Take a moment to find a comfortable seat or reclined position. one that feels effortless and free. A space to melt into where breath becomes quiet and sustainable. Notice your breath around your nostrils perhaps. And then consider shifting your attention to your navel center. Notice how the belly moves forward on the quiet inhale and back toward your embodied home, your spine and your center of being on exhale. Notice. Appreciate. Give thanks for the very gift of life and breath.
Now you are invited to imagine a tiny flame behind your navel center kindled by your very being. Notice it resting in your body, your home, lighting your way, warming your existence. Feel the flame growing a tiny bit bigger.
Notice where your body needs some warmth or a bit of igniting. Is it your heart center? Your mind might need some healing or maybe your throat. Gently witness the flame moving toward that space slowly and then resting there. Allow the flame to settle in that space. Perhaps it rests in the heart center (anahata, in Sanskrit), if healing, opening or even protection is called for. Or maybe the throat center is advocating for more communication, whether that’s increasing gentle listening or speaking truth more clearly. Or the mindseye may be requesting peace. Or your flame may choose to sit in your creative navel center, supporting purpose and ease. Creativity and connection.
The home, the mishkan, the huppahMarriage canopy symbolizing the couple's new home. may shift and change, travel and fade, but the flame does not go out. The constant home is within us. Renew the devotion to your light daily, regularly, no matter the outside circumstances.
Rest in healing light. inherently resilient, loving, healing, renewing, joyful and at peace. Feel these words:
fire on the altar
flame in our hearts
candle illuminating the scroll of our souls
lo tikhbeh
the eternal flame in us lights the path
reflected reminder in the nerCandle tamid upon aron ha-kodesh
ancient and written and yet to be told
alive, we rest in deep self-trust
awake, we ease into communal connection
knowing God guides our internal flame
reflected in the eternal flame of the ner tamid upon aron ha-kodesh
it lights the scroll of our souls
the lantern that reveals each next step of the path
with ease and courage, joy and love
lo tikhbeh, eternal flame
light the path of holy goodness
Come back to the flame within you and begin to imagine it tucking into its original form and making its way back down your spine to reside just behind your navel center. Where it lives, sustains, nourishes, heals and ignites. Whether we are aware of its existence at all times or remember from time to time, it is always there – glowing and guiding. serving and supporting.
When you are ready, slowly reopen your eyes if they are closed or allow a breath to arrive to acknowledge this sacred time of reflection.
