Welcome to this Mountain Meditation.
First,
Make sure that you won't be disturbed,
Switching your phone to silent and taking this time for yourself.
Meditation is an act of self-care,
So allow yourself to be completely present,
Taking this time to refresh body and mind.
Then bring your attention to the weight of your body sitting on your cushion or chair,
The contact points between your buttocks,
Knees and feet with whatever is supporting you,
The weight of your arms and hands where they make contact with your body.
Then bring your attention to your breath,
Not trying to change the breath in any way,
But simply noticing that your body is breathing.
As you breathe in,
Know that you're breathing in.
As you breathe out,
Know that you're breathing out.
Allow yourself to be here,
Right now,
Present,
Alert,
Awake,
In touch with the moment-to-moment flow of your sensory experience.
Now bring to mind the image of a mountain.
This could be a real mountain,
Somewhere that's familiar to you from your travels,
Or perhaps from a movie or favourite novel,
Or it could also be an imaginary mountain.
Really see this mountain in your mind's eye.
What does it look like?
What shape is it?
Does it rise to a jagged peak,
Or is it softer and more rounded?
Whatever shape your mountain might be,
Notice how massive it is,
The power and majesty of this huge,
Ancient peak that has existed since the dinosaurs roamed the earth.
Take in every detail of your mountain,
The pockets of light and shade,
The fissures and deep-cut patterns of its slopes.
Perhaps the peak and upper slopes are dusted with snow,
Pockets of white glinting among the blacks and greys.
And the lower slopes might also be rocky,
Or they could be dotted with trees below the snow line,
Sparse patches of green becoming dense forest lower down the slopes.
See the icy streams surging down the sides of your mountain,
Zigzagging through the forest until they join wide,
Slow-moving rivers,
Forging their way through valleys and fields far below.
As you gaze upon your mountain,
Try to comprehend its age.
It might have existed for hundreds of millions of years.
Know that it is vast,
Powerful,
Unperturbed by the human dramas it has watched unfold in the hills and valleys far below.
Your mountain just sits,
Calm,
Still,
Majestic.
Now imagine that you are this mountain,
Your head its peak,
Neck,
Shoulders and arms its sloping sides,
Feet planted firmly on the floor,
Just as the mountain is rooted and grounded in the surface of the earth.
Allow yourself to sit,
Tall,
Strong,
Still and patient.
Be the mountain.
And as you sit,
Calm and solid,
Imagine the day unfolding around you.
First dawn breaks,
Illuminating your slopes with soft golden light,
And the sun rising above the horizon,
Sending shafts of light to warm the forests,
The streams,
Melting the snow and silhouetting the lofty peak against your brother and sister mountains,
Stretching off into the far distance behind you.
Be the mountain,
Strong,
Solid,
Immovable.
Now the sun rises still further,
Shining down from directly above you,
Its rays warming every inch of you,
The birds and animals and leaves of every tree in the forests,
Soaking up the sun's life-giving energy.
Then the sun sinks,
Slowly,
Throughout the afternoon,
Eventually setting behind you,
Temperatures cooling as day turns to night,
The moon rising and a billion stars glinting overhead.
Then temperatures drop as the night turns cold,
But you,
The mountain,
Are oblivious,
Untouched.
Day,
Night,
Heat,
Cold,
Light,
Dark,
Still you sit,
Calm and solid,
Eternal.
Perhaps a storm breaks in the early hours,
Rain and wind lashing your slopes,
Leaves whisking to and fro,
Branches bending,
But you,
Mountain,
Are not affected in any way.
The storms do not harm you,
Because you've seen a million just like them,
Coming and going in their mad rush.
And so it is to be human.
Sometimes storms erupt in our lives and gusts of emotion sweep over us or those we love.
But,
Like the mountain,
You can simply watch those storms come and go,
While you sit and breathe and know that deep inside you is this mountain energy.
This core of you cannot be harmed,
Cannot be hurt in any way,
However ferocious the storms,
Whatever life throws at you.
And this is yourself,
Your essence,
Who you really are deep down.
And now just sit and breathe,
Being the mountain,
Using the stretches of silence to practice on your own until you hear the bell.
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