The Mountain Meditation Revisited

Imagine a great mountain rising from the earth — ancient, steady, and deeply rooted. Through the seasons it stands tall. Sunlight warms its slopes, winds sweep across its ridges, clouds gather and dissolve around its peak. Rain falls, snow settles, storms pass.

Yet the mountain remains.

In this meditation we explore the possibility of embodying that same quality of steadiness. As we sit, we imagine the spine like the central axis of a mountain — upright, grounded, dignified.

Thoughts, emotions, sounds, and sensations may come and go like changing weather. Pleasant or unpleasant, calm or turbulent — all are allowed.

Like the mountain, we don't need to push anything away or hold anything tightly.

We simply remain present, steady and aware.

Rooted in this moment.

Transcript

So, With all that's going on in the world at the moment, I thought it might be helpful to return to the mountain meditation, To perhaps help create a sense of groundedness and stability in the midst of all the difficulty in the world. Recognizing that we don't all experience visualizations and imagery in the same way, Please feel free to work with whatever's the right mountain for you, Perhaps just the sense of one if a visual image doesn't feel appropriate for you. Just taking a moment now to adjust your posture, Knowing that you can lie down, Sit or stand for this meditation, Whatever feels appropriate for you in this moment. I'm just inviting you to find a position of stability and poise, With your upper body balanced over your hips and shoulders in a comfortable but alert posture, Hands on your lap or your knees, Arms hanging by their own weight, Stable and relaxed. Just sensing into this body, Feeling your feet, Legs, Hips, Lower body, Upper body, The shoulders, And when you're ready maybe allowing your eyes to close, Just bringing your awareness to the breath, The actual physical sensations of breathing, Just sensing into each in-breath, Experiencing it fully, Feeling each out-breath as it lets go, Just letting the breath be exactly as it is, Without trying to change or regulate it in any way, Just tuning into the flow of your breath, Noticing its rhythm and pace, And as much as you're able to now, Maybe just bringing to mind a sense of poise and dignity, As you sit here with a sense of resolve, A sense of being complete and whole in this very moment, With your posture reflecting this sense of wholeness, And as you sit here letting an image form in your mind's eye of the most magnificent or beautiful mountain you know or have seen or can imagine, Just letting it gradually come into greater focus, And if it doesn't come as a visual image, Allowing the sense of this mountain, Perhaps feeling its overall shape, Its lovely peak or peaks high in the sky, The large base rooted in the bedrock of the earth's crust, Its steep or gently sloping sides, Just noticing how massive it is, How solid, How unmoving, How beautiful. Perhaps your mountain has snow plinking its top and trees reaching down to the base or rugged granite sides, There might be streams or waterfalls cascading down the slopes, There might be one peak or perhaps a series of peaks, And your mountain might have meadows and lakes, Just observing it, Noting its qualities. Now when you're ready, See if you can bring the mountain into your own body sitting here, So that your body and the mountain in your mind's eye become one, And as you do so you share in the massiveness and the stillness and the majesty of the mountain. You become the mountain. So grounded in the sitting posture, Your head becomes the lofty peak, Supported by the rest of the body, Providing a panoramic view of your surroundings. Your shoulders and arms become the sides of the mountain, Your buttocks and legs the solid base, Rooted to your cushion or your chair, And experiencing in your body a sense of uplift, Deep within your pelvis and your spine. With each breath, As you continue sitting, You become a little more a breathing mountain, Alive and vital, Yet unwavering in your inner stillness. Completely what you are, Beyond words and thought, A centred, Grounded, Unmoving presence. As you sit, Becoming aware of the fact that as the sun travels across the sky, The light and the shadows and colours are changing virtually moment by moment in the mountain's stillness. And perhaps this surface teems with life and activity, Streams, Melting snow, Waterfalls, Plants and wildlife. As the mountain sits, Seeing and feeling how night follows day and day follows night, The bright warming sun followed by the cool night sky studded with stars and the gradual dawning of a new day. Through it all, The mountain just sits, Experiencing change in each moment, Constantly changing, It always just being itself. It remains still as the seasons flow into one another, And as the weather changes moment by moment and day by day, A calmness abiding all change. In summer, There's no snow on the mountain, Except perhaps for the very peaks or the areas shielded from direct sunlight. In the fall, The mountain may wear a coat of brilliant fire colours. In winter, A blanket of snow and ice. In any season, It may find itself enshrouded in clouds or fog or pelted by freezing rain. At times, It's visited by violent storms, Buffeted by snow and rain and winds of unthinkable magnitude. But through it all, The mountain sits. Spring comes, Trees leaf, Flowers bloom in the meadows and slopes. Birds sing in the trees once again, And streams overflow with waters of melting snow. Through it all, The mountain continues to sit, Unnerved by the weather, By what happens on its surface, By the world of appearances, Remaining its essential self throughout the seasons. The changing weather, The activity ebbing and flowing on its surface. So maybe now tuning into the weather pattern on your mountain. Just noticing that the weather is here. The effects that it has. As much as you're able to, Just tuning into the solidness that the image of the mountain brings. The calmness abiding will change. Just breathing into your mountain. Experiencing its solid qualities. And when you're ready now, Just letting the image of the mountain fade into the background. Maybe seeing if some of the mountain's qualities remain. Just seeing if we can harness the mountain's strength, Stability, And adopt them for our own. Using its energies to support our ability to encounter each moment with mindfulness, Equanimity, And clarity. Mountains have this to teach us, And much more. So moving your attention now to the breath. Just noticing the full length of the in-breath, The out-breath. Moving to wherever the body's supported. So it could be the feet on the floor, Or the body in the chair. And if it feels right for you, Maybe just taking a couple of deep breaths. And as we bring this practice to a close, Just inviting you, As you go about your day, To maybe bring to mind these qualities of the mountain. And perhaps see where they might be helpful to you, Creating a sense of groundedness, Equanimity. It's a greater sense of ease and calm, As you go about your day.