A Mountain Of Strength

Harness the strength and stability of a mountain to create calm and build resilience in the face of anxiety and fear. Tenderly led and held with a supportive drone, this is a powerful meditation to help you manage stress and gain a healthy perspective on life's challenges.

Transcript

Welcome and thank you for joining me for this Mountain Meditation today.

Sometimes as we face difficult situations and changes in life circumstances we find ourselves feeling unsettled,

Upset,

Fearful or lost amidst uncertainty.

In this meditation we'll be envisioning and embodying a mountain to access our inherent inner strength and stability to cultivate a sense of calm,

Stillness and perspective as we navigate our internal and external challenges.

So let's begin by finding a comfortable seat for ourselves,

Perhaps on the floor or on a chair,

Allowing yourself the support of cushions or the wall at your back,

Whatever you need to settle comfortably.

And bringing your attention to the parts of yourself that are touching the floor,

Whether that's your seat or the soles of your feet,

Feeling into these points of connection and establishing a firm foundation there as if you were anchored to the core of the earth.

Let your spine rise tall from your hips,

Your head resting lightly on top with your chin tucked ever so slightly,

Allowing a little length at the back of the neck.

When you're ready,

Softening the gaze,

Gently closing your eyes and drawing your senses,

Your awareness inward.

There's nothing for you to do,

No way you need to be right now except here in this moment,

Being present with the awakening of your inner senses,

Your intuition as you bring your awareness now to your breath,

The sensation of the breath in your body as it rises and falls,

Just breathing naturally,

Not trying to force or control it in any way,

Allowing your body to rest in supported stillness.

And as you sit,

Sitting with a sense of dignity,

A sense of contentment,

A sense of completeness,

And reflecting this dignity,

Contentment and completeness in your posture.

Now letting an image form in your mind's eye of a mountain,

Seeing,

Sensing,

Feeling or imagining as clearly as you can the most magnificent mountain you know of or can envision.

Letting this mountain gradually come into clearer focus and even if it's not there for you as a visual image,

Allowing any sense of this mountain,

Its shape,

Its colours and textures,

The outline of its peaks high against the sky,

Its expansive base rooted deep in the bedrock of the Earth's crust,

Its steep or perhaps gently sloping sides.

Noticing how beautiful,

How massive,

How solid,

How still it is rising up out of the Earth towards the sky and whether your mountain is near or in the distance simply noticing and appreciating your view.

Perhaps your mountain has one pinnacle or a series of peaks,

A rocky plateau.

It may have snow or mist blanketing its top,

Maybe its slopes are covered in trees or rugged granite boulders,

There may be streams or waterfalls cascading down its slopes.

Whatever the features of your mountain,

Just observing it,

Admiring it and when you feel ready,

Seeing if you can bring the mountain inside into your own body so that your body and the mountain in your mind's eye become one.

So that as you sit here now you share in the stillness and majesty of your mountain until you become the mountain in all its magnificence.

Firmly grounded in your seat,

Your head becomes the lofty peak supported by the sides of your body.

Your shoulders and arms become the sides of the mountain,

Your buttocks and hips the solid base,

Experiencing a deep upwards lift from your pelvis and spine.

With each breath becoming even more a breathing mountain,

Alive and vital,

Yet unwavering in your inner stillness.

Completely what you are,

Beyond thoughts and words,

A centered,

Grounded,

Unmoving presence.

.

Becoming aware as you sit,

Embodying your mountain,

Becoming aware of the view,

Of the sun as it travels across the sky,

The light,

Shadows and colours as they change from moment to moment,

The life and activity teeming on the surface,

Plants,

Birds,

Wildlife,

Streams,

Waterfalls,

Perhaps even melting snow,

Sensing night as it follows day and day as it follows night,

Feeling the warmth of the sun replaced by the cool night and star-studded sky,

Followed in turn by the dawn of a new day.

