Lessons from the wheel of life: bridging the gap between then and now, between Native and non-Native, Maria Yraceburu updates a Quero Apache tradition - Native Intelligence

Natural Health, April, 2004 by Frances Lefkowitz

morning alignment

This daily breathing and meditation practice, which Maria Yraceburu calls "entering the silence," is her updated version of Quero Apache tradition. She recommends doing this 15- to 30-minute ritual every morning to start your day centered, peaceful and aligned with all the spiritual forces represented in the Great Wheel of Life.

1. Create a sacred space, inside or outside your home. "Sacred space is safe space," says Yraceburu, "It's where you feel that you can drop your guard and just let whatever is going to come in, happen." Your sacred space can be as simple as a corner of a room or garden with a favorite object, or as elaborate as an altar with candles, rocks and totem animals.

2. Invite spirit in with your breath. Sit alone or with partners on the floor of your sacred space. As you breathe in deeply, move both arms in a large, circular scooping motion, as if you were welcoming someone in. Then, breathe out and release your arms. Do this 12 times, once for the eight directions on the compass (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW) and once each for the dimensions of above, below, within and without.

3. Say your prayers. The time of year--the lunar cycle--determines which spirit animal you invoke. Each prayer wheel represents a two-week lunar cycle. The period between the full moon on April 5 and the new moon on April 19 is the time of the puma. Ideally, you would say one full prayer wheel--that of the puma (see page 56)--while addressing each of the directions and dimensions.

4. Meditate on all the energies you have just addressed. Meditation, for Yraceburu, means not shutting down to emptiness, but opening up to free-flowing feelings and impressions, without judging or analyzing.

5. Write down your thoughts. Yraceburu suggests keeping a journal as a milestone marker, to jot down the thoughts or feelings that come to you while meditating.