Centering Moment with Guided Imagery

Well, the moment has finally arrived, after all the planning stress, the traveling, the organizing, and now you're standing in front of the wedding officiant with this person who you are about to marry! Your thoughts are all a crazy swirling jumble of incredible happiness, nervousness, and fear bordering on panic! You can't seem to focus, and you wonder if a person can just suddenly catch asthma! Your ears have this roaring sound, and you feel dizzy...

OMG, how are you going to get past this rush of feelings to experience the things you really want to feel?

Once again, it's Rev Beachpeople to the rescue with his centering ceremony! Before we begin, I'll ask everyone gathered (even if it's just the two of you), to close their eyes and participate in some breathing, as I get a slow and mellow little drum beat going... because I'm going to take you on a journey. It's called guided imagery, and it's purpose is to calm you down and focus your feelings. This is not hocus pocus or new age mumbo jumbo. In fact, when you take a deep breath just before going in to an important meeting or making an important decision, you are centering yourself. Many of us center ourselves regularly without labeling it as such. A term often associated with meditation, centering is, simply put, taking the time to be in the moment, to focus and calm yourself.

Here is a typical way I do this:

Moment of Silence (Guided Imagery)

Before we begin, I would ask all of us present today to take a moment to pause, to breathe in and breathe out (several times), and to travel with me to the Great River of Time. As we stand on the grassy banks of the river, smelling the sweet freshly cut grass, I'd like you to have seat and immerse your hand in the cool water. Spread your fingers wide and search in its crystal depths for the heartbeat of your great, great, great grandmother. Open yourself to her. Can you see her face? She's waited so long to have you know her. Know that even if you can’t see her clearly, she loves you as only a grandmother could, and reaches out across time to tell you how so very proud she is of you, and how much she loves you. Now find your own heartbeat and allow it to merge with hers until they become one. Come forward in time now, and carry that heartbeat to this moment. Know that because of this special day, your grandmother will be with you always. Blend your heartbeat and hers with the rhythm of the sea. Listen. Let us take this moment to center ourselves by listening in to the heartbeats of your history, and the sounds of the earth. Leave behind your cell phone, your e-mail, and your worries. Carry only what you can carry in your heart. Listen to the sound of the waves as they pass from side to side... the sizzle of water receding from the beach; the next wave arriving to take its place; the feel of the air on your skin, the sun's warmth. Listen. Feel. If you are lucky, you'll find yourself in this moment with the one that you love. Feel your presence as a prayer.

Be thankful for this gift. Return from this moment changed.

And then we will breathe in and out a few more times with our eyes slowly opening, finding ourselves refreshed and ready for what comes next!

Simple!