Resting On The Earth

A 10-minute guided meditation. Beth Adelson leads you through a restful mindfulness or vipassana meditation. The practice is supported by Metta, lovingkindness. This practice is for both new and experienced meditators.

Transcript

Let's do a short resting on the earth meditation. So let yourself really settle in. Feel how your feet are resting and that that resting means they're held. Feel your body resting on the seat. And in that resting your body is held. And take your time and let this come to you. And your body will continue to settle. And as it does, You'll get an increasing sense of feeling the earth under you, Feeling how it holds you. And really rest as you continue to sit up straight so that your breath is free, Letting your eyes close, Turning your awareness to those sensations of resting and being held. And feel the extent of the earth. Feel its continuity. Let yourself feel this as a real first hand physical experience. So you don't have to remember the circumference of the earth, Or its distance from the sun. Just rest and feel the earth. Let it continue to be there for you. Let this sense of being held by the earth be dynamic. Allow that process to unfold. Allow your perceptions to come to you while resting, Not hurrying. Just really enjoying this luxury that we have of the earth holding us. There are other aspects of this, Of the earth holding us and also nourishing us with the atmosphere that it provides and the way that we have developed so that it forms a perfect fit. So let yourself feel the air as it comes to you. Your body knows how to do this for you. So continue to rest and continue to allow this aspect of our earth to be with you. Again, Feeling that it's dynamic, That your breath continues in and out, Continues to change at exactly the speed that your body knows it needs and rest in that continuing change. Feel the temperature of the air. This also supports us. See right now, Is it warm? Is it cool? Is it not noticeable? Again, This match that lets us be as developed and it too supports us. Allow yourself to feel that. Rest and be held by the earth, Be held by the way it lets us breathe, The temperature and perhaps your perception of light through your closed lids. See what's coming to you. Knowing how this also changes and knowing how that's a match for how we've developed as well, That aspect too. And let the effect of this resting and being held unfold. See what it is right now, Today. It may change from time to time. Take in how you're experiencing it just now. And there's a poem that I like from the first free women book that I've read from this book before. Let me see if I can find it, But it has to do with this being held and really resting. The person who wrote this poem, Her name was Metica, Which is Pali for kindness. The title is I Know My Sister Passed This Way. I know my older sister passed this way. At the top of the mountain, I spread my outer robe, Where perhaps she once spread hers. I sit down my bowl and there was her staff, The twin of my own. Using both staffs, I lowered myself down and leaned back against a large gray rock. I let go of the staffs and my hands were empty. The mountain went on holding me. Then it let me go. My staff, I also now leave behind, Just in case you're ever passing this way. Resting, Letting go, Being held, Finding release. Let's see how that strikes you just now. Stick that in, Sit and rest until we're together again.