Alignment Pilgrimage : The Practical Details

FRAMEWORK, WHAT TO EXPECT & CLARIFYING DETAILS
Thanks for the interest, friends! I’m thrilled to have companionship for this inner pilgrimage I'm starting tomorrow. (Read up on the premise.) Because that’s the nature of a pilgrimage, right? Only YOU can walk your pilgrimage and only I can walk mine. I’m merely volunteering to be our fearless Cruise Director for this particular pilgrimage/sadhana. Below is a clear outline of what to expect and what the guardrails are for our walk together. I think it's helpful to see what exactly the approach will be and how you and I can make best use of the time. 

• 6:30am - MEDITATE: Starting Thursday, May 20, we’ll gather on Instagram Live (for better or worse) each morning at 6:30am and meditate for 9 minutes. A timer will be set and you can totally do this on your own if you’re not on Instagram Live. I realize Instagram won't resonate with everyone, apologies. Meditating at the beginning does a couple of things: it gives a us time to get settled and link up before we actually start writing and in my humble experience, meditating before writing clears the mind clutter before diving in. (If you do not meet Live at Dawn, please know it is highly recommended that you still meditate for 9 minutes before working with the daily writing prompt.) Why so damned early? you might be asking. Well, Dawn is one of those liminal times where the magic is really real and there’s profound value to the rigorous nature of connecting at Dawn. Besides, I’m confident we can do this together for a week.
• 6:39am - WRITE: When the timer goes off after 9 minutes, I’ll introduce the day’s prompt and we’ll write.  Important tip: no typing! Write in your own magical handwriting with thoughts flowing through your body and out the pen in your hand. Ideally you’ll do one sheet of paper for each day of this 7-day process. Use front and back if necessary. We will write for exactly 15 minutes, using the daily prompt using a “Zoom In / Zoom Out” method. A timer will be set to be respectful of our time. I'll take responsibility for keeping time and suggesting the pivot from “Zoom In” to “Zoom Out” writing prompts. You can always come back to writing after we part ways. 
  • Zoom In / Zoom Out: This is simply the bodhisattva principle baked into this process. It’s about me and my little life as much as it’s about the whole of all beings. We are all connected so we zoom in and we zoom out. 
  • SHARE: It’s possible we could briefly share one word or phrase that stands out from the writing. At this point there will only be a few minutes left in our 30 minutes. We may simply be complete. The commitment here is only 30 minutes so we can all get on with our day.
• DAYTIME INVITATION: Wear the color of the day somewhere in your clothing all day plus I’d encourage you to dive into the other prompts about what to pay attention to throughout the day. Why? Because the actual day of the week is an important player in this pilgrimage process. What day of the week it is is one of the few things that most humans on earth agree upon. Think about it: this is how all the world's banks, trains and planes run on time. We’ll be harnessing the power of this fact as we zoom in and zoom out of the writing prompts and the process as a whole. (It's ok if you don't know what I'm talking about yet. All will be revealed.)
• ANOMALIES: 
  • On Sunday (5/23) there will be no morning meeting and instead we’ll do an evening Zoom check in at 8pm (Dusk!) for exactly 40 minutes (the length of a free Zoom account session). 
  • On Tuesday (5/25) it’s optional to meet earlier at 5:30am for a longer time together to hear the Devi Mahatmayam (it's a trip!) recited or just come at 6:30am like the other days for the regular writing flow. Both anomalies are intentional.

PLATFORMS: 

• For better or worse I’ll be going with Instagram for the daily writing prompts. It’s the platform that makes the most sense in terms of ease being able to join Live with minimal fuss, accessibility by anyone with an Instagram account. Not on Instagram? You can always join and then delete your account after this science experiment is over. I’ve cleared away the chaff (aka photo history) on my Instagram account and have made the whole thing public in order to start over with humble detachment. I see these actions as helpful and practical to me for this process. You can find me at @aurahtheadept on Instagram.
• For Sunday night (5/23), we’ll use Zoom. For that reason, please email me with your interest if you have not already so I can invite you to the Zoom. If you’ve already emailed me, I’ll make a note to invite you. 

HOW TO ACTIVELY (or passively) PARTICIPATE: 

• If this 7-day science experiment speaks to you, I encourage you to actively participate! I’ve been working with the planets, colors and how they connect with the days of the week for a few years now and it’s pretty fascinating. If you’re not on Instagram or can't attend for some reason, you can read the prompts on the Field Notes blog. I’m going to post one master prompt outline. Then you can participate on your own or in person as you see fit from day to day. 
• If it feels right, again, I encourage you to make time for the writing sessions each morning starting 5/20 through 5/26 from 6:30-7:00am for accountability. Don’t underestimate the superpower of accountability! Attending on Instagram isn’t mandatory but please know that I’m committing to meditate and write with when I say I will and there’s a ton of benefit to doing a disciplined inner pilgrimage like this together, even if just in spirit. 
• Again, be sure to email me if you want to come to the Sunday 8pm Zoom for a mid-experiment check in. I'd love to connect. And of course, you’re always welcome to pause and reflect in your own way, on your own at Dusk on Sunday. 
• Be prepared to set aside some personal time on Wednesday evening (5/26) the Super Flower Blood Moon and Buddha Purnima to make and burn (or bury!) a despacho in support of the Prayers we develop during our time together. Don’t worry, it’s not hard to make one and there are as many ways to do one as there are people. Finally, please know that I’ll be making my despacho on behalf of all of us so don’t fret if you can’t build a nice big fire where you are! (There’s also a method where you bury your despacho.)
  
  

 ~Showing up for yourself is the sadhana~ 

“See” you tomorrow morning (5/20) at 6:30am. You now know what to do. May it be so.