Put your body into a relaxed and comfortable position.
Begin to follow the breath in and out of the body.
The body is a fantastic vehicle for emotions and different experiences of states of consciousness and holds an incredible amount of memory.
As you follow the breath into the body,
Allow yourself to fully connect into the body,
Feeling all of it.
Imagine that you are breathing in and out of the entire body,
As if the body were like a sponge,
Soaking in the air around it,
Through every pore of skin,
Into the marrow of the bones.
Exhaling and releasing,
Feel the sense of release of the body,
Relaxing the muscles,
Letting go into the space around the body.
Continue with the breathing until you notice that every part of the body is relaxed,
And you sense a state of being fully present in the moment without attachment to anything other than this moment,
This experience.
Imagine that your body is the trunk of a tree,
Solid and sturdy.
Feel yourself planted firmly into the earth.
When you're ready,
Bring your focus and attention to the belly.
Start to direct the breath to the belly,
Noticing if it's rising and falling with the breath or if you're holding any tightness in the muscles there,
And start to relax it.
Imagining that you are allowing the belly to drop down into the earth.
Imagine that your belly is connected to your legs and feet,
And everything is sinking down,
Down,
Down toward the center of the earth like roots,
Connecting with the belly of the earth.
You may see the different layers of earth that the belly and roots pass through as they descend downward.
Layers of soot,
Soil,
Sediment,
Dirt,
Rock,
And mineral.
Different sorts and colors.
Layers of granite.
Layers of quartz,
Through subterranean streams,
Down through great caverns and underground lakes,
Past stalagmites and stalactites,
Deeper and deeper toward the core of the earth.
This could be a molten core,
A magnetic core,
Whatever it is,
For you is just perfect.
Your belly sinks into this core,
Connecting with the belly of the earth mother herself,
Connecting to her wisdom.
As your belly settles into the belly of the earth,
Allow a sense,
An awareness of the relationship that you have to this great planet to arise within you.
Notice that everything about the body that your consciousness is inhabiting is dependent upon the earth to survive.
All of the food that you eat,
All of the water and liquids that you drink come from this planet.
All of the things that you use,
Create,
Desire,
Covet,
And give come from this planet.
All of the sights and sounds that you witness in nature are products of this planet.
In fact,
Your entire bodily experience is an elemental construction of available resources because of this planet's dream.
This great spirit that we call earth is a spiritual being,
A mother,
Who is given of herself so that trillions of species can have a physical experience.
She's given of herself lovingly this gift to you.
Allow yourself to return that gift of love and send that down to her,
From your belly to hers.
Let this selfless gratitude descend down into her belly until you start to become aware that she holds the same selfless gratitude and love for you.
When this awareness grows,
Allow yourself to be receptive to receiving this loving energy from her belly to yours,
Rising up into your belly,
And feel it anchor in your heart.
Notice that you've created a loop of sending and receiving love and gratitude.
You may even see the loop in your mind in this never-ending cycle and recycle,
Feeling the deep symbiotic relationship and transference of this energy.
When you're ready,
Bring your awareness into the center of your head.
Start to breathe into the center of the head.
Breathe as if the center of your head is like a vacuum sucking in with the in-breath and then releasing out in all directions on the out-breath.
Continue this breathing while imagining that branches are starting to grow out of the top of the head,
From the great trunk of your body.
They climb and reach up,
Up,
Up into the heavens,
Stretching out in all directions into space.
See or feel these branches dividing and subdividing into smaller branches,
Splitting off into twigs,
Growing out into the furthest reaches of the cosmos.
Imagine that all of these branches are leafing,
And every leaf is like a star in the night sky.
You are connecting into the fabric of creation,
The great tapestry of consciousness itself that inhabits every planet,
Every asteroid,
Every star,
Every nebula,
Every quasar.
You are connected into the great mystery,
The great father of story,
Of myth,
Of history in perpetuity.
As you settle your awareness upwards and outwards into this great expanse of consciousness,
Allow yourself to become aware that your relationship to this tapestry gives you experience,
Animation,
Dreams,
Language,
Understanding,
Consciousness itself.
In fact,
Without this connection,
You might just be a sack of bones.
Feel the gratitude and love that you have for this opportunity to experience yourself,
And send that gratitude upward and outward to the great mystery for bringing you consciousness.
Sense it traveling out through your branches into the tapestry of all creation until you start to sense the love and gratitude that it has for you.
It will send this love and gratitude back to you.
Make a decision to be receptive to it in your heart,
And you'll experience another loop of this gratitude and love from the cosmos back to the center of your head and anchoring in the heart.
Sit with this loop and sense the cycle and recycle of this energy.
When you're ready,
Bring your awareness to two places at once,
The loop running downward into the earth and the loop running upward into the heavens,
Returning back to your heart center.
Hold this awareness going in two directions simultaneously.
Stay connected to these two directions,
Holding both,
Feeling the gratitude and love being sent out,
Downward and upward,
Receiving from below and above simultaneously into the heart center.
Allow the heart center to grow,
Expanding outward in whatever way you sense it.
Utilize your breath,
Outward and sending,
Inward and receiving,
To accentuate this experience,
To be present fully and completely to whatever arises.
Stay with this meditation until it feels complete,
And then take a deep breath and bring yourself fully and completely back into your body,
Into the moment of now.
