Awakening: Grounding, activating Body-Earth connections.
Please click on the video below to begin the activation.
We invite you to play this audio track by Joshua Classic Roots DePerry while you read and reflect upon the Teachings shared below by Philip Davis and Isaiah Gilson. Joshua has incorporated sounds and tones from our EAST location Ashbridges Bay.
Audio Transcription
Notice the surfaces of your feet connecting with the ground, or your seat connecting with your chair. Imagine yourself in the centre of a magnificent field of flowers on a warm sunny day. The flowers are gently swaying in the wind.
Each flower represents someone or something important to you. Gesture repeatedly with your hands to fan their sweet essence towards you.
Some flowers have fallen to the ground. Reach down to pick them up, gathering and cradling them in your hand(s). Invite your body to rock or sway as you comfort and honour these fallen flowers.
As you sway, extend your hands outwards inviting your body to be the flower stem. Your fingers may begin to blossom, and your heart, eyes, and imagination become sweet with the fragrance of the flowers. Your movements bring good wishes to all.
Close your eyes and imagine your flower stem bulbs rooting deep into the ground beneath your feet and continue to sway enjoying this time with your dancing flowers.
And when you are ready, return the flowers to the ground in any way that feels right for you.
Indigenous Teaching from Philip Davis
When we Smudge we offer the essence of the medicine to bring us to a good mind, to allow us to focus on what’s important in this moment so that we may send her thoughts and prayers to Creator, to assist in our daily lives because we’re only human.
Smudging Ceremony with Isaiah Gilson
To assist in staying present, become aware of the Earth we all stand upon. Our hands are one way we form and control our exterior environment. Reach down and grab hold of the Earth. You cannot but that’s okay, we cannot control every single aspect of our lives. You are here and that’s all that matters presently.
An Offering from Isaiah Gilson
Smudging is a good place to start learning/understanding ceremony, also understand not all Indigenous People smudge in the same manner, this is one way of many. Also keep in mind that there is no right or wrong way to smudge, only your way that feels natural and right to you, trust your body and spirit through your process. All of these steps are my personal ways of being, related to smudging and my general approach to my moment to moments in the day to day.
Arriving; Awakening; Sensing; Discovering; Connecting;
Creating; Naming; Imagining; Integrating; Reflecting; Concluding