Tea and Zen at Meditation Sans Frontieres
GUIDED VISUALIZATION - The Olde Magic Shop -Mystic Curiosities
Be in a still quiet space, in your mind and in your heart. I want you to imagine that there's a carpet, an old rug covering a wood floor and I want you to lift that rug and as you do so you notice underneath an old-fashioned trap door and you're curious. So you lift up the trap door and the hinges creak. It's obvious that this trap door hasn't been opened in a long time. There's bits of cobwebs around the edges underneath and you can see going down from the trap door there are some steps, old wooden steps that are very worn where people for hundreds of years have gone up and down these steps. Gradually, carefully, you being more curious still to send the stairs, the stairs. You go down 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And you step off the bottom step into a courtyard, an old stone courtyard. And as you turn, you can see out of the courtyard and you can see a couple street. It's very quiet but there is one cart and horse going by with a man atop who has one of those long stem pipes and he appears to be very, very happy and content. And your curiosity now is really up and you step out from the stone courtyard onto the street turning right. And I want you to imagine that you are going to walk up this cobblestone street. It's late evening. It's fall. It's the autumn. Very quiet. Nobody's around. And you walk up the street and I want you to imagine that you're walking up towards a town that you're familiar with, a village that could be real in this lifetime or a figment of your imagination. Perhaps we could say just as real, even though it's a figment of your imagination. And walking up the street, you go. And as you walk up the street towards this village or this town, you see on this corner across the street, this shop. It's called the old magic shop. And although it is lit at some light, some of a dark golden color, all the four rooms that you can see on the building from the outside are lit by candle light. And you are pulled to cross the street and to come into the shop. And it's a shop that has a brass bell that announces your arrival that goes off as you enter the shop. And you're immediately hit with this historical scent of parchment and all wood. And the places dimly lit. But you do see that the counter on the left, a very wise old man, he looks very wise. He has a long white beard that comes down almost to his belly button. Where's robes? Beautiful silk robe. And he tells you that as he says to you, welcome, he tells you that you're there to find something that there is something in this shop, that when you find it will be yours to keep forever and that no one will ever can ever take it away from you. And your gaze turns to look inside the shop and it again is very dimly lit. There are lots of cobwebs and dust, ancient cobwebs and dust from a long ago. And the room is filled with books, with parchments, with scrolls, with cupboards, old bookcases and desks. And the wise man tells you that you are to know and look. And that there's definitely there, there's something there for you that when found will be yours to keep forever and ever and no one or anyone can take it away from you. And he asks you now to step into the shop fully and starts a look in all the nooks and crannies for this gift. It's a gift of something that will be yours forever that no one can ever take away from you. So look around the shop, take your time. And as you're looking, you're asked by the wise man that when you do find this gift in the shop, that will be yours to keep forever and ever. But before you leave the shop, you have to drop off something that's burdened you, that's been heavy on your heart and soul, perhaps for a long, long time, but has not served you to carry for a long time. And now is the time to let it go so that you can fully embrace your gift. It could be anything, it could be an old book, it could be a candle, it could be. It's a metaphor though, that this gives that you will pick up that you will find in this shop that will be yours to keep forever represents peace, love, equanimity, a peace that perhaps you've never known before, that you've had a sense of its presence for so long, perhaps for all your life. But you never knew where to look, but now you do, and you're in a place where that can now be found. So take your time, take your time in the old magic shop and find your gift. And the wise man tells you that as you're looking this lemonade, ginger lemonade and some cookies. The cookies are fresh, they're not as old as the shop, but are laying on the counter there for your refreshments, if you wish. So taking your time going around the shop, something will appear, perhaps it's in a drawer, so don't forget to open the drawers. Don't forget before you leave the shop to let go, you can just let go. And a way of letting go that is so powerful is just that you quit resisting. You don't resist anymore, you just let it go, surrender it into the space, into space, perhaps by just dropping it on the floor and let the alchemical process of letting go and surrendering to the beautiful gift that you perhaps have found, if not just keep taking your time, and that you can fully embrace the state of being that you never thought possible. It's always been there. It's been hard to find. Now, when you have let go of that which has burdened you, and you found your gift and you've picked it up, then remember no one can ever take it away from you. You can start towards the door. If you haven't finished yet, don't worry, take your time. The gift is there. And start to move towards the entrance to the shop, bidding farewell to the wise men. And as you come out of the shop with your gift, you hear the doorbell above the door ring, and you turn right heading back now to from whence you came, walking up the cobblestone street, back to the courtyard, when you're left and you walk into the courtyard, when they're like magic or the steps, the well-worn steps that take you and your gift, up to the room where you started this journey. And so I want you to take the steps. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, and there, opening the trap door. You come back into the room from whence you started with your newfound gift, a gift that had always been there. But the burden that you carried had always blocked it from here. But now, the gift is fully present in your life. Peace, love, a love that's beyond measure, and the equanimity and the sense of just absolute safety that it provides is now yours. So coming back into the room fully, you can close the trap door and put the little rug carpet, whatever it was that it was under back in place. Just spend a few minutes embracing the energy of the journey that you have just been on. Breathe.