Let's go to the mountains today.
Begin by lying down in a comfortable position.
You might place a pillow behind your head or behind your knees for support.
If it feels good to you,
Close your eyes.
Let's begin with some deep breaths together.
Inhale in through the nose,
Fill up.
Hold the breath at the top.
Exhale out through the mouth,
Let it go.
We will do that twice more.
Inhale fill up.
Hold at the top.
Exhale out completely.
One more.
Inhale fill up.
Hold at the top.
Exhale,
Let it go.
For the duration of this meditation,
You can now allow your breath to no longer effort or labor in any way.
The focus now is on the mind and the imagination and the experience of that.
Let the breath become automatic,
Effortless.
Draw your awareness to your brain.
Allow the brain to soften inside the skull.
Let the space between the eyebrows begin to widen and open apart.
Allow the eyes to sink further back into their sockets.
Notice the teeth.
Let them separate in the back of the jaw.
Feel your collarbones softening and widening across the chest.
Begin visualizing a grand mountain in front of you.
Its peaks pierce smoky clouds and continue upward where the air is clear and the view is endless.
A mountain with slopes that are both jagged and gentle begin to notice the details of the snowy tops and exposed rock.
The mountain is supported by a vast foundation rooted deep in the bedrock of the earth.
It is a monument to all that is solid,
Grand,
Unmoving,
And beautiful.
Can you bring the mountain into your own body?
Be this mountain.
Take on its stability as your own.
Notice as you are lying on the ground,
You are surrounded by blades of grass.
Feel the ground beneath you cradling your body.
Allow your bones to grow heavy,
Sinking further into the face of the earth.
Just sprout from your body and extend down further into the soil.
As you breathe automatically,
Connect to the crisp mountain air surrounding you.
Notice the temperature of the air on your skin.
Come sensitive to the breeze in between the blades of grass,
Framing your resting body.
Drink in the vital mountain air and notice how it feels,
How it invigorates.
The coolness entering your nostrils,
The energizing air on your skin,
Awakening a sense of calm and groundedness within ourselves.
Be the mountain.
Observe how the mountain is alive.
Notice the rhythm within your own breath that moves within you.
You are the living mountain.
Unwavering inner stillness,
Completely what you are.
Centered,
Grounded,
And unmovable presence.
As you lie in the grass,
Let the sound of the wind between the trees on the mountain begin to sweep away whatever worries or thoughts that no longer serve you.
And again to deepen your breath.
Allow your inhales and exhales to draw you back into your body.
As we return from the mountains,
Let your reawakening become gradual and natural.
Still connecting to that vital feeling,
The ebb and flow of your own breath.
May you keep the earth element of the mountain with you for the rest of your day.