Hello and welcome to this mountain meditation.
I really love to practice the mountain meditation when I'm feeling unsettled,
Either about what's happening in my own life or by events in the world.
Certainly at the moment there's lots of reasons to feel unsettled.
So a meditation like this one can help develop a sense of resilience and strength and groundedness when facing a turbulent world.
I invite you,
As usual,
To find a comfortable posture.
It is better to do the mountain meditation while seated if you can.
So it's always worth taking a little bit of time to make any adjustments.
Bring a blanket.
Light a candle if you so wish.
To signal your intention to meditate.
And even those little preparation rituals can help us become more present.
And we've not even started to meditate yet.
So when you've found a comfortable posture with your feet on the ground,
Or if you're kneeling really well supported under your seat,
I invite you to close your eyes if that feels comfortable.
And to let yourself arrive in your body.
Calling back your energy from wherever it's been.
A bit like snow settling on the ground after a snowstorm,
Letting everything settle within you.
You can use the breath to relax deeper into your body.
With each inhale,
Filling the lungs,
Feeling the expansion.
With each exhale,
Relaxing,
Letting go.
Again on the inhale,
Really filling the lungs and feeling them at your back as well.
On the exhale,
Letting go the little muscles around the eyes,
Around the jaw.
And really feeling your contact with the ground.
And how the top of your head meets the space above you as well.
I now invite you to bring to mind the image of a mountain.
Now this can be a mountain that you know and you're familiar with.
You might have even climbed it.
Or it can be an imagined mountain.
In your mind's eye I invite you to visualize the strong base of the mountain.
That rocky groundedness,
Rootedness.
That immense width.
Imagining how deep under the earth the mountain actually goes.
Seeing the woodland around its base,
Visualizing the wildlife that lives there.
Visualizing the flanks of the mountain.
Maybe they get more exposed.
And finally,
Really seeing the peak of your mountain.
Maybe there's snow on the peaks.
Once you have this clear image of your mountain in your mind's eye,
I invite you to bring it into your body.
You become the mountain.
You now have a mountain body.
Your seat,
If you're kneeling just your shins and your contact with the ground becomes the base of the mountain.
The sides of your body,
Your front,
Your back become the flanks of the mountain.
All around,
Three dimensional.
And your neck and head,
Your crown become the peaks or the peak of the mountain.
And the sun rises and sets over your mountain.
In the morning,
The peaks are illuminated by brilliant rays of sunshine reflecting over the snow.
And as the day passes and the sun sets,
The light gradually fades.
And you find this mountain body of yours under the stars.
And seasons come and go in and around your mountain.
Spring sees your forest teeming with life.
Wildlife's scuttling around the base of your mountain,
The woodland.
Circling overhead.
Your streams just thawed out and are running now free down the sides of your mountain.
As the spring moves into summer,
Your flanks are exposed to the brilliant sun warming all around your mountain body.
Summer nights see your peaks illuminated by a brilliant night sky.
Visible stars.
Myriad constellations.
Maybe there's a summer storm.
Great peals of thunder,
Lightning hitting your mountain.
And still your mountain body rests.
Deeply,
Deeply rooted in the earth,
Reaching out to the sky,
Unperturbed.
And fall sees the colors of your mountain change.
Oranges,
Yellows,
Reds.
The wildlife changes as well.
The flowers.
And when winter arrives around your mountain.
Storms drown the peak.
Snow falls.
Spiraling all around.
The wind shakes your trees.
The great bear has disappeared inside her cave.
Animals are sleeping.
Cold has set in.
And still in your mountain body,
You remain unperturbed.
Majestic.
Unshakable.
With your roots,
Deep,
Deep in the earth.
So the cycle of seasons continues in and around your mountain.
And so in our life we face many seasons.
Sometimes in one day.
We wake up with a spring in our step.
Beautiful morning.
And something shakes us as the day unfolds.
A sudden storm.
Or maybe we endure many days of steady rain.
And cold.
A long winter season.
We encounter many changes.
As our moods,
Our emotions ebb and flow.
We can then draw on the strength of our mountain bodies.
We can bring ourselves back.
To this image.
Our seat as the base.
Our trunk as the flanks of the mountain.
And our head and our crown as the peaks or the peak of the mountain.
With each breath.
We bring ourselves back to this mountain body.
Inhaling the vast sky above the peaks.
Exhaling,
Yielding into our vast roots.
We invite you now to stay with this image of your mountain body.
Whenever your mind wanders,
Your thoughts start circling around your peak.
Like so many birds of prey,
The sky above.
Relax and settle back into your vast roots.
Into this mysterious rocky base.
Inhaling the spirit of the mountain.
Exhaling,
Settling into your base.
Inhaling the energy of the vast sky.
Exhaling,
Settling deep into the earth.
Exhaling,
Settling into the earth.
Exhaling,
Settling into the earth.
You are very welcome to sit in this mountain body for longer.
As long as you wish.
If you are ready to come out of the meditation.
To emerge from the mountain.
Find little movement in your feet.
In your hands,
Your fingers.
Let yourself be born from this mountain again.
Moving and stretching the body.
And when you feel complete.
Gently open your eyes.
I wish you all the strength and majesty of the mountain spirit today.
May you be well.
May you be happy.
May you be free.
Many blessings your way.
