Pandemic Peace

I wrote this piece to use as a guided meditation for my Mindful Schools cohort group the Sunday before my mother died. As I re-read it recently, I realized that I also wrote it for her and that it was very present as I talked with her on the phone as things started to come undone just two days later. And, as time has gone on I realize I wrote it for me, for you, for all of us. With just a few revisions from the original piece, here it is:

Pandemic Peace

Deep, deep breaths,
in…. out… in… out… in … out.
Within the solid walls of your home,
and the linear edges of your computer screen,
settle into the soft
surrounds of your body,
If your mind is at first busy,
appreciate your amazing ability to think.
Then, allow thoughts to fade or rise
 or flow away.
Relax your eyebrows and behind your eyes.
Let that sense of ease slide down to your jaw
as you allow it to slacken.
Downward into your neck,
comfort seeps to your shoulders
as muscles slowly and surely
softly, ever so softly, settle.
Now….
drop into your heart space,
that place where you really are.
Feel the expansiveness
of love… and compassion
as they gently swirl
 in and around and through.
Sit with this for a bit,
giving quiet a chance to widen.


As you let your time of stillness
come to an end,
imagine this love and compassion
that resides in your heart space
as a golden glow.
Feel it warm you from within,
while at the very same time you
let it wend its way
into the reality of room where you are,
the virtual space we share,
the wider world
where all of us everywhere
can feel its smooth and silky support.
May we feel this love in tandem.
May we embrace this compassion as a community.
May we allow this peace that can be found
in these currents of quiet
that flow from our hearts
to buoy us and sustain us
as we navigate this pandemic together.

Sarah Carlson

April 19, 2020