Compassion Tree With Poem By Miller Williams

In this guided meditation, Julie Potiker uses the image of a tree, its branches, and its roots, to help you find strength and compassion. Julie led this mindfulness meditation for the Balanced Mind Meditation Center.
The meditation ends with the poem, "Compassion", by Miller Williams.

Transcript

Hi,

It's Julie Potichur for the Balanced Mind Meditation Center.

So let's start now finding a comfortable seat,

Feeling your bones,

Feeling your sit bones in the chair.

And let's take three really deep,

Nourishing breaths together as long as it's comfortable,

Please making your exhale longer than your inhale to lower your heart rate and your blood pressure.

I breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth,

But you don't have to.

Whatever way feels best for you.

And letting this third one out with a sigh.

All right,

Relaxing your eyebrows.

If your eyelids are closed,

Really imagining them soft and comfortable.

And if it's a gentle downward gaze,

Just a soft,

Soft focus.

Relaxing your jaws.

Your jaws build up so much tension during the day,

Unbeknownst to yourself really.

So let your teeth part just a little bit.

And then imagining that slight smile to the outside corners of your lips.

That's so helpful.

Dropping that smile down into your heart center now.

Letting your shoulder blades melt down your back.

And taking a few moments here to just notice your heart beating,

Any pulsing,

Vibrating.

And seeing whether there's any feeling tones,

Emotion tones going on.

Dropping your awareness down into your belly and letting your abs release.

And relaxing your hips and feeling the support of whatever it is that you're sitting on or laying on.

Really feeling supported.

Letting your thighs and your knees relax.

Feeling relaxation going down your calves and your feet.

And then softening your hands.

See if you can feel your hands from the inside out.

You may want to place a hand or hands where you find it soothing for a couple moments.

It could be your heart or your belly,

Holding your arms,

Cradling your face.

But one of these soothing touch places,

Releasing oxytocin and endorphins.

And just a reminder that you're giving yourself this incredible gift right now.

This is self-care,

Self-compassion,

Self-kindness.

And it's really good.

And then when your hands are weary,

Just releasing them,

Relaxing them into your lap.

And resting your awareness on your breath for a couple moments.

You might find your breath most easily at the tip of your nostrils.

Or it could be the rise and fall of your chest or your belly.

But in one of these places,

Seeing and feeling your body breathing in and your body breathing out.

Now feeling your whole body breathing.

Imagining breathing through your heart center.

Now imagining from your sit bones and from the soles of your feet,

If your feet are on the ground,

Roots,

Traveling down through the floor of the room that you're in.

And continuing to make their way down through the foundation of the building.

Moving down into the soil,

Into the earth.

Tree roots.

And as you're rooted,

There's incredible nutrients coming up as you are rooting down.

In your mind's eye,

You can see these roots like extensions of your body.

Separate from your body but connected.

And they're going down vertically.

And at the same time,

There's offshoots of each of these roots that are going out horizontally.

And they're connected and attached to all these other trees.

Like the roots are holding hands underground.

So it's this incredible living,

Pulsing,

Breathing,

Nutrient rich plant experience that you're part of.

And traveling in your mind's eye up your magnificent tree trunk,

You can see how solid and strong you are.

Yet incredibly flexible and supple when the wind blows.

Your torso and head and arms are loose enough to flow.

When there's weather,

There's wind.

You've got movement as well as incredible solidity.

See if you can feel the sunlight hitting your branches and your leaves.

See if you can imagine yourself swaying in the breeze.

And then using your imagination,

Where is your tree located?

Are you in a forest?

Are you near a beach?

Are you on the planet Earth?

Using your imagination to create the environment where your human body and your tree body are located now.

Is it a rainy day or a sunny day?

Is there snow on the ground?

Really creating the environment?

Are there animals there?

Now with the feeling of rootedness and connection,

Imagining your human self sitting at the base of this tree.

You could be in a chair,

You could be on a blanket,

You could be on the leaves or just on the sand or on the earth.

But it's your human self now sitting with this magical tree that you're connected to.

And now sitting there thinking of a being in your mind's eye that brings you joy could be a friend,

A loved one,

But calling to mind an image of a being that you can't help smiling.

When you see this being in your mind's eye could be a pet person.

You're sitting under this tree and you're visualizing this joyous being and the phrases that you're going to say rolling around in your mind over and over are the traditional phrases if you have your own feel free to substitute them.

The traditional ones are may you be safe,

May you be happy,

May you be healthy and may you live with ease.

Warming up your heart.

May you be safe,

May you be happy,

May you be healthy and may you live with ease.

Now adding yourself to that snapshot,

Of course it's may we be safe,

May we be happy,

May we be healthy and may we live with ease.

When your mind wanders,

You've got this visual of the two of you which should feel magnificent because this being brings you joy and you're in proximity with them now.

You could even be touching them in your imagination,

Hugging them,

Holding them.

May we be safe,

May we be happy,

May we be healthy,

May we live with ease.

Broadening out the circle of compassion now to add others.

You could keep it in your mind like a photograph of your friends and family or you could broaden it all the way out to encompass the planet earth with these prayers and wishes for goodwill.

It could be all sentient beings,

We certainly need it.

May we be safe,

May we be happy,

May we be as healthy as we can possibly be and may we find moments of ease.

Heart open,

Heart soft,

Back strong and firm.

May we be safe,

May we be happy,

May we be healthy,

May we live with ease,

May we live with ease.

Breathing in and breathing out,

Big wishes and hopes and dreams for healing and health.

Now letting the world kind of recede into the background and visualizing yourself still sitting in your environment with your tree that you're connected to and rooted and seeing yourself sitting and wishing these wishes for yourself.

May I be safe,

May I be safe,

May I be happy,

May I be healthy and may I live with ease.

And when your mind wanders gently coming back to yourself and these phrases.

Now,

Letting the phrases go and staying in the meditation with your tree and seeing what thoughts or feelings or emotions may arise and allowing them to pass.

Because if we don't attach to the storylines,

We can be aware that the thoughts and feelings,

Emotions,

The mental constructions actually arise and pass.

And oftentimes we think about them like clouds drifting by in the sky of your mind,

But since I've been looking at so many rivers lately and watching the leaves just bob down these rivers here.

Imagining that your thoughts or feelings or emotions are just gently resting on leaves as they travel with the current.

There could be a river in front of your tree.

Now,

Taking in the words of this short poem.

Compassion,

By Miller Williams.

Have compassion for everyone you meet,

Even if they don't want it.

What appears bad manners,

An ill temper or cynicism is always a sign of things no ears have heard,

No eyes have seen.

You do not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone.

The same poem can be adapted as a self-compassion poem.

Have compassion for yourself,

Even if you don't want it.

What appears bad manners,

An ill temper or cynicism may be a sign of things your ears could no longer hear,

Your eyes have since overlooked.

You may not know what wars are going on down there where the spirit meets the bone.

Now wiggling your fingers and toes when you hear the sound of the chimes coming back into the room.

Thank you for listening.

It's Julie Potichur from the Balanced Mind Meditation Center.

Reviews

Excellent meditation. Loved the image and the concept of the compassionate giving tree. I could stay sitting under my tree for the rest of the day. Just lovely!