In this 2025 YouTube guided meditation, Dallas Bragg leads listeners through a structured relaxation and breathwork session designed specifically for individuals recovering from chemsex addiction. The meditation begins with physical grounding instructions—posture, body scanning, jaw and shoulder release—followed by a deep breathing routine and a visual focus on the third eye. Bragg then guides participants into a vivid visualization of a sprawling green field where they imagine their feet rooted deeply into the earth, repeatedly affirming “I shall not be moved.” He interweaves the historical origins of the African‑American spiritual “We Shall Not Be Moved,” recounting its 19th‑century church roots, its adaptation by West Virginia coal miners, and its revival during the 1963 March on Washington by the Freedom Singers, using these narratives to illustrate resilience, boundary‑setting, and collective protest. The core of the meditation centers on a collective‑mind exercise: participants visualize their roots extending across continents, intertwining with the roots of other people in chemsex recovery, symbolizing shared experience, solidarity, and mutual strength. Bragg introduces “root breathing” (inhaling collective wisdom) and “earth breathing” (exhaling healing into the ground) as a rhythmic practice to reinforce community healing and to counteract cravings, triggers, and despair. The session concludes with a final affirmation of steadfastness and an invitation to listen to the Freedom Singers’ rendition of the song, reinforcing the thematic link between historical protest and personal recovery.
Chapters
All right, let's get comfortable. Comfortable in your seat. You can also lie down if you'd like. That is completely okay. Put the phone or the laptop beside you. But if you're sitting in a chair, try to put your feet flat on the floor. We're going to rest our palms face down on the knee, or you can rest your palms face up on the knees, whatever feels comfortable, or beside you, as long as your arms feel heavy. Just start to scan your body for any, any straining. Adjust all you can so that you're completely relaxed. Pay close attention to the shoulders. Make sure you're not clenching them, holding them up, flexing the muscles. The jaw— make sure your jaw is relaxed. If you have to, you can let it gape open a bit. We'll just take a deep breath in. We're going to inhale through the nose for about 5 seconds. Inhale. And we're going to exhale through the mouth. And as you relax, keep your eyes closed. I wanted you to take your eyeballs, and I want you to look to the center of your forehead. Some people might call the third eye placement. Take your eyeballs up, look to the center of your forehead, and keep them there with your eyes closed. Your eyelids might Flutter a little. It might feel uncomfortable, but keep them looking up for me for 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. You can relax. You might feel a shift in your comfort level. Let your body completely relax. Okay, now I want you to take yourself in your mind's eye to a sprawling green field. It's a field that spreads out as far as you can see in all directions. I want you to feel the bottoms of your feet pressed against the earth, the heaviness of your body bearing down. I want you to feel the coolness and the firmness of the solid dirt against the bottoms of your feet. As you stand firmly to say to yourself in your mind's eye, I shall not be moved. I shall not be moved. I shall not be moved. Was originally an African American spiritual. It was sung in the 1800s. Churchgoers would get together and sing it hand in hand, arm in arm. It became a hymn and became widespread and mainstream. The first time it was sung in a secular space was my home state in the U.S. West Virginia. The state at the time was booming with coal mining. The men spent hours and hours underground mining this coal. They risked their lives, they risked their health, and they were not being compensated or protected by the corporations. And it led to a protest. The men and the women, they gathered and they changed the song. To we shall not be moved. We shall not be. We shall not be moved. They would sing. They stood their ground. They stated their boundary. They advocated for their rights. They risked their lives and gave themselves a voice where no voice was allowed. They unified a community and strengthened their cause. We shall not be moved. As you stand there on the earth, I want you to inhale through the nose for about 5 seconds, starting now. Inhale and exhale through the mouth for 5. I want you to look down at your feet and see those strong tree roots sprouting from the bottoms of your feet. Feel them shooting into the earth, down deeper, deeper, growing around rocks, sand, and clay, bursting into all directions. Underground, feel the roots. Feel yourself connected to the earth. You shall not be moved. The song says, like a tree planted by the waters, I shall not be moved. This song showed up again in the U.S. civil rights movement. The famous march on Washington. In 1963, it was there to advocate for civil and economic rights. The Freedom Singers, they sang it on the Capitol steps, We Shall Not Be Moved, before Dr. Martin Luther King shared his iconic speech, I Have a Dream. This song helped them stand their ground. They stated their boundaries. They advocated for their rights. They risked their lives, gave themselves a voice where the no voice was allowed, unified a community, and strengthened the cause. To inhale through the nose for five seconds, starting now. Inhale and exhale through the mouth. Today. We call on the steadfast advocacy and protest energy to bring us together as people in recovery. Today, as we join together, people all over the world in this meditation with their roots deep into the earth, we all have shared experiences. No matter where we're from, we have shared patterns that no longer serve us. I want you to see your roots reach across your continent, under the oceans, finding the roots of other men in chemsex addiction recovery, all of us desiring to be expressions of our best and highest self. See your roots intertwining. With your brothers winding together firmly, without judgment, without context, no matter what class, color, shape, size, we shall not be moved. We bind together, all of us, with the same goal: being set free. From the addictive patterns of chemsex and standing firm, standing tall. We shall not be— we shall not be moved. No matter how harsh the storm, the wind, the rain, no matter how strong the craving, the trigger, no matter how deep the despair, The heartache, the hopelessness. We shall not be moved. I want to see— want you to see your roots grow thicker and grip tighter to all the other roots underneath the earth. Now zoom out and see the planet. Imagine all of us meditating together, standing firm all around the country, all around the world. With our roots buried deep into the ground, we shall not be moved. We are here to stand our ground, to state our boundaries, to advocate for our rights, to risk our livelihood and give ourselves a voice where no voice is allowed. To unify our community, to strengthen the cause. We shall not be moved. Now let's breathe together. And when you inhale, I want you to practice root breathing. When you inhale, pull up the collective wisdom, the collective healing, the collective strength from all of the other roots, all of our other brothers that are entangled with us. All of the other people in recovery. And when you exhale, I want you to practice earth breathing. Blow that collective air into the earth to create winds of change. No more community stigma. No more community shame. No more hiding in the chemsex closet. We shall not be moved. Okay, we're going to inhale together. Root breathing and earth breathing. And inhale together on three for five seconds through the nose. One, two, three. Inhale. Exhale. Blow it out into the earth. Inhale, pull the air up from the roots. One, two, three. Inhale. Exhale. One more time. Inhale, root breathing. Exhale, earth breathing. We have a calling on our lives. We have a purpose, and it's time to stand firm on that promise, and it's time to leave chemsex behind. I shall not be moved. We shall not be moved. You shall not be moved. Like a tree planted by the water, we shall not be moved. Do you feel the collective healing? You can begin to come out. As you come out of the meditation and open your eyes, I'm going to share the Freedom Singers' rendition of the song.
