale, relax, release, and soften. Let yourself drop in even deeper. Notice up around your jaw, your neck, your shoulders. Notice if you carry any tension there. If you find some tension there, try this either way. Touch your tongue to the roof of your mouth, behind your teeth like you’re making the “oh” sound. As you touch your tongue there to make the “oh” sound, let the back of your jaw drop. Let it fall and feel that tension release in the back of your jaw and move all the way through your neck and down your spine, releasing the tension in your neck and in your shoulders and in your upper back and all the way down your spine. Continue with this breath, breathing in this vibration of divine light, unconditional love and eternal compassion.
The Core Essence Of Each One Of Us
I want to talk about our topic, embodying truth with confidence and strength. Our nature as human being is to second guess ourselves. I don’t know a single human being alive that doesn’t do that. I often read from The Sufi Book of Life by Neil Douglas-Klotz and he talks about the cacophony of voices that we have inside of ourselves. We have our divine being that knows truth, that knows absolute truth, that is subsisting in this essence of divine truth, this ultimate reality that has no form, no shape, that is that one with all that is, and that is that source of this spirit.
This breath that’s breathed into us, that gives consciousness to our physical form, that is the core essence of who each one of us is and what each one of us is as it’s breathed into our physical form and becomes integrated into these bodies so that we can have this earth experience. That is the core essence of who we are and that core essence knows this divine truth.
This core essence knows it with certainty, gets it with confidence, with trust, with strength. What is strength? In our human form, once we’re born into a separate body and that umbilical cord is cut and suddenly, we perceive ourselves as separate beings, very dependent separate beings, dependent on this material reality for our survival. There is a truth to that and yet that core essence of spirit that was breathed into us, that ultimate Reality that knows its existence and subsistence in that oneness with all that is that stays intact inside.
It’s always there, but we’re born into this body and perceive ourselves as separate and we’re moving through this material reality that gives us contrast, that gives us duality, that helps us to see things as differences. Ultimately, when we can come to see these differences as a manifestation of the oneness, not separate, but encompassed and inclusive in the oneness.
Everything Is Based On Our Need To Survive And Maintain Connection
We can know that reality, that unconditional love. It’s through the conditional that we truly learned the unconditional, but as we’re going through it and we’re all going through it, as long as we’re in physical bodies in this 3D reality, we can make a lot of separations there. When we take on a lot of various meanings about things and we learn about what we need to do in order to survive on this journey. Everything, no matter how right or how wrong it seems, is ultimately based on our need to survive and our need to maintain that connection with oneness, with love, with compassion, and with truth.
Every decision that you’ve made, good decision or bad decision, every belief that you’ve taken on, whether it serves you in a positive way or a negative way as it may feel in this world of duality, everything has stemmed from that inner compass inside of you and your relationship to it. It’s either taking you closer to love or farther from love. We’re here to experience both the connection and the distance. On this journey, through these experiences, a lot of information gets piled on and compacted on top of this place that knows the divine reality, the inner compass, the inner truth. That existence, that vibration of that divine truth is very much intact inside in all of these other meanings that are all about how we’re going to survive, how we’re going to stay safe and stay alive and somehow maintain a connection to love.
A lot of different meanings, coping strategies, techniques, belief patterns and everything else get pasted on top of this inner truth, this inner light, the core, inner compass that is ultimately your guiding force. We perceive ourselves as separate and we take on all of these beliefs and each one has a little voice that plays out in our head that becomes that cacophony of voices that says, “No, go this way. This is safer,” “No, go this way. This is going to bring you love,” “Don’t go that way because that’s how you might get hurt.” We got this whole cacophony of voices going on inside saying, “This is the way,” “Be careful, that’s not the way,” “But what if this or what if that,” “Remember that last time, you don’t want to do that again.”
And Still I Rise
We second guess ourselves. We get confused and sometimes we can make ourselves small. We diminish ourselves and even this is about staying safe, about not getting hurt, about not experiencing rejection, when truly what we want inside no matter how strong we may think we are on the outside or want to be. It is about staying connected to that force of unconditional love, connection, acceptance, and that reality of truth. Breathing in that vibration of divine light, unconditional love, and eternal compassion. I’m going to add to that the quality of divine truth.
A group of us watched the documentary movie And Still I Rise with Maya Angelou. It’s about Maya Angelou’s life. It was interesting because it showed her at various times in her life and you could see how even early on in her life there were times where she was carrying it, but it wasn’t 100% of her strength, and yet she adjusted her posture and her alignment. It’s almost like you could see her call on that inner strength and call on her faith. She used them both, her posture, the way she carried herself, her alignment, her voice, her breath, her calling on her inner strength and where she would call on an unwavering faith in God or whatever you want to call that highest power.
