Friday with the Fellows: Earth Communion Meditation and Suggested Ritual - Oklahoma Center for the Humanities
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Friday with the Fellows: Earth Communion Meditation and Suggested Ritual

This week, we are beginning a new blog series entitled “Friday with the Fellows.” These posts will feature contributions by public OCH fellows (past and present) and will focus on providing content that entertains, enlightens, and eases some of our shared stress (and boredom) during the Covid-19 crisis. This week’s post features a calming meditation and ritual by artist and psychotherapist Edgar Frias. Click here to learn more about Edgar’s work in the Tulsa community and beyond.

 

As we sit with the uncertainty, fear, ease, boredom, overwhelm, and deep grief of this global pandemic, it can be helpful to return our awareness to our body, our organs, and our connection to the earth. To feel a sense of terrestrial communion in the era of social distancing and social media overwhelm.

Feel free to listen to this meditation as is or, if you’d like, you could turn this meditation into a personal ritual. Below, I offer a few suggestions on how to do this, but feel free to improvise and use whatever you have at hand. It is important for the ceremony to feel right for you and for it to honor your intentions and realities.

First, find a comfortable place, preferably a quiet space where you will not be interrupted for a few minutes. Light a candle and set an intention as a way to begin your ritual. This intention can be a word, a sentence, or a prayer. Your intention can also be a song, humming, chanting, or a moment of dancing. After this, anoint yourself with essential oils or flower essences, or alternatively, feel free to hold a flower or a fruit in your hands. If it feels right, you can rub this plant all over yourself, starting with your face. Let yourself connect with the plant’s energies, try to get a sense of its spirit. Is it communicating with you?

The goal of this process is to start to shift our attention, clear our minds and cleanse our spirits. Returning to sensation and connection is a powerful way to shift out of other states of awareness and return to the basics. Plants are incredibly generous in the love and care they offer. If you do not have any plants near you, you could also try using a stone, a bowl of water, a feather, seeds, or a cup of tea.

Once you feel like you’ve connected with yourself and with the plant long enough, return your attention to your breath, and begin your transition into the guided meditation. Feel free to bring your plant ally with you and hold onto them during the meditation or place them on your altar or kitchen table. Feel free to write, dance, draw, or call a friend to process your experience afterward.

I hope this meditation can provide you with a moment of respite and emotional support. I also hope this meditation can remind you of the powerful resources you have both within and without.

–Edgar Frias