I pledge allegiance to my body, which has served so nobly and so faithfully for all these many years. I offer thanks for my strong legs and fierce belly and clear eyes and wide-open heart. I acknowledge the incredible might and mystery that has kept my lungs breathing and my limbs moving and my hands reaching out to the wider world.
Oh, dear body, how difficult I have made your journey - sometimes deliberately and sometimes in confusion. Perhaps I've overworked you or underfed you or shunned or shamed you. I have shown you so little mercy and have given you few reprieves. And I have too often treated you as unworthy or unbeautiful or not good enough.
I have even lived with the illusion that something is truly wrong with you (which means, of course, with me). I have labored with the mistaken assumption that with enough will and determination I might shape you into something other than who you already are.
And what you already are, my one and only portal to the world, is beautiful. You have taken me on unfathomable journeys and have led me through unexpected adventures. You have been my home for happiness and bright thoughts. You have enabled me to participate in acts of creation and deep care. You are my lifeline to the infinite and the vessel through which the world's greater light flows.
I pledge allegiance to you (to me), beautiful body. I promise, from this day forth, to honor and appreciate your strength and your steadfastness. I promise to take good care of you and to offer you ample opportunities for nourishment and fresh air and rest and delight. I pledge to treat you with same compassion and tenderness that I strive to offer all beings. I bow to you (to me). Thank you for being my home in the world.
And what you already are, my one and only portal to the world, is beautiful. You have taken me on unfathomable journeys and have led me through unexpected adventures. You have been my home for happiness and bright thoughts. You have enabled me to participate in acts of creation and deep care. You are my lifeline to the infinite and the vessel through which the world's greater light flows.
I pledge allegiance to you (to me), beautiful body. I promise, from this day forth, to honor and appreciate your strength and your steadfastness. I promise to take good care of you and to offer you ample opportunities for nourishment and fresh air and rest and delight. I pledge to treat you with same compassion and tenderness that I strive to offer all beings. I bow to you (to me). Thank you for being my home in the world.
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This blessing was written for Claudia's January 2017 online immersion
called Illumination: Entering the New Year with Rekindled Light.