The heart is your center of courage. Share on XShe would call on that and people would tell her like for instance, when her son was in an accident at one point and she was told that he wouldn’t walk. She said, “He will walk out of this hospital.” She called on God and held to such a strong faith and knowing that God is here. God is in command and in control and you are not going to tell me that my son won’t walk. She held such a strong faith that nothing could shake that. Sure enough, her son did walk. He did recover against the odds that the doctors have given. She had many instances in her life where she had experienced traumas, difficulties, adversities, and still she would adjust her posture and hold herself with that inner strength, confidence, and unwavering faith.
Life Brings Us A Lot Of Opportunities To Call On
Life brings us a lot of opportunities to call on this unwavering faith and on this inner strength. Physically, the posture does help, so as we continue to breathe in this vibration of divine light, unconditional love, and eternal compassion, let’s check in with posture. I invite you to initially breathe into your heart center and breathe this essence, this vibration of divine light, unconditional love in eternal compassion, deep into your heart space, taking it deeper and deeper inside yourself. Let your conscious body lean back in to your physical space.
If you imagine you have a core of energy that runs through the top of your head along the front of your spine, all the way through your body and through your base and into the earth. As you breathe into your heart space, let yourself lean back into this core, breathing in this vibration of divine light, unconditional love and eternal compassion into this core pillar and just feel that electric circuit connecting there. Let this ball of light at your heart space become brighter, fuller, bigger. The heart is your center of courage.
Al-Qawiy, The Most Strong
There is a divine attribute, a quality called Al-Qawiy, the most strong. Call on this quality of the most strong, Al-Qawiy. Breathe that in and state that name. Recite that name directly into that heart center, “Al-Qawiy.” You place vibration of that sound Qawiy right into your heart center. A full breath into this heart space. Once you follow this core of energy up into the head space, this is a space for clarity.
An-Nur, The Divine Light
In this we’re going to call on this divine light, An-Nur, this is the divine light. Just imagine a ball of light right in the center of your head. If your head is a circle, imagine this ball of light right in the center. We’ll recite the name An-Nur as we breathe into this ball of light at the center of your head. Breathe this quality. This is a quality of the pure divine light, Nur. Breathing this into your head space, allowing this light to clear any of the clutter from your head, from your mind, and letting this divine light clear and illuminate, bring clarity into your mind and into your headspace.
Then check your vertical alignment and bring this ball of light in your head space to be vertically aligned over the ball of light in your heart space, your courage. Your light of clarity and your light of courage are connected like a circuit of energy along the core of your body, that core light that runs through the top of your head vertically through your body, along the front of your spine.
You have now a circuit connected between the clarity in your mind and the courage in your heart. Breathing into that and just letting this circuit like the filament of a light bulb, as more and more energy flows along that circuit, that light gets brighter, more illuminated, stronger and clearer. Let our focus travel down to that core, right at the center of the belly where your creativity center meets that core pillar of light. This is your creativity and your life force.
Al-Hayy, The Life Force
Let’s call on the divine quality of Al-Hayy, the life force. Al-Hayy, the life. Imagine this ball of energy at the center of your belly, your eternal life force energy. We’re just placing the words right into this ball of light at the center of the belly. Allowing this light to become brighter, larger and stronger, more and more illuminated with each breath and extending that circuit of electricity. Let that electricity travel between the creativity center, Al-Hayy and the center of courage at the heart, Al-Qawiy. Letting that electricity travel along that vertical core of your being. You can adjust your physical posture so that your head is aligned above your heart. That line is now aligned with the center in your belly, the creativity center, and there is a circuit of energy that flows between all three of these centers along your vertical core.
Maintain this posture as you breathe in An-Nur in your headspace, Al-Qawiy in your heart space, Al-Hayy in your creativity space, your life force space. Feel the vertical alignment as that electricity illuminates your vertical core, giving more light and more strength. Breathing in this essence of divine light, the divine strength and courage, the life force and creativity is breathing in An-Nur, Al-Qawiy, Al-Hayy. Feel this pillar of light at your core. Feel this burning brighter and stronger, letting this strength build within you. Sometimes on our journey we hear the word strength and power, so often used in ways that don’t feel good to us and we shy away from wanting to stand in strength and power. Often, those ways that don’t feel good are actually an outer expression that is trying to compensate for a sense of lack.
