Inventory of Tenderness for your weekend
A two- part meditation for the new moon weekend (but you can do it at any time of the month)
“You are a moon bursting with light and energy and you need to rest now. You need to empty and rest. Exhale all that you’ve been carrying and release it into the ground.“
It’s spring—and I’m sending you this small gift a few days before the new moon as a way to say thank you…
Thank you for being part of my Substack world. For reading my posts and Notes, for leaving your wonderful comments so I can see you. Even for a moment, each glimpse of you lifts my heart.
This is one of those gentle, soul-softening, come-inside-yourself practices that I return to again and again. It was channeled—intuitively brought into being—a few years ago during our first New Moon Circle at the School of Magic. That gathering has since closed, but I’m reintroducing it here, on Becoming Real.
As part of The Reflection Work, my ongoing series of workshops in conversation with paid subscribers, I’ll be sharing these recorded meditations—and, from time to time, we’ll gather live on Zoom.
A Note Before You Listen
This audio was recorded in 2023, during a time when I was experiencing what I can only describe as too much energy. I say early in the recording that there was “no reason” for me to feel anxious—that my life was okay and the people I loved were safe. I want to gently acknowledge that, listening now, that phrase might land with some dissonance.
Here in 2024, many of us are feeling deep, rightful concern about the direction of our country, the shifting political climate, and the very real impact these fast-moving changes are having on people we love, communities we care about, and the earth we share. So much is not okay. And our bodies know it.
Still, especially in times like these, we need practices that bring us back to presence. To the ground of our own being. To blessing.
This recording is one of those practices.
You’ll be guided through an inventory of tenderness—a simple, somatic practice of placing your hands on your body and noticing what’s asking for attention. We’ll read from Mark Nepo’s Book of Awakening, reflect on the difference between getting attention and giving it, and then move into a guided meditation where you become the moon, allowed to rest and empty.
I hope it blesses you.
I hope it brings you back to something soft and true.
And I hope, above all, it reminds you:
You are allowed to rest.
You are allowed to feel.
You are allowed to meet this world with a quiet, uncomplicated yes.
— With love, always
Amy
Audio timeline
0:00 Introduction, with a reading from Mark Nepo’s Book of Awakening
7:45 Inventory of Tenderness toward the self
15:00 You are the moon, resting in a field of wildflowers, empty of light
22:00 Prompts for your journaling with 10 minutes of silent writing time
34:00 Closing remarks and instruction
“We don’t have to love what we don’t love. . . how might I bless what comes toward me — whatever it is — with a soft uncomplicated yes.”
I am so blessed by you.
Amy
xxoo
Blessings received, and mine to you.