Are you ready to meditate with Kari?
For this meditation,
Make sure that you're all comfortable and warm in your bed.
It's a nighttime sleepy meditation,
So we want to make sure that you're wearing your comfortable pajamas,
That the light is just right in your room,
And you can relax your body and let go of your busy,
Busy day.
The story that I'm going to share with you is all about a lemon tree,
A very special lemon tree.
The lemon tree stood alone in a very big,
Wide,
Beautiful garden.
There was lots of other trees,
Bushes,
Flowers,
But there was only one lemon tree.
The whole experience of being a lemon tree depended on everything else around it in that lemon tree garden.
The trees played a part,
The flowers played a part,
All of the creatures,
The birds,
The insects,
Butterflies,
Bees,
Caterpillars,
Everything played a part with the lemon tree being able to be healthy,
To grow strong,
And produce lots and lots of lemons.
The lemon tree was kind of like you and me.
It needed all of these outside factors to make sure that it was healthy and strong.
And to be healthy and strong,
The lemon tree also had to be happy.
It needed to be happy in the garden.
It needed to be happy in its place in the garden.
Like we need to be happy in our place,
In our families.
Whatever the day brought to the lemon tree was also very,
Very important.
For example,
The lemon tree,
First thing in the morning,
Soaked in the daylight.
The daylight seeped into its leaves,
Travelled through its branches,
Down through its trunk and into the roots.
The roots fed from the earth below and pulled all the nutrients up from the soil,
Up into the trunk,
Up into the branches,
Up into the leaves and also the fruit.
The lemon tree was being nourished by everything on the outside and also everything on the inside,
Its roots,
The nutrients that come from the part of the tree that we don't see.
And just like us,
We get fed from everything around us on the outside,
But we also are fed by our own thoughts,
Our own emotions,
Our own inner feelings and that's what feeds us on the inside.
How we look at the world and how we feel about the world on the inside makes us feel the way that we feel in the moment,
Whether it's happiness,
Sadness,
Fear,
Whatever it is,
That's how we feed ourselves on the inside,
Right?
From our emotions,
Created by our thoughts and the lemon tree is fed from the base of the tree as well as the outside of the tree.
And like I said,
In the daytime,
In the morning,
It feeds from the light,
From the sun.
Light brings it a sense of awakeness,
Happiness,
Action.
Just like us,
When we wake up in the morning,
We wake up and we're ready to move and do things and be active,
Whereas at night time,
When it's dark,
We want to rest and sleep.
Good morning normally brings more sun.
The warmth of the sun on the lemon tree is welcome.
The lemons shine and reflect the light.
They soak it in as if they're having their breakfast,
Pulling the light in towards them so that they can be healthy and grow and prosper.
Just like we do,
We need sunlight.
In places in the world where there isn't any sunlight,
Where there isn't very many hours of the day that are daylight,
Those people can get very sad,
Very depressed.
So the sun,
Without realizing,
Makes us feel happy,
Just like the lemon tree.
Later in the afternoon,
The sun starts to lessen.
Midday,
Peak day,
When the sun is really,
Really strong and it's really,
Really warm outside,
The lemon tree doesn't do anything much other than just bake in the sun.
Then mid-afternoon,
The sun lessens and the lemon tree finds itself in the shade.
Just like us people,
We need the shade.
We need to be able to escape from the heat of the sun.
Too much sun will burn us.
We don't want to be burnt or dehydrated,
Just like the lemon tree.
We need the shade.
We need the balance from the shade.
It's a rest from the light.
We need to take a break from the light.
And that's just like me and you.
It's lovely being in the sun,
The full sun,
With all of that power and that action taking place.
But then we need to escape.
Sometimes we have to go inside.
We have to go and retreat a little bit,
To rest,
Or maybe be alone.
Get away from all the busyness,
The brightness.
Sometimes it feels nice to just pull yourself into your room and do something quiet,
Calming.
That's what the shade feels like for the lemon tree,
A chance to escape.
And then the evening falls,
Darkness comes,
And the lemon tree slows down.
Everything about the tree slows down.
It becomes less active.
It starts to rest.
It rests in the darkness,
Just like me and you.
We go to bed.
We get comfortable and quiet.
There's less light,
So it's easier for our eyes to start to relax.
If you look around your room right now,
There's probably only light from your nightlight,
Or maybe from your bathroom off in the distance,
Or maybe from your phone,
Or your iPad,
Whatever you're listening to me on.
There might be a bit of light there,
But the rest of the light has disappeared because it's nighttime.
It's dark for a reason.
It's dark so that we rest.
This is your time to rest,
Just like the lemon tree,
Your time to relax,
To let all of the things that you did in your day disappear in your mind so that you can relax your body.
And as you relax your body,
Your body can heal when you take nice long,
Slow,
Deep breaths.
Just do that with me right now.
Take a nice long,
Slow,
Deep breath.
Your body's nervous system calms down.
Your brain starts to slow down.
And then your brain will send messages through the rest of your body,
Telling your muscles to relax,
Telling your body to stop moving around so much,
To be still,
To be quiet.
Because that's what your body needs.
When your body is resting and sleeping at night,
It can recharge its batteries.
It can build up energy for tomorrow.
You need energy tomorrow because you'll be doing life.
You'll be walking or running,
Exercising,
Playing.
Maybe you'll be climbing trees.
Maybe you'll be climbing lemon trees.
And the lemon tree will enjoy that and get energy from that,
Like you're making friends with the tree.
The lemon tree will feel like it has a new friend around it in the garden,
Along with the other trees,
Along with the other flowers,
The birds,
The bees,
The butterflies.
A lemon tree doesn't like anything more than ladybugs and butterflies and bumblebees.
Visiting it to have a little chat.
The lemon tree doesn't like anything more than some happy person climbing it,
Maybe taking a lemon and enjoying that lemon,
Making lemonade or maybe a lemon cake.
The lemon tree is not that different from us if you think about it.
We have lots in common with the lemon tree,
Me and you.
