power
From Palms to Olive Branches: A Guided Lenten Practice
Apr. 11, 2025 14:47 Filed in: Audio | Spiritual Practice
Holy Week, April 13: From palms to olive branches
Luke 19:28-40
In the journey of Holy Week, trees take a quiet but important role. The stately palm branches we wave at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday remind us of kingly power. But just a few days later, as he prays in the garden, he is surrounded by the ancient, twisted, low crowns of olive trees: a symbol of peace, of reconciliation, of an end to war. These two trees symbolize two approaches to power and glory.
As we tell the stories of Jesus last meal with his friends, his violent death at the hands of the state, and his triumph over death, reflect: How does God use power in these stories?
How do these stories show up in our world, our lives today? How might you join in?
[Download the audio version of this practice]
Find a comfortable spot in your space. Sit or lie down in a way that allows your body to fully relax. Take your time, making any necessary adjustments. If your body offers you guidance about what it needs to fully soften into this moment, heed its advice.
Once you're feeling supported and settled, gently shine the flashlight of your awareness onto your breath, be curious--- what do you find? Is it smooth and even? Are you craving a deeper inhale or more luxurious exhale? Does it reach to your belly or is it living up and among your collarbones? Invite your breath to soften and lengthen – signaling to your mind and nervous system that it’s ok to drop into this moment, there is no place else to go, nothing else to do.
Release your awareness from your breath and trust it to do what needs to be done to breathe your body.
Now, again using your awareness like a flashlight, bring your awareness to your feet. Check in with the soles of the feet, the tops of the feet, the ankles. Let your noticing gradually pull upwards, checking in with your calves, shins, and knees.
Consider the strong muscles of your upper leg – the hamstrings, quadriceps, all the tendons. Notice any tension still present and gently soften deeper into your seat.
Bring your awareness to the hips, pelvic bowl, seat...imagine the light of your awareness working its way into the intricate workings of your hip sockets, softening whatever tightness you may find.
Let the awareness move up now into the belly bowl, the lower back. Fill the whole lower torso with breath and the light of awareness.
Let it continue up, checking in with the diaphragm, the rib cage, the lungs – take some time to saturate all the vital organs and muscles in your chest cavity with awareness and breath.
Notice now as the flashlight of awareness gently rises to fill in the space around the collarbones, the shoulder blades, and pools along the strong muscles atop your shoulders. Imagine your awareness cascading down each arm – touching your biceps, triceps, elbows, forearms, wrists…hands and fingers. Notice as any tension or tightness drips out the tips of the fingers and returns to the earth.
Train your gentle awareness on your neck and let it fill and move along the muscles on the front of the neck, the sides, the back. Release the root of the tongue, release the jaw. Let the muscles of your face and scalp soften, giving some extra noticing to your temples, the tiny muscles across your forehead, and the deep pockets of the eye sockets.
Good – now notice as your entire human form is full of gentle awareness and breath. Just breathe into the shape of you for another moment.
Into this open and relaxed space, bring to mind the notion of power in these stories of Jesus’ last few earthly days. Consider the triumph, the palms, the branches waved in adoration and exultation. Where does this form of power show up in your body? What is its vibration? Its pattern? Spend some being curious about this version of power and how it lives and moves in your human consciousness.
Now consider the more intimate, quiet, olive trees of power. The reconciliation of and with all that is human and all that is eternal. Where does this version of power live in your body – what is its shape, its vibration. Spend some being curious about this version of power and how it lives and moves in your human consciousness.
Now that you’ve familiarized yourself with these various forms and embodiments of power, how might you relate to or harness them in your life. How can you exercise choice around power? Perhaps there are opportunities to notice power being wielded in the world that fits one or both of these models Jesus displays for us - how do you interact with it?
Or perhaps an opportunity arises to channel and utilize your own power – can you consciously choose to adorn yourself with a certain version of power based on what you’ve found in your body?
Move forward into Holy Week with this felt sense relationship to different forms of power - invite your consciousness to be aware, to choose, to engage or not from a place of connection to your own body and to the teaching of Jesus as he moved forward in his own intense and unprecedented times.
