Begin by finding the space that feels most comfortable for your body.
Perhaps it's seated.
Perhaps it's lying down.
Maybe it's even standing.
Find a space where the spine can be long and the heart space can be open.
Begin by noticing the breath without trying to change or manipulate.
Simply becoming aware.
Notice the inhale.
Notice the exhale.
Becoming simply aware of the way that the breath is moving through the body.
Become aware of the body.
Notice how the body feels.
Being aware of the flow of the breath and the body.
Feeling each breath that you take in and feeling each breath that you release.
Simply observing the breath without trying to change it,
Without trying to manipulate,
Without trying to regulate.
Allow the body to become still.
Maybe soften the gaze.
Bringing the upper lid down to meet the lower lid.
Softening the eyes and the cheeks.
Softening the jaw and the throat.
Feeling a complete sense of wholeness.
As you rest here,
Picture in your mind,
As best you can,
The most beautiful mountain that perhaps you have seen,
Seen in real life,
Seen in an image,
A photo,
Seen on the TV,
In a film.
Hold the image and the feeling of this mountain in your mind and allow the mountain to become your focus.
Observe its shape,
Its peak moving high into the sky.
The large base rooted in the rock of the earth's crust.
Its steep or perhaps gently sloping sides.
Notice how massive it is,
How solid,
Unmoving.
How beautiful it is,
Both from afar and up close.
Perhaps your mountain has snow on the top,
Trees on the bottom.
Perhaps it has one prominent peak or a series of peaks or even a high plateau.
Whatever its shape,
Whatever its appearance,
Simply sitting and breathing with the majesty of this mountain.
For observation,
Notice if you can bring the mountain into your own body so that the body sitting here and the mountain in your mind become one.
As you sit here,
You share in the massiveness and the stillness of the mountain.
You become the mountain,
Rooted in where you sit.
Your head becomes the lofty peak,
Supported by the rest of the body.
Your shoulders and arms are the sides of the mountain,
The hips and the legs are the solid base.
Experiencing in your body a sense of uplift from deep within the spine and the pelvis.
Every breath allows you to become a bit more like the mountain,
Breathing like the mountain,
Unwavering in your stillness,
Complete as you are,
Beyond words,
Beyond thought,
A centered,
Rooted,
Unmoving presence.
Become aware of how the sun travels across the sky,
The way that the light and the shadows and the colors are changing moment by moment.
Night follows day,
Day follows night,
A canopy of stars,
The moon,
And then the sun.
Through it all,
The mountain sits,
Experiencing change in every moment,
Constantly changing,
Yet always itself,
Remaining still as the seasons flow one into another and as the weather changes moment by moment,
Calmness abides.
In summer,
There is no snow on the mountain except perhaps at the very peak.
In fall,
The mountain may wear a coat of brilliant,
Fiery colors.
In winter,
A blanket of snow and ice.
In any season,
It may find itself enshrouded in clouds or fog or pelted by freezing rain.
People may come to see the mountain and comment on its beauty,
Or perhaps how it's not a good day to see the mountain.
But none of this matters,
None of it matters to the mountain which remains at all times its truest and most essential self.
Clouds may come,
Clouds may go,
And the mountain's magnificence and beauty are not changed one bit by the way people see it or by the weather,
Seen or unseen,
Sun or clouds,
Hot or frigid,
Day or night,
It sits,
Being itself,
At times visited by violent storms,
Buffeted by snow and rain,
Winds of unthinkable magnitude,
And through it all,
The mountain continues to sit.
In the same way,
You experience the mountain,
You are the mountain,
Embodying the same unwavering stillness,
Rooted in the face of everything that changes your life,
Second by second,
Hour by hour,
Year by year.
Periods of light and dark,
Moments of color and moments of drab,
Experiencing storms of varying intensity and violence in the outer world,
And yet,
In our own mind and in our own body,
We can experience the weather of ourselves,
Becoming the mountain in this practice,
Linking up to its strength and stability and adopting it as our own,
Using its energy to support our energy,
Encountering each moment with mindfulness,
Equanimity,
And clarity,
Building life in this way,
We come to know a deeper silence and stillness and wisdom.
Continue to embody all that this mountain has shown you,
As you breathe yourself back into this room and into this moment,
Maybe blinking the eyes open,
And taking a big breath in,
And let it go.
