Memoir Writing Meditation and Visualization with Chris

Welcome.  Hey out here, this is Chris from Firefly, and I am going to lead you through a visualization right now, a kind of meditation/visualization, where we’re going to go back to a place, a place that we want to cultivate some memory about, a place that we want to write about, a place in your memory - not in your imagination, although imagination and memory will both be part of this in their own way.  And once you’ve got one, I just want you to make yourself comfortable.  Now, I should say if you’re driving or multi-tasking in any way right now, I’m going to encourage you to just turn this off.  It can wait.  This meditation visualization is for a quiet moment. So make yourself comfortable, whatever that means for you, and then just start by gently closing your eyes and taking a few nice deep breaths. 

And as you’re breathing, just let yourself sink down into the floor, the chair, the bed, wherever your body is making contact with the earth.  Trust that contact. Let yourself surrender into it.  Just give yourself this moment.  This time is for you, for you and your memory to come together.  So just relax into that idea.  Nobody needs you right now.  You’re just here for yourself, for this moment. And while you’re breathing, do a quick little scan and just see if any of your body needs some extra help to let go, to give way, if there’s any muscles that are still bracing for something… There’s nothing to brace for.  Just invite all of your muscles, all of your body systems to relax into this moment, to soften, to be heavy.

And then, as you’re breathing in and out, I want you to imagine as you inhale, that you’re drawing your attention into yourself.  You’re drawing it in, in, in, to that murky, weird, amazing, life-giving inner world that only you truly know.  And as you breathe out you’re just arriving there, you’re just sinking in.  So you breathe in, drawing your attention in - in, in, in, in, to yourself and as you breathe out you’re just settling in, sinking in. 

And then somewhere, somewhere in this inner world that you’re drawing your attention into, is the place that you want to write about, that you want to spend some time with.  So find that place in yourself.  Find the feeling of that memory, and then just set yourself up there.  Have a seat, stand in the corner, lie down, whatever it is, wherever you want to be in this memory…Physically put yourself in this place you want to remember, so that you can start looking around.  Find a vantage point that feels good. 

And then just start taking it in.  What do you see immediately?  What are the first things that come to your mind’s eye as you look around this place?  Just be curious.

What are the colours? What are the main colours that stand out in this place?  And as we’re working through this, there may be things that you don’t remember, and that’s totally fine.  You can either let your imagination rise up and think, “I bet that wall was yellow”, or “I bet the sky was grey that day”, or you can just skip over it, just spend time with what you do know.  There’s really no way to do this wrong.  We’re just taking this place in.  So take in the colours. 

And then take in the shapes.  What are the main shapes and lines that you see around you?  Are there any repeating shapes or types of lines?  Just take that in.   

How about textures?  Are there any textures that you can see, or you could even in your mind’s eye, or in your mind’s hand, reach out and feel in this place.  See if you can really feel them again imaginatively.  What is that texture like under your fingers? 

And then moving to our ears, what kind of sounds are reaching you in this place?  What kind of sounds do you remember or imagine must have been there?  Listen to the faraway sounds as well as the ones that come naturally.  What kind of sounds do you think were just beyond what you could hear when you are on this place, when you are in this place, rather?  What kind of sounds would you have been able to hear if you could just strain a little bit farther?

Now breathe in through your nose.  What kind of smells would be there, must be there, might have been there?  See if you can really smell them again.  Bring them forward with as much clarity as you can to your imagination. 

And then how about tastes?  If you were going to run your tongue around your mouth in this memory, are there any tastes that you might find there? 

Hmmm… OK, coming back to your eyes, coming back to our vision, I want you to tilt your head up in this place.  What’s above you?  If you look up at the ceiling, the sky, whatever’s up there, what do you see?  And then how about if you look down, at the ground, at your feet, what’s there?  What’s below you?  And then while you are looking down, what are you wearing?  Do you remember?  Can you imagine?  What would you have been wearing when you were in this place?  Take a second to let that come to you.

And then bringing your attention into your body, how do those clothes feel?  How do you as the person whose wearing these clothes right now?  And this isn’t just about how you feel in the clothes either, how do you feel in your body in this place?  Are there any parts of your body that are in tension being here?  And are there any parts of your body that feel loose, they feel pleasure, they feel open?  Just take a second.  I know it’s a little abstract, but see if you can feel it.  See if you can feel what your body might have felt like when you were in this place.

How does the air feel on your body?  What kind of temperature, or wind, or stillness is coming, is touching your body in this place?

If there are any other people in this place, choose one or two of them, and see if you can feel out what your connection to them feels like?  Just imagine a line going between one of those people and you.  How does that change your feeling in this place?  What’s coming towards you on that line? 

And then moving into your heart.  How’s your heart?  How does your heart feel in this place?  If your heart could say something, just one sentence, what would it say? 

OK, so in a minute, not yet – stay where you are - but in a minute I am going to invite you to gently open your eyes, and to use the line, “When I am in this place, I know…”, and do whatever you want from that line.  And of course, you’re not going to revisit everything that we just remembered.  I just want you to start with that line and see what comes based on where you’ve been in this meditation/visualization, but before we go I just want you to look for one more detail that you haven’t seen yet.  I believe there is one more important thing about this memory that hasn’t made itself known.  So just take a moment to feel into that.  What else, what else is here?  What can you see when you look back around this place?

OK, whether or not that brought you anything, just take one more look around.  We’re just going to gently wrap all of this attention up.  And then let’s bring our attention back to our breath for just a couple of breaths as a bridge, as a bridge back to the outside world.  If you want, you can imagine that you’re breathing in, as you’re breathing in you are drawing all that material together, and as you’re breathing out you’re just bringing your attention back out, back out into whatever room, whatever place you are.  Deliver yourself back there. 

And then when you are ready you can wiggle your fingers and gently open your eyes.  And I want you to start with this line or any other line that feels alive to you right now; “When I’m in this place I know… ” “When I’m in this place I know… ”  Trust your hand.  You know what to do next.  Bye.