{You & Me} The Spaces Between
“The plant people have taught me to be generous and not be shy about blossoming, that is our nature. I think when others see us, it can inspiring them to open up and blossom to and we can be a field a blaze with dignity and beauty together”
— Brenda Salgado, Author, Indigenous Medicine Teacher
Main Movement Meditation
Planning and Pairing Ideas:
- Pre-plan at least one or two walks/rolls/strolls with the guided meditation alongside a loved one, partner, friend, neighbor, and family member... OR... alongside someone you have been out of connection with for a while, perhaps because of tension, disagreement, conflict, or other forms of distance.
- This might be something that is tried over the phone. For example, you might offer the invitation to walk with the meditation at the same time independently with the notion that you are still walking/moving together. Then, after the meditation is done (say 15 minutes after you agree to start moving together), you call one another and continue your movement while on the phone. Listening, checking-in, and opening.
- You might benefit with this invitation from first doing this walk with a specific someone in mind, energetically bringing them with you. From there, you might then invite them and prepare them for why you want to try this as a practice together.
Additional Practices & Meditations
- {New) Walking as Human Dignity Dedicated Practice: Moving Alongside: Additional shaping and framing for setting up and leaning into this week’s walking/movement invitation.
- {New} Walking as Humility Practice: To Know the Ground: This can be a great exercise around engaging all of our humility, postures, and positions. When we can, if we are able, sit on the dirt or feel the dirt, we can in so many ways recognize we all come from and go back to the dirt... in some what or another. This can be great with kids and families as well, specifically when moving into harder conversations or tensions, “Let’s go outside. I want to do something with you.” You then, collectively, go for a short stroll to open the neuro network, to feel the body and the heart. After 5-10 minutes of movement, find a place to sit on the ground. You might then take a few deep breaths together, pick up sticks, and play with mud for a few moments. From there, you can try lightly and lovingly re-enter any tension, harder conversations, and disagreements.
- Walking as Vulnerability Practice: How Are We Really Doing. We each carry a world of complexity and unfortunately in our time, we don’t have enough spaces that feel safe, brave, and nurturing to allow some or all of the trembling, aches, or truths to come to the surface. I highly encourage this specific practice alongside this week’s invitation with a loved one.
Additional Resources:
Prompts:
Consider writing one or a few of these down on a piece of paper. Take them with you both and if you are curious and interested, pull one out and read it first silently to yourself and then again out loud to your walking partner. You might cut them into pieces and randomly draw/split the prompts to read and guide some of your movement. Be open and attentive to what arises. Release the need to solve anything or arrive somewhere.
- Grounding Agreements (to read aloud collectively and perhaps trading off, with each person reading each agreement): As we move, I will honor you and try to listen spaciously and deeply. As we move, I will honor my breath, my truths, and my honest aches. I choose to believe the best in you. I choose to move into relationship with you and not further from you. I choose to be open and less defended. If I recognize significant tension, I will try to pause our movement to take a couple deep breaths together before I speak. I invite the sky, trees, clouds, and soil to move with us, to move with me. I ask for grace for the imperfect words I will use. I offer grace for the imperfect words you will use.
- Create a *pause and breathe* signal, or perhaps have a card that says “breathe” on it and show it when you feel like you need to re-calibrate. This way, it’s not as jarring as interrupting. If you share that you both have one and can use this when in movement, it can be such a freeing practice to honor what you are needing and modeling that for one another.
- Bag of invitations. You might try having a small bag of cut up written words. After you both reveal or share something that is difficult or heavy to (A) say and offer or (B) hear or listen to, you can show the bag and one of you chooses one of the invitations. The invitations could be: *look up at the sky for a minute*, *go to the nearest tree in silence and place your hand on it*, *breathe deeply*, *eye contact*, *keep moving with some silence, honor your movement*, *close your eyes and feel the wind and sun*.
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San Francisco and Bay Area Resources
- The Great Highway from Lincoln Ave to Sloat Ave. - 4 miles round trip
- Stow Lake in Golden Gate Park - 1 mile loop
- Philosopher’s Way in McLaren Park - 2.7 mile loop
- McLaren Park - 313 acres of trails, paths, playgrounds, etc
- SF Crosstown Trail - around 17 miles but can be walked in sections
- AllTrails - database of trails
- Mount Davidson - start at Juanita staircase, up to the cross and around the mountain
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Glen Canyon Park