Discovering Your Totem Animal

The key to successful meditation is how you approach it. Do not place any expectation on what you want to achieve. All that you are required to do is listen – to your own breath, to your own soul. How many times have you said to yourself that you are too busy to sit down and meditate? Think about the last time your body felt peaceful. How did you body feel - relaxed, at ease, different? Did your heart feel different? Your sixth sense is the key to your intuitive flow. Just as a car has to be tuned to run properly, your body and mind also needs to be tuned.

How many times have you experienced a “gut feeling” only to brush it off? How many times have you looked back on a situation and wished you had listened to your gut feeling? We forget that our senses are calling out for us to listen. Meditation helps to clear out the clutter in your mind and body, allowing for new experiences to flow into your life.

This week’s meditation aims at discovering your own personal totem animal. Totem animals have been used as a sacred symbol by many different cultures for thousands of years. The Chinese astrology system is represented by twelve different animals. American Indians believe the essence of totem animals represent powerful forces and incorporate them into their daily life.

Inpsyche Tip: Before you begin this meditation to discover your own totem guide, make sure you don’t go looking through books and magazines for pictures of animals to give you inspiration. The aim of this meditation is to allow the spirit of the totem animal to flow into your soul.

   

ALL IT TAKES IS THREE SIMPLE STEPS

1. Sit or lay down in a comfortable position. Close your eyes and take a deep breath in, pause, and exhale. Repeat this 10 times.
2. Keep breathing in and out and you will soon find that your body will fall into a natural rhythm. Imagine yourself standing alone in the middle of a forest. You look around and are encircled by trees and feel you are not alone. Keep breathing in and out and slowly turn around and look at the trees. There is something behind one of the trees, but you cannot see it. You ask your totem animal to reveal itself. It slowly moves from behind the tree and comes toward you. You put your hand out to greet it and smile.
3. Remember to keep breathing in and out and begin to walk along a path and ask your totem animal to walk next to you. You see a door at the end of the path, beyond the forest and you begin to walk towards it. When you reach the door you stop and turn around, but your totem animal has gone. You step through the door and breath in and out slowly three more times. Open your eyes and slowly sit up.

Write down the totem animal that came to you. How did you feel when it approached? What did you feel about this animal? Could you relate to the totem animal? Does the totem represent something important happening in your life right now?