Waterfall in Autumn.
These planet meditations are designed for you to sit with the beautiful elements and life in all its glorious creation on our earth as you quiet yourself to be here right now.
If you have a suggestion for something in the natural world that you would like me to create a meditative moment around,
Please feel free to contact me via email,
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Blessings.
So making yourself comfortable,
I invite you to gently close your eyes and taking a couple of full breaths,
Letting the air out slowly,
Bringing your attention to your breath,
To the inflow and outflow of your breath,
And now bringing your awareness to the sensation of your breath on your face,
Maybe noticing the sensations on your cheeks or just below your nose,
Over your chin.
As you breathe in and as you breathe out,
What's the temperature of the air like on your face?
Is it warm or cool?
Maybe noticing any difference when you let the air go and draw fresh air in.
However it is for you right now,
Just noticing with kind curiosity,
With nothing to do or change,
Nothing to decide,
No rights or wrongs,
Just lying here,
Sitting here,
Supported by the ground on which you lie,
Breathing naturally and noticing what's happening for you in this moment.
And now bringing your attention to your body and gently scanning slowly down as you breathe from your head,
Neck,
Shoulders,
Chest,
Back,
Tummy,
Hips,
Thighs,
Calves and finally feeling into your feet,
Noticing the sensations in your feet and in your toes.
Perhaps your toes are touching or maybe they're apart,
Simply becoming aware of the sensations in your body,
Bringing your focus into your body.
Perhaps you can sense some tingling or maybe numbness,
Maybe there's a sense of tightness somewhere in your body,
Just breathing in and out.
Whatever you sense,
Just noticing and letting be.
Now bringing your awareness up through your body into your lungs,
Noticing the feeling of the air entering and leaving your lungs,
Breathing in and out,
Perhaps noticing the movement of your body as it fills with air and the movement as the air leaves again.
Maybe you can even notice the pause,
The pause on the in-breath before you let the air go and the pause on the out-breath before you draw a new air in.
Simply bringing your awareness to your breath and your own natural ebb and flow,
Maybe noticing that your body knows what to do in every moment and with each breath.
And now bringing your awareness to any thoughts which may be arising,
No need to push them away,
Just let them arrive,
Welcome them and let them leave again as you lie here gently returning your attention to your breath.
And now bringing into your mind's eye the image of a forest in the autumn,
It may be one you know or have visited or perhaps it's a forest you've seen in a book or on a screen.
I'm walking slowly into your forest now,
Noticing it's in the fullness of the turning of the leaves,
Seeing the brightness of the leaves as you begin to walk into its depths and noticing the smell of the leaves as you pass through your forest,
Carrying the sense of the earth on which they lie and seeing not just the large webbed leaves but the tiny leaves too,
Beneath your feet leaves curling and flat.
In all the colors of the splendor of your forest,
Dark green,
Pale green,
Yellows,
Mustards,
Pale browns,
Russets and fiery scarlet reds,
Wondering at the beauty of the infinite variety of your forest colors.
And now listening to the sounds in your forest,
Maybe you can hear the birds singing high above,
Or maybe the wind is rushing through the treetops.
Perhaps in your forest you can hear the sounds of the small creatures rustling the thick floor of leaves.
Whatever you can hear in your forest just breathing now and feeling the surface beneath you supporting you as you absorb the color and abundance of your forest.
And now bringing your attention to the sound of water in your autumn forest,
Noticing the sound of fast water perhaps flowing somewhere near you in your forest.
And as you turn the corner,
Seeing the magnificence of a tall waterfall,
Smiling as you breathe in the freshness of the air in this place,
Feeling the spray lightly envelop you as you draw close to the cool rushing water,
Hearing the tumbling of the water as it falls through its stages from rock to rock,
And letting the beauty of your surroundings sink in,
Breathing,
Feeling the peace and joy as you watch the sun filtering through the leaves,
Brown becoming red,
Orange,
Golden yellow,
And now returning your attention to the sound of the water falling down the raven it's created.
The crashing and dancing of this huge mass of water as it tumbles and plunges beside you and continues on its way.
So breathing and sensing the full glory of your forest,
Its waterfall,
Its foliage.
And now noticing under the crashing and violent tumbling of the water,
Underneath is another sound,
An old sound that is always here.
So breathing steadily and becoming aware of this sound beneath the sound of the roaring water beside you.
Its low notes continue in a loop of water,
Stone,
And ancient time.
Seeing how the water has found its course over the years in its own natural rhythm and breathing now in your own natural rhythm as you join this ancient dance.
And feeling yourself now,
If you like,
As this water,
This powerful torrent of water thundering down this raven,
Always moving,
Always traveling.
Sometimes feeling the depths of turbulence beneath your surface and yet always beneath all of your shapes,
Beneath all of your waterfall shapes and dances and sounds,
Is your own steady beat of your path,
Knowing its way,
Singing its song,
Your song and the song of our earth,
Of water,
Rock.
Steady.
And no matter what's happening above,
The storms of your forest and the gales in your trees,
Deep,
Deep down is your low,
Steady beat of water and rock.
With its own known root,
In its own natural rhythm.
And now as you bring your awareness out of your forest,
As you begin to notice the sounds of your breathing and the feeling of the surface supporting you,
Knowing within you is always available,
This steady,
Solid,
Wisdom,
Calm.
And now becoming aware of the physical sensations in your body,
Noticing the contact of your body against the surface supporting you and the gentle pressure where you sit or lie.
Becoming aware of any tingling or numbness,
Maybe letting any thoughts that are bubbling to the surface just flow through,
Bringing your full awareness back to the steadiness of your breathing,
To the inflow and outflow of your breath and to the sounds and your surroundings once more.
Noticing any sounds you can hear for a moment.
And when you hear the bell,
Wriggling your toes and fingers,
And may the power of the waterfall and the wise acceptance of the autumn trees stay with you in the coming week.
