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Zeena Speciale, a shamanic Reiki master teacher, certified sound healer, and co-founder of hiKin—a community where hiking and kinship move as one—guides this weekly podcast into the heart of mindful movement and soulful connection. Sacred Steps offers walking/hiking meditations, breathwork, and nature-rooted reflections to help you find presence on the trail and clarity within.
Find Zeena at Soul Collective, her spirit-based yoga studio in the heart of Cave Creek, AZ, or at soulcollective.love.
Welcome to Sacred Steps. I'm Zena Special. And give yourself thanks for being here today, for showing up, and giving yourself this gift. This is your time to come back to yourself by moving with intention. Today, we're gonna walk in a new kind of way to remember that the calm that we're searching for out there is already here within.
Zeena:There's a story told in desert places about a wandering musician who carried a single object with him everywhere. A tuning fork, small, silver, humming with the perfect pitch. And wherever he went, the cities, forests, even the chaos of crowded markets, he would stop, strike the fork gently, and hold it to his chest, listening. Not to the sound itself, but to what it revealed in him. Some days, his body would vibrate in resonance, a clear, beautiful of alignment.
Zeena:Other days, it was off, dissonant and tight. And that's how we knew it was time to pause, to realign, to remember. The fork didn't change. He did. He said that the desert, with its open skies and long silences, was the only place where he could truly hear himself again.
Zeena:This moment is your desert. This walk is your tuning fork. Let it ring through you now. As you begin to walk, let your breath find a rhythm. Inhale through the nose, and exhale through the mouth.
Zeena:Inhale, feeling the air stretch the ribs wide. And exhale, letting the shoulders melt away from the ears. Take another deep breath in, and exhale, softening the space behind your heart. Unclench the jaw. Relax the hands.
Zeena:Let your feet find their own rhythm, your rhythm. You don't have to try to be present. Just notice that you already are. Now begin to feel into your body. Let the crown of your head rise gently towards the sky.
Zeena:Let your face soften. Let the shoulders drop. Let your arms swing freely. Feel your spine stack naturally, lifting up through the crown of your head as though each vertebra has space to breathe. Feel all four corners of each foot make contact with the ground, the inner and outer heel, the ball of the big toe, the ball of the pinky toe.
Zeena:Let the foot spread with each step as the earth rises up to meet you. This is your foundation. Land each step with intention. Let each step be a symbol of how you move through this world. As you step, allow the ankle to move freely, rolling through, heel to toe, and feel that motion ripple gently upward, up through your ankles, through your knees, and into your hips.
Zeena:Let each joint move like water, fluid, intentional, connected. And if any area is aching today, pause your attention there. Inhale into that space. As you exhale, let it soften. Whether it's the feet, the ankles, the knees, the hips, or the low back, just send your breath into the tenderness as you inhale, letting that inhale surround it with care, and let the exhale carry all the tension away.
Zeena:Each step is a conversation with the body. Each breath is a way to listen and heal. Soften. Let the body find its rhythm again, not by controlling it, but by trusting it. Each step is a letting go.
Zeena:Each step is a return. Step by sacred step. Now imagine this walk as a journey through your inner landscape. You've been walking for a long time, not in miles, but in decisions, in responsibilities, in invisible labor, things that no one sees, but you feel. And you're carrying a backpack, one that you didn't realize was so heavy until just now.
Zeena:Inside the pack are the deadlines, conversations you're still replaying, people for holding up, Ideas just waiting to be proved. You've been carrying so much in your mind, your nervous system, your heart. But now, in this sacred moment, you feel something rare. Permission. Permission to set it down.
Zeena:As you move forward, picture yourself unclipping that heavy pack, letting it slide off your shoulders, landing softly on the earth behind you. And then you feel it, your breath deepen, your chest rise, your spine realign, all because you've let go. Let your body move without carrying it all. Let yourself be unburdened even just for now. Now look up.
Zeena:Let your eyes soften and take in what's around you. Notice the light, how it moves through the leaves, how it paints your path. Notice all the details, The way the wind stirs through the trees, the crunch of earth beneath your feet, The color of a bird overhead. You are part of this field. Breathe that in.
Zeena:You don't have to earn your place here. You already belong. You've touched something today on this walk. A calm that's been walking with you all along. A wise woman once told me, it's not the calm we chase.
Zeena:It's the calm we carry. It lives in your lungs, in your footsteps, in your awareness of this moment. So walk on with it. Let it soften the way you speak. Let it steady the way you lead.
Zeena:Let it color the way you live. You don't have to hold it tight. Just walk beside it. Step by sacred step, and welcome back to yourself. If you're looking for more ways to move, heal, and align with your soul's light, visit soulcollective.love, or find me in the Haykin Facebook group.
Zeena:I'm Zena Special, and thank you, thank you, thank you for allowing me to walk this journey with you. Until we meet again, keep shining.