Credit Chris Lawton
Episode Summary
In these less than normal times, when the world is crying out for change, it can be difficult to tell which way is up, let alone make decisions on how to move forward. But liminality offers us the opportunity to slow down and look within. What if we could find a way to flow with the chaos? What if, inside, we actually know what we need to do next?
Here are some steps to create a ritual for flow:
1. Create a quiet space.
2. Slow down and center.
3. Notice the words, phrases and images in our head.
4. Find ourselves in the center of the chaos.
5. Follow our intuition and go with the flow of the moment.
6. Jot any ideas or plans down to consider later.
7. Rest the body for a few moments if possible.
8. Eat! And review the list of ideas we made earlier.
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About the Show
Shame Piñata is hosted by Ritual Artist Colleen Thomas, a Certified Meditation and Mindfulness teacher who helps people make sense of life through ceremony. Music by Terry Hughes.
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Full Transcript
We are in a liminal space. We are between the worlds. We have left the pre-COVID world behind us and moved onto the path toward a new reality. What will it bring?
In these less than normal times, when the world is crying out for change, it can be difficult to tell which way is up, let alone make decisions on how to move forward. But liminality offers us the opportunity to slow down and look within. What if we could find a way to flow with the chaos? What if, inside, we actually know what we need to do next? This is Shame Piñata. I’m Colleen Thomas.
Welcome to Shame Piñata, where we talk about creating rites of passage for real-life transitions. If you've been listening to Shame Piñata for a while, you know that we began season 1 with a focus on weddings & commitment ceremonies. However, since COVID-19 came on the scene, we have been dividing our time between talking about the commitment ceremony we might one day plan and building ceremonies we can do right now to help with day to day life in the middle of a pandemic.
We started with a simple ceremony to release fear and center in our strength as the pandemic began in March, then moved on to a ritual to release overwhelm. That one has been very popular, by the way, as it continues to be a useful practice. I'll put a link in the show notes if you'd like to know more.
Today we are going to spend some time talking about flow. And chaos. And flow. Because we are now not only surfing a pandemic, but also birthing a new world. The protests that are happening in response to the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many other Black people have pitted protesters against the police and changed the focus of everything. It's been a whirlwind and continues to be. Today we will create space to find out what this chaos and flow is offering us, and how we can learn, grow, and move with it.
But right now, before we go any further, I want to point out that I am a white person with a white voice. And it's wonderful that you're listening because I love to talk ritual with you, but I want to make sure that you are also surrounding yourself with Black voices right now and always. So check the show notes for links to four of my favorite podcasts: Color Me Conscious, Code Switch, The Stoop, and About Race with Reni Eddo-Lodge. Go ahead and check the show notes now, while we listen to some music.
In creating ceremony, the first thing we want to do is to find a time where we won't be disturbed, in this case maybe an hour. If this is unrealistic for you, given your whole family is under one roof 24/7, maybe try for 20-30 minutes. It will also be helpful to have a little bit of space to move around and you might also find it useful to have access to music, a journal, and some water.
Once we're in a quiet space, we want to just slow down. Just sit. And breathe. Notice. What sounds do we hear? How does the floor feel against our bare feet or our stocking feet? What does it feel like to have a closed door in between us and the rest of the household? Or what does it feel like to be sitting still and listen to the sounds of an empty house? Notice. How are we breathing? Can we count from 1-10 on our breaths?
After we begin to quiet down a little bit, we can expand our noticing to what is going on inside of us. What words and phrases are swirling through our head? What images are still there from something we saw this morning or last night? The words of a friend, a voice from the protests, an image from the news, an image from our worries and fears. We're just noticing, still. We are making little piles of the things that are in our heads, like making piles of coins on the table as we empty our pockets. The things we have collected over time, the images we have been carrying around with us. We can write them down or speak them out loud to witness them. So, we take time for that.
These things, words, phrases, images are part of the mandala of this moment, this expanded, crappy, wonderful, awful, beautiful moment. Each moment is always so many things at the same time. We're just noticing. Noticing and setting a few of these things down as we gently look through them all. It's important here to be organic. Let it be messy. Yes, we're setting down each thing, but we're not trying to organize them. We're in process, everything is moving. We allow everything. We allow all of me and we allow all of you.
Now that we've slowed down and taken a simple inventory of some of what we've been holding, it's time to center. It's time to find ourself in the midst of chaos, find ourself at the center of the wheel. What can be helpful here is to bring our attention to a single thing. The tip of our nose. A pinkie finger. One thing about ourself that feels true. A memory from earlier in the year, a simple, clear moment, maybe a boring moment. And now that we're centered, we become conscious again of the chaos and change swirling around us. We feel into it and notice what wants to move. What's already moving and inviting us along? Where are we being led? What's the pull? What do we want to do with this energy?
Now, this is a moment when the mind will most likely jump and start thinking of Things. To. Do. That's fine, that's what the mind is for. And that's what the journal is for - to jot those ideas down, ideas like take a class, attend a protest, read a book, call a friend. So we will write those down to save them for later, and return to the intuition. For now, we will be intuitive, let our body lead, follow our impulses, let whatever wants to move be birthed through us. We can cry, move, dance, scream, connect to the Ancestors, make art, pray or just sit and notice the energy of the moment.
Once we get into the intuitive flow, we want to really give ourselves a chunk of time to stay in it. This is the healing part of the ceremony, this is where the change is happening. This is where we are making sense of the chaos, where we are letting go of the river bank and giving in to the pull of the water. We want to do lots of deep breathing because energy moves on the breath. So we follow the flow as long as it asks us to, and when we're ready, we allow the activity to come to a natural close and give ourselves time to fully feel any emotions that have come up.
To transition out of the ceremony, we will take time for lie down and rest if possible, to allow the shifts to integrate. Maybe give thanks or think of things we are grateful for. And then when we feel ready, we will be sure to drink lots of water and eat something!
While we're eating, we can review the list we made of all the things our mind suggested we might want to do next and scratch somethings off or add some new ideas. It might not be a bad thing to add some ideas for self-care, things like remembering to keep breathing, get good sleep, keep our blood sugar even, stay hydrated, and make room for laughter and tears. While we're are at it, we can pick one or two of the podcasts from our show notes to check out this week.
As humans, we are not comfortable living in liminality. We like things to be straightforward, known, and predictable. Right now we are all in between the world we used to inhabit and the next one. I hope this simple ceremony provides you with a template to build one for yourself or for your community so that you can recharge and center and return to the important work of building the new world.
Our music is by Terry Hughes. If you like our show, please take a minute to share it with a friend. That is one of the very best ways you can support this new baby show. Learn more at shamepinata.com. I’m Colleen Thomas. Thanks for listening.