Take a deep breath in.
Blink your eyes,
Allow them to get heavier and heavier,
And then with your exhale,
Close your eyes.
Sit up nice and straight.
Create more space from the base of your spine through the top of your head.
And then give yourself permission to be really still through this meditation.
Take a long breath in,
Hold your breath at the top,
And then exhaling,
Blow out through your mouth as if you're blowing through a straw.
And repeating that twice more.
Take a breath in,
Hold your breath,
And blowing out through the straw.
And one last time,
Breath in,
Hold,
And blow out.
And now picture yourself as a mighty tree,
Deep roots,
Strong branches,
Beautiful leaves.
Your leaves have started to turn colors in the fall,
And effortlessly,
And when the time is right,
They fall and float to the ground.
Picture all of your commitments,
All of your to-dos,
Being written on each leaf.
One leaf per commitment,
One leaf per to-do.
And as you take a breath in,
Unburden yourself by getting out as much as you can think of,
And filling the tree.
And then exhale into relaxation,
Knowing that everything has a place,
And you'll get to it when it's time.
It can be really easy to get carried away in the momentum of life,
And in the fast pace that the world is going in.
Meditation is the place where you connect with stillness,
Where you remember who you are,
That your birthright is joy,
Your life is meant to be joyful.
All the to-do lists take you out of the present,
And connecting with the present brings you back into your birthright,
Into that sensation of joy.
So take a long,
Deep breath now,
And as you exhale and blow out through your mouth,
Start to blow down the leaves that you no longer need.
It doesn't matter what the commitment is or the to-do is,
Just continue breathing,
Continue picturing the colored leaves,
Leaving the tree,
Unburdening you,
Letting you go,
And you letting it go.
Allow this process to be really light,
Really easy.
Allow yourself to say yes to it.
And trade,
Just for a moment,
All of that hustle,
Hurry,
And worry,
For spending time exploring into this tree,
And feeling yourself in the present moment.
As you continue to inhale and exhale,
Notice that the pile of leaves on the ground is growing.
All of the things that were taking your attention,
Filling your heart and mind and body with chaos and noise and duty,
Have simply become a pile of dead leaves,
Unnecessary,
And yet still beautiful in the purpose that they served.
Take a breath in now,
And with your exhale,
Is there anything else that wants for letting go?
Do you have a dead branch on your tree that's ready to fall?
Something bigger that has taken up more space and more of your time?
Take a long breath in,
The fullest one yet,
A full expression of breath.
Hold your breath at the top,
And with your exhale,
Breathe through your mouth like a mighty wind,
And see the branch crack and effortlessly fall.
You don't feel like you're losing a part of yourself,
You're aware that this is something that has come to completion,
You don't need it anymore,
And so effortlessly it falls.
You can continue in this fashion,
Breathing in,
Holding your breath,
Blowing out through your mouth,
Releasing any leaves that need to go,
Or pruning the branches.
And when you're satisfied,
Smile to your whole being,
Work your way up and down the trunk of that tree,
Out through every branch,
Every leaf that has remained.
Smile,
Thank your tree,
Thank your life and your body for supporting you the way it does,
And know that everything is going to be okay,
Much better than you could imagine.
You only need to show up in obedience,
In faithfulness,
To sit and breathe and reconnect with the stillness,
Come back to your birthright,
Come back to the joy.
Take one final breath in,
And with your exhale,
You can open your eyes,
Hopefully feeling much lighter than when you started,
Less weight,
Less heaviness,
More lightness,
More fun,
More joy.
