Come into your spot,
The soil in which you grow,
The space in which you sit,
A bed where you are lying,
The ground you are standing on.
Just becoming aware of your singular space.
Settling in,
Letting gravity take over,
Keeping your body in a healthful position and letting it slouch where you need to,
Letting tired muscles relax and release.
Coming down,
Becoming embraced in stillness and quiet,
Experiencing a rising gratitude that you have given yourself time to meditate and to reflect and being generously aware that meditation isn't esoteric or intellectual or difficult but just a practice of slowing down and admitting boredom into your life.
You can't stop thoughts or vacate them.
You can just let them unspool and allow your neurons to fire in a dream like and random way.
And then when you get distracted,
Not if,
When you get distracted because your mind will take you to fantasies or digressions or anxieties,
Just loop your way back to my voice,
Come back to your body,
Noticing the ground on which you stand or sit or rest,
Feeling heavy,
Going deep.
Where's your breathing?
Your upper chest?
All throughout?
Constricted?
Open?
Raspy?
Or easily flowing?
Just notice it curiously as a scientist might.
And with that same curiosity,
See if you can slow it down just a little.
A tiny bit deeper inhale,
A slightly slower exhale,
And just continuing to slow down,
Coming into stillness and quiet,
Which is not the same as silence.
A generous awareness of your body and its context,
Enjoying this chance just to be still and not do.
Note which parts of your body are facing the earth and which parts of your body are touching your seat or the ground or your bed.
Imagine if those skin cells were instead little roots growing out,
Seeking comfort and nutrition and stability.
Let your body extend into the earth,
Into its deep,
Rich,
Loamy darkness,
Seeking support and receiving it,
Becoming deeper,
Drawn down by gravity and nutrition.
Isn't that special?
Extending,
Deepening your breath,
Slowing down and reaching down,
Settling,
Becoming strong.
Your breathing,
You may notice your pulse circulating,
You may notice your digestive system working,
And in and around your core like a tree trunk,
Draw into the solidity,
The strength and durability that you possess,
The nearly unlimited capacity for growth,
Slow and steady.
Center yourself in your trunk,
The strength of your torso and hips,
The bulk of the thing giving you power and grace,
Your spine and other organs,
A system to power you and feed you and give back,
Solid and extending.
If you become distracted,
Just come back to the sound of my voice and the understanding of your body like a growing tree.
Your arms and your head and even your legs like branches,
Extending outward,
Sharing your gifts of shade or fruit or buds with the world,
So much potential to extend and express.
From your rootedness and your solidity,
Grow,
Expand,
Lifting toward the heavens,
Up and out.
Feel yourself extending spiritually,
Emotionally,
Even perhaps physically,
Toward the world around you,
Growing up and out,
Old branches and new,
As your roots deepen and your trunk becomes stronger,
You extend safely.
When at any point in this meditation you find yourself distracted or lost in thought,
Draw back from the cognitive to the sensory,
Step back into your body and embrace its sensations and deepen your breath.
Find your slowness and your quiet.
From roots to trunk to branches,
We draw in and extend outward and perhaps just maybe buds and flowers and fruits begin.
And lifting up and outwards,
Prepare your gifts flowing through you with generosity generosity to return fruits and seed to the world.
Trust in the cycle and prepare to give back from your strength and your capacity.
Extending,
Deepening,
Blossoming,
Flourishing,
Rising,
And strengthening with nothing to fear.
Breathing down,
Breathing up,
Heavier and lighter,
Heavier and rooting,
Lighter and blooming and solid all the way through.
Breathing breathing deeper and higher,
Up and down through your whole self as sap goes through a tree.
