Welcome. You are listening to Our Mindful Nature, formerly titled The Mindful Minute. I'm your host, Meryl Arnett. And this podcast explores the deep connection between land and self, through nature-based meditations and meditative experiences that invite us back into the longing, to each other, to our ancestors, to the earth, and to all beings that make up this universe.
If you would like to access these meditation practices as standalone audio files, please subscribe to my newsletter at merylarnett.com. It's free, and you'll receive a new mini meditation each week, along with behind-the-scenes content and bonus material for each podcast episode. All right, grab a cup of tea, pop in your headphones, and find a comfy seat. Let's settle in for today's episode.
We are talking about the stagmation layer, and I'm so excited. I have been sort of thinking about and half-working on this series for a couple months now. And it came about from one of my all-time favorite topics, and half of y'all either from class or the podcast have heard me talk multiple times about the Voyager Space Expedition. It is one of those stories that captured my imagination a decade ago, probably, and I just can't get enough of it.
And so, in case you're not a total nerd like me, the recap of that is the Voyager Space Expedition was two spaceships, launched in the late 70s, with the mission of leaving our solar system. That was the plan. And one of the unique things about this particular mission is they commissioned this record. It's made of gold, a gold record that has what they feel sums up the experience of planet Earth.
It has amazing music from all cultures. It has a mother talking to a baby. It has the sound of whales, just the sounds of our human experience. With the idea that maybe one day this record will be found by some other life form and get to have snippets of Earth experience. So that's the magical backdrop. And they over time passed each of the planets. Voyager 1, once it passed Neptune, turned around, took a picture of Earth from Neptune.
That is the very famous pale blue dot photo that I have talked about in previous episodes. You can Google it if you want to see it. It shows planet Earth from Neptune, which it looks like a speck of dust. It is unbelievably mind blowing. And then it passed Pluto, and then it kept going. And somewhere around like 2008, 910 scientists started being like Voyager 1 is about to leave the solar system.
Any day now this spaceship is going to tip into interstellar space. And we they could tell by the sounds like the sounds of the particles coming from the sun, the wind, the solar wind was getting softer and softer. And then in 2011, scientists said, huh, we're not out. We haven't left. But we're someplace different. And they ultimately labeled this place the stagnation layer.
And I want to read you like little snippets of what was in the like NASA press release. This was back from 2011. So the scientists write this new region seems to be a kind of cosmic purgatory. In it, the wind of charge particles streaming out from the sun has calmed our solar systems magnetic field has piled up and the higher energy particles from inside the solar system are slowly leaking out into interstellar space.
Like cars piled up at a clogged freeway off ramp, the increased intensity in the magnetic field shows that inward pressure from inner stellar space is compacting what is outside is pushing back. Lastly, what we find out is that voyager one hit the stagnation layer and stagnated for a while and voyager two did not. Okay. So I'm reading this and I'm thinking I have absolutely been in cosmic purgatory before. Have you not?
Have you experienced what you would call cosmic purgatory at some point in your life. Are you in it right now? The answer is very possibly yes. These moments where we feel stuck, confused, lost, floating. You know, I sometimes like maybe I think about it as a void. Sometimes I think about it like I was trying to walk through a doorway and somehow I got stuck in the doorway for an indeterminate amount of time.
And maybe I thought I knew what was on the other side of the doorway and maybe now I'm not that sure anymore. And if we, you know, so often I reference these greater teachings in meditation that from many lineages and many cultures continue to say as goes the outside so goes the inside. The landscape of the universe is the landscape within us and every time I mention that I reference like how poetic and beautiful that sounds and also so real.
And when I think about cosmic purgatory when I think about the stagnation layer like what could you need a better metaphor to go all right. Those tantric stages were not making up something pretty they were actually telling the truth. We are made of the elements we do have the macro cause on the cosmos as an internal experience and the beauty of that is all our answers exist out there too.
The solar system the universe is telling us what to do when we're stuck. We just have to remember to listen. When I think about that idea of like believing in these greater teachings and trusting that we can listen for the wisdom. I always come back to the story of the Buddha's enlightenment you've heard it before. Yeah. He for years and years and years is trying all of these very extreme practices to become enlightened.
Struggle struggle teacher teacher extreme a set of system and eventually he's ready to give up and he says one more time. I will sit under this tree and I will meditate and I will not stop and I will see what happens. He sits down under the tree and he closes his eyes to do his meditation and the personification of self doubt arises it's in the in the story it is a demon Mara.
Mara arises and hurls all manner of distraction. While the man we know is the Buddha is meditating and no matter what distraction no matter how tempting no matter how scary no matter how loud no matter what he does not stop. He continues to remember these are only in my mind and can and Mara gets so mad she screams down her hand she says who do you think you are who gives you the authority to ignore me and to trust yourself so strongly.
And the Buddha leans down and puts his hand on the earth and says by the power of the earth by the authority of the earth. So now let's look at our meditation practice because my guess is many of us sit down to meditate with the idea that we're going to get somewhere. I'm going to experience something or achieve something I'm going to step through the storeway and it will be different. And then we sit down and we meditate and the internal dialogue might go like this isn't it. I'm not there yet.
Hurry up. Right. And then the dialogue behind that is who gives you the authority to just sit there. Who gives you the authority to sit there and think that you might have some of the insight of those amazing sages from times past. Who gives you the insight to think you can send a spaceship out past the known bounds of our solar system. And meditator and scientist alike leans down and places his or her hand on the earth and says by the authority of the earth. I don't have to get anywhere.