Through all this the mountain sits,

Constantly experiencing change,

Yet always just being itself,

Remaining still as the seasons flow,

As the weather changes,

Moment to moment,

Day by day,

Remaining calm amidst constant change.

In the summer the mountain may be covered in blossoming wildflowers,

In autumn the trees may turn the colours of fire,

In winter its lakes may turn to ice.

In any season the mountain may find itself shrouded in cloud or pelted by rain.

Visitors who come to see the mountain may remark on its beauty,

Or perhaps being too cloudy,

Rainy or dark,

That it's not such a good day to see the mountain.

None of this matters to the mountain,

Which remains at all times its essential self.

Clouds may come and clouds may go,

Tourists may like it or not.

The mountain's beauty and magnificence are not changed by whether people see it or not,

It just sits,

Being itself.

Even through the most violent storms,

Gale force winds,

Snow and rain,

Through it all the mountain sits.

Spring comes and flowers bloom,

Birds sing in the trees once again,

Streams rush with waters of melting snow,

Through it all the mountain sits,

Unmoved by the weather,

By what happens around it,

By the world of appearances,

Remaining itself through changing seasons,

Changing weather,

The ebb and flow of activity on its surface.

In the same way as we sit in meditation,

We can learn to experience the mountain,

We can embody the same unwavering stillness and stability in the face of all that changes in our own lives over the moments,

Minutes,

Hours and years.

In our lives and in our meditation practice,

We experience the constantly changing nature of mind,

Body and of the external world,

Having our own periods of light and darkness,

Activity and rest,

Vibrancy and dullness.

We too experience both storms and fine weather in the outer world and in the internal reality of our bodies and minds.

Buffeted by winds and rain,

We endure periods of darkness and pain,

As well as moments of joy and elation,

Our appearance changing constantly,

Experiencing the weather all of its own.

By becoming the mountain in our meditation practice,

We can connect with its strength and stability and experience them as our own.

We can use its stillness to support us as we encounter each moment with mindfulness,

Equanimity and clarity.

It may help us to see that our thoughts,

Feelings,

Preoccupations,

Our emotional storms and crises,

Even things that happen to us are like the weather on the mountain.

We tend to take it all personally,

Yet it is by nature more like the weather,

Transient and impersonal.

But the weather of our lives is not to be ignored or denied,

It is to be encountered,

To be felt,

Acknowledged and honoured for what it is and held in awareness.

Holding it in this way we come to know a deeper stillness,

Silence and wisdom.

The mountain has this and so much more to teach us if we are open to it.

So as you sit,

Breathing,

Embodying your mountain,

If you resonate in some way with the strength and stability of the mountain,

You can use it to remind yourself that the treasures of strength,

Stability and stillness exist within you and can be accessed with ease anytime you should need them.

Continuing your embodiment of the mountain now on your own.

Moment by moment,

Becoming more a living,

Breathing mountain.

Alive and vital,

Yet unwavering in your inner stillness.

Completely as you are.

Beyond thoughts and words,

A centred,

Grounded,

Unmoving presence.

Your own experience of being the mountain until you hear the sound of my bell.

The sound of my bell.

The sound of my bell.

The sound of my bell.

The sound of my bell.

The sound of my bell.

The sound of my bell.

The sound of my bell.

The sound of my bell.

The sound of my bell.

The sound of my bell.

The sound of my bell.

Now taking your experience of yourself as the mountain into your heart and allowing it to dissolve there.

Acknowledging yourself for your dedication to this practice.

For your presence.

For the quality of your attention and the time you've taken to care for yourself in this way.

Gently letting go of the practice.

Expanding your awareness.

Bringing your attention back to your body.

The points of connection with the earth beneath it and the ebb and flow of your breath.

Take a long deep inhalation through the nose.

Exhaling a sigh through the mouth.

And when you feel ready,

Blinking your eyes open.

May the mountain in all its magnificence be with you always.

Have a wonderful day.

Thank you.