This practice is called the mountain.
It's a grounding exercise to help you come to terms with and appreciate the stillness that exists inside all of us.
It uses the metaphor of the mountain to represent this stillness.
It doesn't matter if you see yourself as becoming the mountain or observe the mountain or just simply appreciate the metaphor of the mountain.
It's entirely up to you.
So I want you to sit nice and comfortably as you do when you meditate.
I want you to place your hands on your thighs and I want you to place your feet squarely on the floor and maybe sit up straight so you don't fall asleep.
Close your eyes down and allow your attention and your awareness to come inside yourself.
Breathe in through your nose so you can become aware of your breath and allow your breath to take control.
Allow your breath to lengthen,
Allow your breath to deepen and allow your breath to slow.
Really feel the air entering the boundaries of your body and really feel the air exiting the boundaries of your body.
In your mind's eye,
Picture a non-volcanic mountain.
Picture its stillness and picture inside the stillness that has been there for billions of years and the stillness that will be there for billions of years to come.
We're going to observe the way the seasons change the surface of the mountain whilst the mountain all the time deep inside remains still and peaceful no matter what.
Let's start with the winter.
Move close enough to the mountain so you can see the effects of the season of winter on the surface of the mountain.
Allow yourself to picture all those things you associate with the winter.
The snow,
The ice on the lakes,
The trees without leaves,
The evergreens covered in snow,
The quietness of winter,
The stillness of winter.
All the things you associate with that season and see how it's changed the surface of the mountain whilst all the time acknowledging that stillness that exists deep inside the mountain.
That profound,
Deep,
Grounding stillness that we all have.
And as the season progresses,
Allow the winter to turn to spring.
Allow the snow and the ice to begin melting.
Allow buds to begin to form,
Those early spring flowers to come up and all those animals that hibernate over the winter.
Allow them to come out.
The rivers will be flowing,
The lakes will be overflowing.
You can see the grass coming back and the snow and the ice melting away.
Allow spring to progress whilst all the time acknowledging that deep stillness and calmness that exists inside the mountain.
Allow the springtime to take its course.
Allow all those animals who return after the winter to return and allow spring to slowly become summer.
With the precipitation drying up,
With the sunshine increasing,
The temperature heightening.
The buds turning to flowers,
The leaves coming back onto the trees,
The fruits and the vegetables growing and all the bounty that summer generates and brings.
Whilst all the time acknowledging inside the mountain,
A peaceful,
Calm stillness that stays the same and will always be the same.
And allow summer to progress all the way through until you feel that change in wind direction.
That change that signals the beginning of autumn.
That change that allows you to see the next season coming along.
Allow the trees to shed their leaves turning yellow,
Gold,
Brown.
Allow the harvest and the feasting to begin with the beginning of autumn.
Allow the cold winds to blow.
Allow the surface of the mountain to change.
Whilst all the time acknowledging the calm stillness that exists deep inside the mountain and has existed and will exist.
Allow autumn to progress till it gets colder and colder and slowly the winds and the rain becomes snow and the ice on the lakes begins to come back and the lakes begin to freeze.
And I'm going to leave you for another 60 seconds just to allow yourself the time to roll the seasons across the surface of the mountain in your own way using your own imagery.
Whilst all the time acknowledging that deep inside the mountain there is this incredible stillness that exists and that will always exist.
So here we go another 60 second pause.
Allow your seasons to come,
Allow your seasons to go whilst all the time acknowledging that profound and deep stillness that exists inside all of us and that exists inside the mountain.
You Okay,
So in your mind's eye I'd like you to literally thank yourself for taking this time where you can be with your mind and your body together in every single particle of every single moment.
And when you're done thanking yourself,
Allow yourself to come back to clock time.
You can wiggle your fingers,
You can wiggle your toes,
You can come back quick,
You can come back slow.
There's no rush here.
Really stretch and really allow yourself to feel your physiology.
And with this exercise,
The object was the mountain,
But it could just as easily be a lake or the sky or the ocean.
Anything that has a stillness that transcends time.
So whatever feels right for you,
You can use.
