Spiritual Practice for Everyone: Bubble Meditation

My corner of the office not only has books, stacks of papers and crafting supplies, and artwork to be returned to young artists. It has bubbles. Little bottles of bubbles left from the Easter egg hunt or Fun Water Sunday, or just fun RE days, …. I love bubbles.

Those times when the creative juices seem to run dry or too many things need to be done at the same time, I will slow down, grab a bottle, and mindfully blow bubbles.

Mindful Meditation

Grab a bottle of bubbles and go outside.  Feel the warm sun on your face.

As you blow bubbles, notice your in breath. And your out breath as the bubbles form. Notice the bubbles as they form and then float up and away. Watch them as they hover in the air and then slowly drop or blow away in the breeze. Imagine yourself- that free and floating. Buoyant, light, Iridescent.

The Buddha asked us to contemplate our conditioned existence in this fleeting world, “Like a tiny drop of dew, or a bubble floating in a stream; Like a flash of lightning in a summer cloud, Or a flickering lamp, an illusion, a phantom, or a dream.”

It is a marvelous gift to breath in and to breathe out. To see the bubble come into existence and then just as easily dissolve in midair like an illusion or a dream.

Over and over and over, a little breath in and a gentle breath out quiets our “monkey mind” bringing peace, calm, and focus.

Too simple a spiritual practice? I invite you to watch a toddler trying to blow bubbles for the first few times. Getting the liquid to form a bubble that leaves the wand challenges young coordination and concentration. The breath has to be just here, like this, or the tension of the liquid breaks before a bubble forms, or a bubble forms but cannot fully float free. Once the technique is mastered, however, bubbles flow and flow and flow.

We don’t just blow bubbles every week in our Religious Education program. We do practice many forms of meditation, in age-appropriate ways. We learn about our Unitarian and Universalist ancestors and their faith journeys. We hear stories from many spiritual traditions and connect them to our UU faith. We do for others through our social actions. And, yes, we sing and dance and play, all as a way to explore relationship, justice, community, and Mystery.

I invite you to pick up a bottle of bubbles. Share your spirit/breath with the universe. Be as a child, in wonder at the magick of the everyday. Blessed be!

Chalice Lighting:

To face the world’s shadows, a chalice of light.

To face the world’s coldness, a chalice of warmth,

To face the world’s terrors, a chalice of courage.

To face the world’s turmoil, a chalice of peace.

May its glow fill our spirits, our hearts, and our lives.

~ Lindsay Bates

Family Grace

Blest be the hand that plants the seed,

Blest be the Earth giving all that we need,

Blest be the food we share amoung friends,

Blest be the love that never ends.

-Joyce Poley