Tiger meditation.
Become super comfortable either lying down on your back or sitting up.
Lying or sitting.
Become aware of touch.
Notice where your body touches the floor or the seat,
How your clothes touch your body,
What do the different surfaces feel like.
Now notice your ears.
Notice the shape of them,
Your instruments for hearing and begin to use them to listen.
How many different sounds can you find with your hearing?
Far away and near,
Different sounds.
Rest your attention on your eyes.
Can you see anything behind your eyelids?
Sometimes it's just all black.
Other times there may be different shades of grey or colour,
Patterns or even images.
Notice your tongue,
The tip of the tongue to the bottom of the tongue at the back of your throat.
Can you notice saliva in your mouth?
Move your tongue around.
Do you taste anything?
Imagine the taste of your favourite food and swallow the taste.
And your nose.
Notice the shape of your nose,
Your sense of smell.
What can you smell?
Again,
You could imagine your favourite smell.
Breathe it in and enjoy the scent.
Now take a deep breath in through the nose and breathe out your mouth like a sigh.
Again,
Breathe in and out like a sigh.
One more,
Breathe in and out.
And now let's scan through your body and notice anywhere you might feel some tension.
Maybe in your face or your head.
Relax your temples and jaw,
Your neck,
And shoulders.
Relax your arms and hands.
Heavy relaxed.
Your chest and belly.
They move when you breathe.
Notice it and allow this area to just relax.
Your whole back relaxed.
Your buttocks and hips.
Your legs,
Heavy,
Soft and relaxed.
And your feet,
Your whole body relaxed.
If your eyes aren't closed,
Try closing them now if you feel safe to do so.
It's easier to relax and imagine that way.
But if you feel safer to keep your eyes open,
That's okay too.
Picture a lush green rainforest.
Massive tree trunks towering several stories above you.
You feel dwarfed next to them.
As you crane your head back to look up,
You see glimpses of blue sky through the canopy of leaves.
There are fine lines of sunlight streaming to the ground.
Tiny particles drift and float in the light,
Creating beautiful sunbeams.
Vines and various other types of foliage drape around the trees,
Like clothing.
It feels warm yet cool beneath the shade of leaves.
Visibility,
Sight,
Is disrupted by the dappled light,
Shadows and flora.
You can't see very far ahead of you,
But you instinctively,
Instinctively know that this is the way.
You've had this vision in your mind about a great tiger of the woods and it has been drawing you towards him.
The great tiger of the woods,
The one who can transform anger,
Resentment and frustration into a seed.
This seed brings forth the action you need to take to do this and to grow your dreams.
You hear a crack.
You freeze,
Scared,
Holding yourself stiffly still,
Barely breathing,
As you listen intently and your eyes search frantically for where that sound came from.
And then your eyes rest upon a strip of bamboo trees that you hadn't noticed before.
From within the dark middle,
You see large amber eyes staring at you.
You lock eyes with them and your whole body is flooded with a warm,
Gooey,
Safe feeling.
All your fears melt away.
You know you are safe.
The eyes are wise and kind.
The great tiger is softly padding towards you.
He is massive and even though you know why you are here,
You feel lost for words or even thoughts.
He pauses in front of you,
His presence comforting and soothing.
You want to reach out and touch his fur,
But you are unsure.
You look again into his eyes and his giant head gently nods to you,
Indicating that it is okay to touch him.
Your fingers get lost in the deep,
Soft,
Wiry fur and you begin to experience the different types of anger that we feel.
Immediately you begin to feel anger like a wild tiger fight,
A fury of sharp teeth,
Powerful claws and fierce growling,
Dangerous and out of control.
It makes you feel hot and your eyes sting.
All of a sudden it changes to an anger that simmers away as resentment,
Judgment and criticism,
Eating away at your insides like a green bubbling acid,
Making you feel nauseated.
And another anger experience leaves you feeling like a hurt animal,
One that runs and cowers in fear,
Lashing out wildly in defense if approached.
And then come all the after feelings,
Justified,
Powerful,
Ashamed,
Wrong,
Sad,
Guilty.
You move your hand away from tiger and you hear him speak in your mind,
Forgive,
Forgive yourself,
Forgive others where you can.
Anger is just an emotion.
It is neither good nor bad.
It's an emotion that we all feel.
Sometimes our anger is useful.
Sometimes it's out of control,
Not useful.
Sometimes it's directed at others.
Sometimes it is directed at ourselves.
In your mind's eye,
See an empty garden bed.
In this garden bed,
Begin to create little holes for all the different seeds of anger that the great tiger has given you.
Plant your seeds in the holes and cover them.
Nurture your seeds,
Water them and imagine them sprouting,
Pushing out of the soil,
Growing into the action that you could take.
A conversation,
A walk,
Deep breaths,
Counting backwards from 10,
Writing,
Drawing.
See them now grow into dreams of who you want to be,
Who you deserve to be.
See yourself living your best life.
See a big happy smile on your face and on all those who surround you.
Let the image fade.
Come back to your body,
Lying or sitting,
And take a moment to think of three things that you're grateful for today.
Begin to wiggle,
Move and stretch,
Preparing yourself to sit back up when you're ready.
Then return to your day with a healthy respect for what anger can do for you and how you can transform it into something useful whenever you need to.
Have a fabulous morning,
Evening or day.
