Hello,
My name is Ingrid and I'll be leading you through this short 10-minute meditation today.
So take a moment to get yourself nice and comfortable as you set yourself up for it.
Maybe you find yourself sitting down on a cushion or the floor or a chair or maybe you're lying down instead.
Feel free to use any extra things like a blanket or a pillow to make yourself extra comfortable.
Taking your last few moments here to maybe find some movement,
Wriggling the fingers or toes,
Maybe rolling the shoulders up and back down.
And then when you're ready,
Start to find your way and settle into stillness.
Whether you're seated or lying down,
Begin to arrive in your body.
And we'll do this by using our breath as an anchor.
I invite you to take a deep breath in,
Exhale it out.
One more round,
Really try to fill up the chest as you inhale,
Emptying it out slowly.
And this time,
I invite you to take the deepest breath you've taken all day.
When you're ready,
Breathing in,
Send the breath down to the belly,
Past the throat,
Past the chest.
And when the chest is nice and full,
Can you pause at the top,
Hold it for a second and let it all out.
And let the breath flow naturally.
No need to force it,
No need to change it.
Know that with each breath you take,
You're coming home to yourself.
Now start to bring your awareness to the base of your body,
Whichever parts of your body that's touching the earth.
Maybe it's your sit bones,
Maybe it's the back of your legs,
Your feet,
Or maybe your spine.
And from these contact points,
Can you begin to imagine gentle roots sprouting from your body.
Imagine them unfurling from the base of you,
Into the earth below.
With each inhale,
Visualize the roots growing deeper,
Further down into the earth.
With each exhale,
Picture them spreading wider,
Branching out like a wide network.
With each inhale,
Visualize them deepening.
Exhale,
Imagine them expanding.
These roots carry your energy,
Your essence,
Down into the earth,
Steady,
Safe and supported.
Imagine them growing so deep,
So far reaching,
That nothing can shake you.
You are held,
You are grounded,
Supported by the earth below.
Our practice,
Or our meditation today,
Is inspired by the saying,
Root to Rise,
A phrase that's often heard in yoga.
I remember first hearing it during the pandemic,
In an online class by Yoga with Adriene.
And this saying stayed with me.
Very simple,
Yet profound.
We often admire the beauty of tall trees.
Their wide-reaching branches,
Their rustling leaves dancing in the wind.
But what we don't really see all the time,
Is the vast,
Intricate root system beneath the surface.
The part that keeps them standing tall through all seasons.
When their roots are strong,
When they're deeply grounded,
Those trees can weather even the harshest storms.
They might bend from the conditions around them,
But they don't always break.
And we too can be the same.
When we ourselves have a strong foundation,
When we're anchored in who we are,
When we know our values,
Our truth,
And what matters to us,
We become less shaken by the chaos around us.
We can become more resilient,
Steady,
And calm.
So just like the tree,
Your outer growth depends on your inner grounding.
In a world that celebrates the visible success,
Progress,
And outward movement,
We sometimes forget the importance of the invisible.
Your values,
Your truth,
Your dreams,
And your inner compass.
To grow and evolve into updated versions of you,
You don't necessarily need to push harder.
I believe you need to anchor deeper into who you are,
Into what you believe,
And into what matters most to you.
Having a steady and strong foundation is not a step back.
It is the foundation for rising.
Now as we begin to close,
Can you return back again to your roots?
The ones you just visualized,
The ones you just nourished.
Can you feel how solid they are?
How quietly powerful?
And now from that palace of grounded presence,
Begin to imagine the rest of your being growing upward.
Like a strong,
Healthy tree trunk,
Feel your energy lift gently through your spine.
Your heart opens.
Your crown lifts softly towards the sky.
You are grounded.
And because of that,
You can grow.
Breathe here for a little while.
Notice what it feels like to be anchored and expanding at the same time.
When you're ready to return to your day,
Just do so gently.
Carry with you that quiet strength of the earth and the expansive light of the sky.
Thank you for joining me.
May you feel grounded.
May you find the courage to grow.