Now, release any practice and tend fully to three deep breaths. Then return to the room and stretch to come back into the present moment.
Luke 19:28-40
In the journey of Holy Week, trees take a quiet but important role. The stately palm branches we wave at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday remind us of kingly power. But just a few days later, as he prays in the garden, he is surrounded by the ancient, twisted, low crowns of olive trees: a symbol of peace, of reconciliation, of an end to war. These two trees symbolize two approaches to power and glory.
As we tell the stories of Jesus last meal with his friends, his violent death at the hands of the state, and his triumph over death, reflect: How does God use power in these stories?
How do these stories show up in our world, our lives today? How might you join in?
[Download the audio version of this practice]
Find a comfortable spot in your space. Sit or lie down in a way that allows your body to fully relax. Take your time, making any necessary adjustments. If your body offers you guidance about what it needs to fully soften into this moment, heed its advice.
Once you're feeling supported and settled, gently shine the flashlight of your awareness onto your breath, be curious--- what do you find? Is it smooth and even? Are you craving a deeper inhale or more luxurious exhale? Does it reach to your belly or is it living up and among your collarbones? Invite your breath to soften and lengthen – signaling to your mind and nervous system that it’s ok to drop into this moment, there is no place else to go, nothing else to do.
Release your awareness from your breath and trust it to do what needs to be done to breathe your body.
Now, again using your awareness like a flashlight, bring your awareness to your feet. Check in with the soles of the feet, the tops of the feet, the ankles. Let your noticing gradually pull upwards, checking in with your calves, shins, and knees.
Consider the strong muscles of your upper leg – the hamstrings, quadriceps, all the tendons. Notice any tension still present and gently soften deeper into your seat.
Bring your awareness to the hips, pelvic bowl, seat...imagine the light of your awareness working its way into the intricate workings of your hip sockets, softening whatever tightness you may find.
Let the awareness move up now into the belly bowl, the lower back. Fill the whole lower torso with breath and the light of awareness.
Let it continue up, checking in with the diaphragm, the rib cage, the lungs – take some time to saturate all the vital organs and muscles in your chest cavity with awareness and breath.
Notice now as the flashlight of awareness gently rises to fill in the space around the collarbones, the shoulder blades, and pools along the strong muscles atop your shoulders. Imagine your awareness cascading down each arm – touching your biceps, triceps, elbows, forearms, wrists…hands and fingers. Notice as any tension or tightness drips out the tips of the fingers and returns to the earth.
Train your gentle awareness on your neck and let it fill and move along the muscles on the front of the neck, the sides, the back. Release the root of the tongue, release the jaw. Let the muscles of your face and scalp soften, giving some extra noticing to your temples, the tiny muscles across your forehead, and the deep pockets of the eye sockets.
Good – now notice as your entire human form is full of gentle awareness and breath. Just breathe into the shape of you for another moment.
Into this open and relaxed space, bring to mind the notion of power in these stories of Jesus’ last few earthly days. Consider the triumph, the palms, the branches waved in adoration and exultation. Where does this form of power show up in your body? What is its vibration? Its pattern? Spend some being curious about this version of power and how it lives and moves in your human consciousness.
Now consider the more intimate, quiet, olive trees of power. The reconciliation of and with all that is human and all that is eternal. Where does this version of power live in your body – what is its shape, its vibration. Spend some being curious about this version of power and how it lives and moves in your human consciousness.
Now that you’ve familiarized yourself with these various forms and embodiments of power, how might you relate to or harness them in your life. How can you exercise choice around power? Perhaps there are opportunities to notice power being wielded in the world that fits one or both of these models Jesus displays for us - how do you interact with it?
Or perhaps an opportunity arises to channel and utilize your own power – can you consciously choose to adorn yourself with a certain version of power based on what you’ve found in your body?
Move forward into Holy Week with this felt sense relationship to different forms of power - invite your consciousness to be aware, to choose, to engage or not from a place of connection to your own body and to the teaching of Jesus as he moved forward in his own intense and unprecedented times.
Now, release any practice and tend fully to three deep breaths. Then return to the room and stretch to come back into the present moment.