Mountain Meditation

Bring the qualities of a mountain to your meditation practice and life. Life can send us all sorts and at times it can feel too much. But deep down our beautiful hearts can hold it all, the pain and darkness, the light and joy, as well as the mystery and wonder if life unfolding. May your inner mountain be your guide. This meditation is inspired by the wonderful Jon Kabat Zinn's Mountain Meditation.

Take care and go well. Andy

Transcript

The Mountain Meditation.

So just starting by finding your posture.

Just noticing those points of contact where your body is being held by the ground that you're sitting on.

Maybe just scanning through your body,

Just noticing any areas of tension.

And if you notice any areas of tension,

Just allowing them to be there.

So often we want to change what we find.

So just bringing in a mindful acceptance to whatever you notice.

And just going to go back to the beginning.

So just bringing in a mindful acceptance to whatever you notice.

So allowing your body to be rooted in the ground,

With your spine going up,

And having a sense of lightness and dignity about your posture.

Just sensing the space that your body takes up in the room as well.

So noticing behind you,

To the sides of you,

Above your head.

Now just taking a moment to take a deep breath in.

A deeper breath than you normally would take.

And breathing out slowly.

And as you do this,

Just letting go a bit more.

Letting go of the day or the morning you've had so far.

And just letting go of the time that you've had so far.

And just letting go of any thoughts about the future or what might happen next.

Giving yourself full permission to be here and now in this moment.

And knowing that there's nothing that you need to do right now.

Just sitting with dignity,

With your breathing.

Just allowing your breath to hold you in this moment.

And now just bringing to mind the image of a mountain.

This could be a mountain that's familiar to you.

It could be one you've seen in a picture.

Or just imagine your own mountain.

No matter what you're doing,

You're just going to be here.

And just letting go of the day.

And just letting go of the time.

Noticing the shape of your mountain.

Its peak or peaks.

And becoming aware of how the base of your mountain connects with the ground.

Rooted in the earth.

Noticing if your mountain has trees on its surface.

Or if it's rocky and barren.

Maybe further down your mountain there are streams running down into valleys.

Into rivers.

Noticing your mountain's sloping sides.

And getting a sense of how big your mountain is as well.

How still.

How grounded.

So just breathing with your image of the mountain.

And now just bringing to mind the image of the mountain.

And just letting go of the day.

And just letting go of the time.

Noticing if your mountain has trees on its surface.

Or if it's rocky and barren.

Or if it's rocky and barren.

And just letting go of the day.

And now inviting you to bring the image of the mountain into your body.

So your head becomes the peak.

And the base of you becomes the base of the mountain.

Connected to the ground.

And your shoulders and arms become the slopes of the mountain.

Just sitting and breathing with your mountain body.

Rooted in the ground.

Breathing as mountain.

And as the day moves on,

The light changes on your mountain.

Maybe the sun comes up and shines on your mountain body.

Maybe you can get a sense of the heat from the sun.

And clouds move by.

Casting shadows over your mountain.

And as clouds gather and form rain clouds,

You notice the gentle rain falling on you.

And then the sun gradually goes down and becomes a sunset.

The colours wash through the sky.

Washing over you as a mountain.

And the moon comes up and casts its silver light around you.

And the stars come out.

And you just sit as mountain.

Grounded.

Present.

And breathing as mountain.

And a sense of calm and stillness washes over you as mountain.

And seasons come and go.

Spring.

The new growth of trees and plants and flowers.

The warmth and colour and vitality of sunflowers.

And the vitality of summer.

Changing seasons as autumn comes.

And the colours change to rust and gold.

Leaves falling on you as mountain.

And your mountain just sits.

And the winter comes.

It's cold on your mountain.

Maybe there's snow on the peak.

And storms may come.

Winds,

Rain,

Hail.

Huge storms that rustle through your plants and trees.

Crashing into you.

But even through the strongest storms,

Your mountain just sits.

No matter what is happening on the surface.

Grounded.

Tall and dignified.

And peaceful.

So just sitting as a mountain.

With an unshakable groundedness.

Rooted in the face of all change.

And in our lives,

We can also experience periods of light and dark.

Of stillness and movement.

Of happiness and sadness.

We also experience our own storms with various intensity.

Inside and outside us.

We can endure pain and darkness as well as light and joy.

Constant changing in emotions and mood,

Energy,

Aliveness.

But just knowing that we can sit as a mountain.

Dignified,

Calm,

With a gentle acceptance of all change.

Knowing that storms will come and go.

But also knowing we have an inner strength within us.

A quiet dignity,

Rootedness.

And we can access this at any time.

So now just inviting you to sit,

Breathing as mountain.

And resting in awareness moment by moment.

So now just inviting you to sit,

Breathing as mountain.

And resting in awareness moment by moment.

And resting in awareness moment by moment.

And resting in awareness moment by moment.

You You You You

Reviews

I love everything about this meditation. It’s been my go-to since I joined Insight many years ago. It always leaves me feeling stronger than when I went in and incredibly at peace. Thank you, Andy

Andy has a calming voice and it was really good to feel connected to nature and sense the seasons of the year, whilst feeling ground internally

Blessed humble actor singer beauty healthy wealthy amen
🙏

Wow, thank you for the very grounding meditation. Beautifully guided.

There's a lot to discover in this meditation. I've touched on a very deep sense of self respect and an understanding and reassuring smile of a mountain that goes through the storm with a sense of the many storms it has already withstood, and the many sunrises and sunsets. It was there for a brief moment and I'm sure I will discover many other things coming back to this meditation.

Really lovely for people who enjoy a visual meditation

Beautiful imagery and connection to life’s swirl around our beingness. 🙏

This remains my all time favorite meditation. I have done it enough times that I draw from the mountain when not on the cushion. Thank you Andy

Excellent!! Andy always has just enough of the perfect words to enable connection with the meditation.

Thankyou for your gentle & strong words 🌿 Am feeling solid and grounded to start the day 💫
Namaste 🙏

This is a lovely reminder for me in this time to remain strong and let the turmoil pass over me and hold my iwn center. Your voice is so soothing. Thank you Andy

I live in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, this is a peaceful way to start my day regardless of the season . Enjoy

More like this Andy! You are gifted with musical talent both literally & when you share your thoughts in meditation. More please…

Really lovely. I enjoyed the gentle introduction of body awareness and just envisioning a mountain before becoming one with it. The background music was suble and focusing

Andy is just so good: the voice, the music, the arc of the piece. Very nice.

Thank you Andy, I really needed that this morning! Nameste 🙏

Always love this meditation. I come back to it often.

I absolutely love this meditation! I always feels so grounded and confident after I do it. Thank you!

Serene and uplifting throughout. This meditation allowed me to still my racing mind and experience the calm within.

Peaceful calming voice. Uses imagery to center oneself