This is a seated meditation,
But you're welcome to do it standing or lying down if that's what feels right for you.
And finding a comfortable posture,
Allowing your eyes to gently fall closed if that feels okay,
Or letting them rest in a soft gaze if you'd prefer.
Settling into the natural rhythm of your breath.
You don't need to breathe any certain way.
Your body knows how to breathe,
So you can just let it.
Or just tuning into the sensation of breathing,
Noticing where in your body you might feel it most.
It might be the belly,
The chest,
The nostrils.
There's no right or wrong place,
Just wherever your attention naturally falls on the breath.
And observing the experience and sensations of that breath.
And now picturing a tree.
It can be any tree,
Real or imagined.
It's not about getting the perfect details,
Just allowing a tree to arise in your mind.
And now allowing the image of the tree to gently fade into the back of your mind,
While letting the essence of the tree remain within you.
With the essence of a tree within you,
We're going to shift our attention to the feet making contact with the ground.
Exploring any and all sensations that are there for you in the point of contact between your feet and the ground.
Noticing the pull of gravity.
Just like gravity holds the roots of a tree in the soil,
It's holding you here too.
It's not about trying to imagine or become anything,
It's just the awareness of it all.
And now once again,
Shifting our attention this time to our seat,
Where our bodies are making contact with the surface that we're sitting on.
Another place where we can feel the gravitational pull of our bodies towards the earth.
And again,
We don't need to do anything or imagine ourselves as anything.
We can just experience the way our bodies meet gravity,
Rooted in place like a tree,
Grounded,
Upright.
Our bodies know what to do,
Just like a tree does.
If you notice that your thoughts have drifted,
You can just gently return the attention to the feet,
The seat,
The breath,
And gravity.
The wind may rustle the leaves of a tree,
Just as thoughts may rustle through your mind.
And just like a tree stays standing in all weather,
We can sit and witness it all.
The thoughts coming and going.
The breath swaying in and out in its natural rhythm.
We can just continue to observe our experience without judgment.
Just like the tree doesn't have an opinion about its experience,
It just experiences.
And so just for this meditation,
We can shed our opinions and just be with it all,
Whatever is there.
And as we breathe with our feet and our seat pulled towards the earth,
Just knowing that there's a natural intelligence within all things.
Whatever it is that keeps the tree alive is in you,
Keeping you alive too.
And when you're ready,
You can go ahead and open your eyes.
Bring your attention to your environment.
Reorient yourself to this new moment.
And as you go about your day,
You can continue to carry the presence of that tree within you.
