Hello.
Let's start our meditation by finding a comfortable seated position or lying on our backs.
And just allow your spine to gently lengthen.
Feel it stretching out.
Close your eyes.
Take a deep breath in through your nose.
Fill your belly with air,
Then exhale slowly out through the lips,
Releasing any tension.
Let's continue with another breath like this,
Inhaling through the nose,
Expand the belly and exhale out through the mouth,
Letting your abdomen fall.
And one more time,
Inhaling through the nose,
Filling your belly with air and exhaling.
Find a natural,
Effortless rhythm to your breath,
Continuing it,
Not forcing it.
And with each inhalation,
Just breathe in all the vitality around you,
Be present.
And with every exhalation,
Release any stress or tension you're feeling in your body.
And as you do this,
I invite you to imagine yourselves in a peaceful forest glade,
Surrounded by powering pines,
Mighty oaks.
Everywhere you look,
You see the trees swaying lightly in the warm breeze.
As sunlight filters down,
You see the shadows glittering across the forest floor and the leaves blowing in the wind.
And you find yourself drawn in the distance to a pond,
A small glittering pond in the center of a clearing.
You walk slowly towards the pond's edge.
And as you approach,
You start to notice the details,
Intricate reflections,
The mirrored glassy surface,
Like an inverted forest.
The lush tapestry,
The rich greens and earthy browns and the ring of plant life all around it.
You hear gentle lapping sounds as the pond's surface kisses the rocky shore,
Rhythmic pulses.
And you find yourself stepping into the shallow water at the pond's edge.
You can feel the coolness touching your bare feet.
You wade further in,
The water reaching your calves,
Then your knees,
Your hips,
Embracing you,
Immersing yourself fully into the water.
Your body becomes completely buoyant,
You feel utterly at peace,
The cares of the human world just slip away.
And you find yourself becoming the pond.
You feel the outer edges of yourself merging with the mossy banks and the tangled vegetation.
In your inner depths,
You can feel the universe of life teeming beneath the surface of the water,
Schools of minnows and fish flashing by.
You feel the water as they spin around in circles,
The camouflaged frogs on the logs nearby your shore,
And the whirling beetles scutting across the mirrored face.
You sense the first hints of spring stirring within your waters,
It's a delicious tingle.
It's as if you're awakening from a long nap,
The long nap of winter.
You can feel the fresh shoots of plant life growing from your shores and your shallow waters up through the muddy bottoms.
You can feel the rainstorms pass,
Depositing cool droplets upon your surface.
You notice the trickles of snow melt joining your own waters,
Adding its life to your own.
And as springtime blossoms to summer,
You bask in the sun's radiant heat.
You feel it on your surface,
And you notice children playing along your shore,
Shrieking with delight.
Some wildlife,
Deer,
Foxes,
Bears,
All coming to lap up your clear water.
Feel the tickling of feathers as ducks and geese and birds glide along your surface.
Feel just overflowing with life and vibrant energy.
And then the first chills of autumn hit you,
And the trees you notice begin to change their colors around your shores.
It's a breathtaking kaleidoscope,
Reds,
Yellows,
Oranges.
You feel their leaves as they tickle the surface of your water,
Like a multitude of flickering boats.
And you feel the chill in the air,
The chill upon your waters,
And it gets colder,
And you feel winter's stillness upon you in the forest.
You grow quieter,
Your energy more dormant.
Layers and layers of ice grow upon you,
Like armor to keep out the cold.
You still feel the spark within you,
The spark of life,
And it's only a matter of time.
And you can feel the snow flakes hitting the surface of the ice that protects you,
Like fingertips upon your skin.
They dance,
They make you happy,
As you see the beauty of the snow,
Its white brilliance,
Warming your own heart.
And soon,
Springtime sunshine comes again,
And slowly melts the ice upon your surface and the snows on your shore.
The cycle begins again,
The growth,
The life building again within you.
I invite you to fully embrace that energetic life within you,
And as you begin to transition back from pond to yourself,
As you feel yourself separating from the watery depths and emerging back onto the shore,
Just take some deep breaths,
Some nourishing breaths,
Filled with the energy,
The pond filled with the life that you felt beneath it,
And allow your senses to fully return to the space you occupy.
When you're ready,
You can open your eyes gently and carry the senses of the pond and the forest with you throughout your day today,
And know of this timeless presence,
This deep harmony,
This vital connectedness,
Experience it,
And be filled with that joy and that energy as you go about your day today.
Namaste.