When we don’t feel the divine strength and power inside of ourselves, we will try to compensate with an outer strength. Mustering of strength from the ego self that wants to come out and somehow exert itself and it comes out in ways that don’t feel right because they’re not aligned. That is a way when you have that sense and feeling, that’s a message to you that there’s a way to do this that is more aligned with an inner strength and an inner power that comes from that connection with that source, that inner compass that knows your connection with your source, with all that is. This is true strength, power, and wisdom that can come from this inner light of your own being, comes from knowledge, wisdom, and knowing of your connection and experience of your connection with your source. This is true strength in true power and it doesn’t feel icky. It feels right. It feels connected.
The only adversaries that come into play are your own being. Share on XIt’s one that is to be embraced and not feared because this is one that knows the divine essence. Often, we’re afraid to even let that shine and yet the world needs for us to let that shine. When we shine, we give others permission to shine as well. You probably know that Marianne Williamson quote, “Allow this to shine brightly inside of yourself. When this shines, you can rest in your own strength and confidence, and as you move through the world, it comes through. You don’t have to do anything or say anything. You can just be. It’s very freeing in that way.”
Al-Haqq, The Quality Of Divine Truth And Reality
I want to add Al-Haqq, the quality of divine truth, the divine reality. I’ll read a quote from The Book of Hosea. One of our teachers says, “Ya Haqq, and fold as with the light of truth so that we may know the Reality behind the reality, without being distracted by outer pictures and manifestations. Let our intentions soak in the source of truth. Let our tongues love the truth and our senses become instruments of truthfulness. Divine truth brings liberation. By giving back to the spirit, it’s natural and supernatural motive and thereby it’s purity by reminding it that nothing exists but the absolute. There is a reality that is bigger than all of us.”
With the quality Haqq, let’s breathe in to the heart space. Ya means “oh,” Haqq means truth, “Oh, truth.” Let’s breathe in as you say, “Ya.” Breathe that into your heart center and as you say, “Haqq,” bring that down through from your heart, like moving down through your core and all the way into the earth. This is a meditation from The Sufi Book of Life by Neil Douglas-Klotz that I mentioned. Breathe the sound Ya into the heart and breathe out the sound Haqq from the heart downward all the way to your feet. Allow a door to be open to the inner self then release any tension you feel.
Relax and allow the full embodiment of One’s truth, of the divine truth for this moment to be absorbed into you like rain into the fertile soil. Breathe rhythmically in an out. Breathe Ya into your heart space and Haqq, allowing that to shoot downward from the heart all the way to your feet. Breathing in Ya and shooting downward Haqq all the way from your heart, all the way to your feet. Breathing in Ya and shooting down to your feet Haqq. Maintaining your vertical alignment Ya Haqq. Continue with that.
Reading again from Neil Douglas-Klotz, “As you feel more force in the sound, keep releasing more, let go. It is a lost force, the force of the One, the divine force, not your thought of yourself that does the work, so let this be the Haqq, the divine truth.” Allowing that sound, that vibration, that energy, that force, that connection with source to be what is acting along the core of your being, breathing in Ya and downward Haqq. Continuing to breathe that in and let it ground all the way through your being, releasing any of the blocks or barriers, any of the what ifs. Allow yourself the freedom for your clarity, your courage, your creativity to be aligned and grounded in Al Haqq, the divine truth you carry in your being, in the core of your being and in the core of every cell of your being.
Knowing of your subsistence in divine truth, divine reality, divine essence, is what gives consciousness to your physical form, breath to your lungs, rhythm and beating to your heart. Allow it to be. There are people like Maya Angelou, who have given us examples, and if you’re familiar with the Sufi saints, the Saint Rabia, who have given us examples, standing in truth, certainty and confidence and that ultimate faith and trust, regardless of what life brings your way. Beautiful examples. Still sometimes a voice comes in and says, “That was them, not me.” Why not you? Let it be you. When you’re working with this and practicing this inside of yourself, the only adversaries that come into play are your own being. No one knows what’s inside of you but you and your source.
Allow yourself this inner introspective time to be with you, to practice this alignment, to feel it, to embody it and then bring in that Ya Haqq to clear any of those adversarial voices that live inside of you. Let them go. Clear them with each Haqq. Release more and let them go. Stand in your truth. Be the courage, be the confidence, be the strength. Another full and gentle breath, and let’s take a minute for gratitude and give thanks for anything that you may have received or released.
As you speak, speak directly with your source and gratitude, and any other words, feelings or yearnings that you want to share from your heart. Let your heart be face to face, eye to eye, heart to heart with the One who already knows what’s in your heart. You’ve been given freewill, so bring that will to align with your heart’s deepest yearning and bring it face to face with source. Ask directly and say yes to receiving and breathe it right in. Breathe it in and say “Yes, Ya Haqq.” With that, you can continue with that breath. Thank you for being with us.
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