I don't have to know what's on the other side of the doorway to stay. And so what are the lessons we might glean from when we're feeling stuck, whether that's in our actual meditation practice or in our lives off the cushion. I think the first one is this when Voyager one hit the stagnation layer. It was 30 something years into its journey. 30 something years into his journey. So it hits stagnation. It's not like NASA can run out and do something about it. They can't send another spaceship.
It will take three decades. And so what did they do? They named where the spaceship was in some sort of stagnation. And then they waited and they watched and they listened. Every day they said, I wonder what will happen today. I wonder what will happen today. In December of 2011, NASA released the press release naming the stagnation layer. And in August of 2012 Voyager one tipped into interstellar space.
So for at least nine months, that at least the public knows about, Voyager one was in stagnation. And every day for nine months, scientists wondered is today the day it tipped over into something new. I think there is no better lesson, advice or insight we can get when it comes to the moments that were stuck, whether that's in practice or in life. We show up every day. We name where we are. And we wonder, I wonder what will happen next.
And there's something powerful in saying, I claim that power. I, you, right? Each of us claims the power to go stagnation is a naturally occurring phenomenon. I didn't do something wrong. I'm not stuck because there's a problem. This is just the moment I hit this region. And you'll remember that I pointed out Voyager 2 didn't hit this region. They have all kinds of hypothesis why. But the fact of the matter is we all have our own journey.
And so when you're stuck and you're looking at your family and your friends and all those pretty people on Instagram that don't seem stuck. We just remember stagnation is a naturally occurring phenomenon. And I too will eventually tip out. So we're going to practice. We'll do our 20 minute meditation. And we'll let this practice be one of two things. For some of us, the more powerful practice might actually be claiming the power for yourself.
Right? So for some of us, it's going to be, you know what, I'm stuck. That stagnation layer feels so real to me. And I'm in a name that A, by the authority of the universe itself, I have every right to be here and be stuck. And B, I have every right to sit here and wonder what will happen today. Right? So part of our practice is the power. And the other part of the practice is, can I build curiosity?
For me, this is a really fun piece of meditation because I can play with the most uncomfortable parts. So exploring or building curiosity might look like I am so anxious tonight. I cannot wait for that bell to ring and her to say, thank you so much. Good night. I said I can go do something else. And the practice of curiosity is like, oh, what does that feel like? Like when we ask questions in meditation, please remember, we're not looking to answer in words.
Right? I am not imagining in my head anxiety feels like blah blah blah in my stomach. And then blah blah, I'm not telling a story of anxiety. And I might ask the question, like, what is this feel like? Or what if I stay one more minute? And then I just watch like a scientist. Right? Or you're sleepy. And you're like, what does sleepy feel like? Where does it originate in my body?
I can start to explore some of those, you know, more uncomfortable or difficult aspects that show up in a meditation practice. You can do the same thing with joy. I love this. 45 minutes on my Monday night. Nobody's gonna bug me. I'm gonna sit here and savor every second. Right? What does that feel? What does savor feel like? Okay. So take a moment just to shift around, especially if you've been seated still this whole time. You might wiggle around or uncross your legs, crossing the other way.
You'll let your hands rest on to lap when you're ready. If you like, you can close your eyes. And if you feel uncomfortable or unsafe in any way, always just take a soft gaze down towards the ground. And together is a group. Let's take a nice deep breath in through the nose. Exhale a sigh out of the mouth. And we'll just do that again, inhaling deeply. Exhale a sigh out of the mouth. And you'll allow your breath to flow.
And you start your practice by silently saying to yourself, now is my time to meditate. And as you say those words to yourself, perhaps you can sit back a bit in your own body. As if from the inside out, you are able just to let go. You're settling into your own 40-year journey. There is no rush. There is nowhere to get today. And so instead, we let go, verhips and our thighs, letting ourselves drop more heavily into the cushions or chairs beneath us.
Let me feel that nice, long line of the spine. Maybe allowing the shoulder blades to roll back and down. Gradually, we let go of that space across our forehead. Imagining we were broadening the skin of the forehead. And letting go of the skin around your eyes. Your jaw. And the inside of the cheek. Maybe you feel a breath or two move out across your shoulders. And down through the chest. And you imagine yourself letting go of any gripping around the heart, around the shoulders and the neck.
Gradually, you feel down into your belly letting go of the belly muscle. And noticing that as you breathe in, your belly expands a little bit. And as you breathe out, your belly lightly contracts. And as you feel yourself melting into the rhythm of your breath. Let's just remember that we need no one's permission to sit here. No one needs to grant you the right to be awakened. By the authority of the universe itself, we sit here and we breathe.
Tracing each inhale as we breathe in, following it in through the nose and down into the body. Tracing each exhale from somewhere deep inside all the way out of the body. And as we feel the breath flow, perhaps you notice between the inhales and the exhales, there's this tiny little paw. Now, a little split second gap between each breath. And without exaggerating or changing your breath at all, today let's just explore every time we find that gap. Can I let go a little bit more?
Softening into the paws between each breath. And as we settle into a period of silence here, we'll just each do our best to soften into every paw. And maybe to ask ourselves, I wonder what will happen next? Even if Mora is there with you throwing up distractions and doubts. And we simply linger in the paws and say, I wonder what will happen next? And sit about eight minutes in silence here. You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You You