Hello,
This is Sarah,
The Long Haul Yogi,
Coming to you from the edge of the beautiful Peak District National Park in England,
UK.
For a little bit of background for those that don't know me,
I caught Covid in March 2020 in the first wave and subsequently developed what is known as Long Covid.
Over the course of my Long Covid journey,
I've experienced extreme fatigue,
Pain all over my body and so many other issues,
Collecting diagnoses like handy,
Such as ME-CFS,
Fibromyalgia,
POTS,
I could go on.
Fortunately,
I'm now fully recovered or in complete remission,
So I'm creating meditations such as this to help those,
Particularly others with chronic health conditions,
To show what helped me in my healing journey and hopefully help you as well.
In this meditation,
We're going to be doing a lovely relaxation,
Visualising a tree in a beautiful forest.
It's a very grounding meditation,
As you'll soon see.
Get cosy,
Get comfortable.
You can be lying down or in a seated position,
Just find what feels good for you and then we'll get started.
Gently close your eyes,
Letting your eyes gently close and just experience for a moment what now feels like to you.
Noticing the feeling,
The sensation of the seat or the floor or bed beneath you,
All the points of contact,
The grounding experienced through that.
Also see if you can sense the temperature of the air touching your skin lightly.
Check in with your breathing,
Noticing if your breathing is nice and relaxed or if there might be any points of tightness.
Just accept it as it is right now.
Begin to take a few breaths into your belly,
Expanding your belly and inhale and slowly,
Gently exhaling.
Take a couple more of these deeper belly breaths,
Oxygenating your body and releasing anything you can let go of for now.
You become a little bit more relaxed.
That's good.
See if you can clear your mind of any unwanted thoughts and then see if you can picture in your mind's eye a woodland or forest in the summertime.
Creating the picture in your mind.
Step into that picture so you can see it clearly as if you're really there.
Seeing the trees in front of you,
The brown of the bark,
The green of the leaves fluttering on the trees,
All different shades of green.
Hearing the sound of a gentle breeze ruffling through the leaves on the trees.
You can hear birds singing high up in the treetops.
Looking out,
The branches stretch out above you in the canopy,
Swaying slightly in that breeze.
You can observe the light dappling through the branches.
The light shines through creating a shaft of beautiful golden sunlight through the woods onto the ground.
As you look to the ground,
Are there ferns at the base of the trees?
Or maybe beautiful blue,
Bluebells?
Can you also see any fungi there to the base of the tree?
As you step around,
Twigs crunch underneath your feet,
Making that snapping sound as you walk upon them.
And sensing that that earth has a deep,
Damp,
Mossy smell you associate with woodlands or forests.
The air is perfectly warm,
Not too hot.
As you walk up towards the tree,
You see its roots spreading across the ground and reaching down,
Deep down into the soil.
They're all gnarled and knobbly,
These roots,
As they go deep down into the soil,
Anchoring the tree,
Making the tree so strong,
Strong and deeply rooted.
You get a sense of how deep these roots are,
As far down as the branches are tall.
With the roots so deeply grounded,
The tree is able to sway and bend in the wind and the rain and the storms,
Knowing it's held firmly by its roots.
Lightning and thunder may storm around the tree,
But yet its roots always stay firm and strong.
The tree stays safe and keeps the birds,
The animals and insects that live in the tree safe too.
Can you see any birds high up on the branches?
Nesting,
Hiding,
Nurturing?
Perhaps you hear the sound of an owl?
Wonderful.
Absorbing all the detail of the woodland all around you.
Is that a stream over here in the distance?
Gentle sound of running water.
Aware of all the sights,
Sounds,
Smells and touch sensations as you feel that warm gentle breeze brushing against your skin.
All these sensations anchoring you here,
Right here in this beautiful place.
Watching the nature happening all around you and you're still in this moment,
Observing.
Next you put your hand up,
Touch the tree with your hand,
Running your hand along the surface of the bark,
Feeling its rough sensation.
Looking at all the different shades of brown that make up the bark and all the different patterns in the bark's texture.
Noticing anything that stands out.
So you turn to face your back against the tree,
Against its trunk and you slowly sit down.
Your back against the tree,
Sitting upon the warm,
Dry,
Gentle earth.
Looking up into the branches above you,
Seeing the tree from a new perspective,
A different angle.
Feeling the support of the trunk of the tree at your back.
Imagine yourself going underneath the tree,
Behind the tree,
Smelling the tree,
The smell of the bark,
The leaves,
The roots.
Seeing yourself at one with the tree,
Merging into the tree,
You and the tree becoming one,
One and the same.
Sense how it feels to become this beautiful,
Majestic tree.
You're so tall,
Stretching up into the sky,
Reaching up and up and up into the sunlight above and feeling your root stretching down,
Down,
Down.
Feeling yourself stretching out,
Feeling so deeply anchored,
So deeply rooted and sensing your innate strength.
Feeling at one with the natural world around you,
Part of it,
Blended into it.
Blended into it.
Feel that stillness at your center.
You're able to sway in the breeze,
Swaying with the events of your life,
Yet safe in the knowledge that you are strong and you are deeply anchored by these wonderful deep roots.
Consider your roots for a minute.
Roots of family,
Perhaps friends,
All the things that make you,
You.
Make you who you are.
So deeply,
Strongly rooted and anchored in the true knowledge of yourself.
Notice these roots make you who you are,
Rooted in nature,
At one with the tree,
Becoming the tree.
You feel yourself merging with the consciousness of the tree.
Drawing on this consciousness,
Learning from its true wisdom all its years of existence on this planet.
Listen for a moment and hear the wisdom that the tree has for you today.
You can draw on this consciousness whenever you need it.
You are at one with the earth like the tree,
Earthed and grounded.
You sway with the air,
Moving effortlessly in the breeze,
Alive with the fire of life,
The vitality of life,
Nourished by the water and the soil,
The moisture in the air,
The sunlight,
Nourished and fulfilled,
Untroubled.
Sense that silent strength deep within.
Now enjoying a few last moments in the forest,
Using all your senses.
What does the forest tell you now?
What will you know now that you did not know before?
Now it's time to gently return from this journey that you've been on.
Bringing back all the knowledge,
The wisdom,
The strength and fatality of this beautiful woodland forest.
Take a few deep,
Cleansing,
Nourishing breaths.
Slowly in through the nose and out slowly,
Slowly through the mouth.
Very slowly becoming aware of your body once more.
Feeling the contact with the ground.
Feeling the air temperature of the room.
Noticing any smells in the room,
Any sounds.
Gently awakening where you are in time and space.
Moving your fingers,
Moving your toes.
Taking a lovely,
Refreshing stretch.
That's good.
Gently open your eyes back in the here and now.
Namaste.
