When Struggle Emerges as a Gift ~ Reflections on the 6@6 Collective Healing Meditation

Once upon a time, I facilitated a global Facebook group called 6@6 The Collective Healing Meditation. For three years, every evening at 6PM, I would create a post that included either a personalized prayer request from someone in the group or if there were no prayer requests, which over the three years was often the case, I would create a general message for peace and healing based on some reflection that came forward throughout my day. This was all geared towards encouraging everyone in the group (close to 1,000 of us all over the world), to take a some time at 6PM to send focused healing into the collective.

There is a story behind how it came to be, including my intention in creating the Facebook group and some funny stories about the fortitude it took to uphold the commitment that I made to myself to keep it going, but it turned out to be far too lengthy for a blog, in fact, I'm still not done writing about it. It could likely turn into a book at some point, but we’ll see.

What I will share here are a few of the struggles and some of the gifts that came from the struggles I had in the context of showing up regularly, because these are similar to challenges we all face in keeping a daily practice of any kind.

 My entire life was changed by this sādhana. Here are just some of the juicy explorations and realizations this journey took me through:

Discipline  Every night at 6PM. Every night. It wasn't easy, and part of the gift I received was in seeing that discipline makes you stronger. I kept showing up no matter how challenging it seemed to be and eventually it got easier. I could feel myself growing from the friction of the tapas (steady spiritual practice).

Futility  What is the point? I think we all hit this plateau at some point in our practice when we've been keeping the discipline and aren't seeing any feedback from our efforts or aren't feeling any different. This was an important lesson for me to really examine why I was doing it, and forget about any fruits that I thought might come from it. 

Fear of Failure  Oh yes. This voice was alive and well. You might think why? I was just posting nice messages on a public board right? Where's the potential failure? You have to understand that at this point in my journey I was not publicly spiritual. At least I wasn't used to speaking spiritually in public. I have my share of religious trauma and I was only just learning how to express my truth in this forum. I was constantly battling voices in my head saying what are they going to think of you if you say that? 

Commitment & Accountability In time I began to recognize reciprocity in the energy exchange because I was keeping the commitment I had made. There was a solid group of people who I knew were holding down the group intention every evening and would look forward to the posts. This level of accountability was crucial on some days especially when I felt drained. Even though I didn't know a lot of them personally, I could feel them giving energy to the group and that helped keep me going.

Beauty of true connectivity  Each time I would close my eyes to send healing, I could feel the lines of energy connecting all of us. All beings. It became more and more tangible each time I focused. I could see darkness and the light dancing with each other. I could feel other light beings supporting me and guiding me. I saw a net like pattern of light stretching around the planet almost like fascia. By practicing coming to this space every night, it became easier to access and easier to remember as I walked through my day.

Stepping away from the ego  One of the greatest things I got to experience was regularly being reminded that this was not about me. Practicing putting the voice of the ego aside is a moment to moment challenge for all of us because we are each the center of our own universe. But it's not about me and it's not about you. We're all in this together.

Community  Looking back at the group now I have to say this is what sustained the sādhana for so long. Every time I would post a prayer request, it was so beautiful to see the community supporting each other. Any time I thought I was done and the sādhana was complete, another request would come forward and I see the net lighting up, bearing witness to someone's suffering, coming to give hope and offering love. When we are walking this path, we need each other and it's important to remember that we're not alone.

This group was a true gift In my life, and I’m so very gratefull for the experience.