Breathing with the Earth Meditation Welcome to this Breathing with the Earth Meditation.
A beautiful way to prepare for sleep or to simply help you relax when you take a break during your day.
To set yourself up in the best way you might like to lie down on the ground on a sofa,
On your bed,
Making yourself really comfortable.
Place your feet on the ground with the knees leaning towards each other or place a bolster under your knees.
You can place your hands alongside the body or on your lower belly.
It can be helpful to have a pillow or a blanket under your head.
Make sure you're comfortable and warm.
Take a moment to really make sure you've got what you need to be comfortable and set yourself up.
And then we'll start.
Start by raising your right leg just a few millimeters off the ground and then as you release it back towards the floor,
Feel its weight.
And raising the left leg up from the ground and again relaxing it into the ground and feeling the weight of this leg.
Lifting your hips and pelvis off the floor,
Relaxing them,
Feeling the weight meeting the earth.
Lifting your left arm slightly and as you lower it down,
Sensing the weight of the arm resting on the ground.
Lifting the right arm and relaxing that down.
Lift your head up slightly,
And as you release it back,
Letting it rest deeply on the floor,
On the bed,
On whatever surface you're lying on.
Sensing your whole body weight being held by the ground,
By the good earth.
As you're allowing your physical body to rest,
You're being aware of the meeting points of the body and the ground.
Closing your eyes if they're not already closed.
Noticing how your body is arriving and sense how you're dropping back and down.
Bringing your awareness to the back of the body.
Releasing the tension from the eyes,
Letting them drop backwards.
Bringing your awareness to the area behind the eyes.
And as you're letting go,
Releasing the tension from the eyes,
Letting them drop backwards.
Bringing your awareness to the area behind the eyes.
Releasing the back of the neck.
Letting the spine relax into the surface that you're lying on.
Sensing the soles of the feet.
Taking a breath into these parts of the back of the body,
And exhaling with a deep sigh or sound.
Noticing how you're holding the area of the body.
Between the eyebrows.
Seeing if you can soften and release a little bit more there.
Noticing the jaw,
The mouth,
Your tongue.
Bringing whatever relaxation you can bring to those areas.
See if you can soften your hands a little bit more.
Letting gravity do its work.
It's like you're simply allowing gravity to do its job.
Dropping,
Releasing,
And letting go.
Feeling the weightedness of your entire body.
Noticing how your body moves with each breath.
Feeling the expansion and softness that arises,
The inhalation and the exhalation.
Begin to feel that you are lying on the earth.
You are connecting your breath with the earth itself.
Whatever your image of the earth or the sense of earth,
Qualities of the earth,
Let that become present to you in a way that makes sense to you.
Tuning into the welcoming quality of the earth.
The vast body of the earth under your body,
Supporting,
Sustaining,
Nourishing you.
Tune into your breath.
Send your breath through the body into the earth.
Imagining that the earth is breathing you in as you exhale.
And as you inhale,
You breathe in the quality of the earth.
Feeling this exchange between you and the earth.
Between you letting go and the earth taking you in,
Breathing you in.
And as you inhale,
The earth releasing into you,
So you can take in the nourishment that the earth has to offer.
Exhaling.
Imagining,
Sensing the earth breathing you in.
And as you inhale,
You breathe in the nourishment that the earth has to offer.
Imagining,
Sensing the earth breathing you in.
Inhaling,
Bringing the nourishing,
Welcoming qualities of the earth into your own being.
Sensing this reciprocity for a few breath cycles on your own now.
And then allow yourself to sink a little deeper.
Allowing the earth to envelop you with warmth,
Kindness,
Welcome.
Seeing if you can allow even more of a sense of your body,
Your weight and your being,
Dropping into the earth,
Letting yourself gently fall backwards.
With each breath,
With each exchange,
Dropping a little bit deeper.
Trusting the earth to receive you.
Trusting this vast space beneath you to hold and support you.
You might notice your breath becoming more steady,
Lengthening.
Allowing yourself to drop deeper and deeper into this vast and fertile space of the earth underneath.
Welcoming every feeling.
Giving all of it,
The emotions,
The physical tensions,
The thoughts,
Over to the holding of the earth.
Letting this experience be just as it is.
Nothing to get,
Nothing to achieve.
Noticing the quality of the breath.
The spaciousness inside your own body.
The widening expanse of your awareness.
Resting in the arms of the earth.
Held,
Supported,
Nourished.
If you wish to simply drift on from here,
Letting yourself continue.
With this awareness of the earth,
Of your breath.
