How To Access Your Power

Ever felt like you were no longer comfortable in your own skin? And when you wanted to be open and present, you found yourself shutting down instead? You also didn’t feel in control of yourself. One situation would feel great, but in the next, you’d be ill at ease. You wished you could feel free and open all the time, connecting easily with the people around you, without fear or anxiety. Instead, you felt like there were two programs running—one that was open and free and another that was doubtful and scared.

All of us have experienced inner conflict in different ways. Sometimes it happens because of a goal. You decide that you want to do or be something, but you have to shut down another important part of yourself to make it happen. You might also have subconscious memories that prevent you from fully succeeding at your ideal, and these memories or patterns are often lodged so deeply in your body-psyche that you don’t even know they’re there.

This guided meditation will show you how to become grounded and put you in touch with the full range of choices between the extremes of self-expression and self-protection. To prepare yourself, it’s important to first understand two things:

• Conflict is a normal part of life. This, all by itself, goes a long way to defusing the unease that a lot of us feel in the face of conflict, both inner and outer.
• All responses start from an underlying positive intention. The habit formed from the intention might no longer be useful, but the original intention had its own value and can be appreciated for that.

The meditation itself includes the following steps:

1. Anchor yourself by experimenting with your connection to the ground and the balance of weight from your feet to your pelvis, and see how that affects your sense of self-expression and safety. This sense of groundedness will be a reliable foundation of strength and self-reliance, no matter what the situation.
2. Imagine yourself in different situations, both challenging and safe. At the same time, imagine your “ideal” way to be, and see how that’s affected by different circumstances. Also notice when you open and soften, when you move to protect yourself, and how those shifts feel in your body.
3. As you shift back and forth, imagining the alternate situations of protection and vulnerability, you’ll gently and gradually increase the speed of the shift. This will bring you to experience the midpoint, the place where you can feel and appreciate both patterns at the same time.
4. Keeping both choices in mind, experiment with different shades and degrees of each as you allow your body wisdom to guide you from that strong, grounded place to make the best choice for each situation.

This process is intentionally a gradual one. Why? Because the changes it creates are profound, so it’s best to approach the work in small chunks.

As you repeat the meditation over the weeks, your subconscious and your body will start to respond to the pattern shifts, so if you feel confused or off-center for a while, that’s OK. It means that your subconscious is readjusting itself at a deep level. You might also find that you need more sleep during this period. That’s good news—it means that your psyche is shedding old patterns and incorporating new, more useful ones.

Best of all, you’ll learn how to resolve internal conflicts and be powerful within yourself and with others.