Find yourself in a comfortable seat when you're ready.
By comfortable,
I mean something you can hold without moving or fidgeting for a period of time.
And then I invite you to now close your eyes.
So sitting up tall,
Crown of the head rising,
Chin slightly tucked,
Back of the neck is long,
Spine straight but not rigid,
Palms relaxed,
Knees below hips,
And feet flat or relaxed and comfortable.
Begin by taking a deep inhale through the nose and exhale through an open mouth.
Twice more in through the nose,
Sending it to the basin of the belly,
Ribs expand,
And exhale,
Sigh it out.
Last breath,
Deepest of the day,
In through the nose,
Lift the belly button,
Ribs expand,
And then exhale,
Sigh it out.
And breathing normally in and out of the nose,
Start to sense into the support you have from the chair or the cushion,
Paying attention to the actual sensation of contact,
Finding a position of stability and poise,
Upper body balanced over your hips and shoulders in a comfortable but alert posture,
Hands on your lap or your knees,
Arms hanging by their own weight,
Like heavy cartons,
Stable and relaxed.
Actually sensing into your body,
Feeling your feet,
Your legs,
Your hips,
Your upper body,
And your head.
And when you're ready,
Bringing awareness back to the breath,
The actual physical sensation,
Feeling each breath as it comes in and as it goes out,
Letting the breath be just as it is,
Without trying to change or regulate it in any way,
Allowing it to flow easily and naturally with its own rhythm and pace,
Allowing it to serve you as it naturally does each and every day.
Allowing the body to be still and sitting with a sense of dignity,
A sense of being complete,
Whole in this very moment,
With your posture reflecting the sense of wholeness.
And now as you sit here,
Letting an image form in your mind's eye of the most magnificent,
Beautiful mountain you can imagine,
Letting it gradually come into greater focus.
And even if it doesn't come as a visual image,
Allowing the sense of this mountain and feeling its overall shape,
Its lofty peaks high in the sky,
The large base rooted in the bedrock of the earth's crust.
Notice how massive it is,
How solid,
How unmoving,
How beautiful,
Whether from afar or up close.
And perhaps your mountain has snow blanketing its tops and trees reaching down to the base or rugged granite sides.
Maybe there's streams and waterfalls cascading down its slopes.
There may be one peak or a series of peaks,
Observing it,
Noting its qualities.
And when you feel ready,
Seeing if you can bring the mountain into your own body,
Sitting here,
So that your body and the mountain become one.
So that as you sit here,
You share in the massiveness,
The stillness,
And the majesty of the mountain.
You become the mountain.
Grounded in the sitting posture,
Visualize your head becomes the lofty peak,
Supported by the rest of your body.
Your shoulders and arms are the sides of the mountain.
Your glutes and legs the solid base,
Rooted to your cushion or your chair.
Experiencing in your body a sense of uplift and strength from within.
And with each breath,
You are alive and vital,
Yet unwavering in your inner stillness.
Completely what you are,
Beyond words and thought.
A centered,
Grounded,
Unmoving presence.
And as you sit here,
Becoming aware of the fact that as the sun starts to travel across the sky,
The light and shadows are changing virtually,
Moment by moment,
In the mountain's stillness.
As the mountain sits,
Seeing and feeling how night follows day and day follows night.
The bright,
Warm sun followed by the cool night sky studded with stars.
And the gradual dawning of a new day.
Through it all,
The mountain just sits.
Experiencing change in every moment.
Constantly changing,
Yet always just being itself.
It remains still as the seasons flow into one another.
And as the weather changes moment by moment,
Day by day.
In the summer,
The trees that rest on the mountain are vibrant with color and full of life.
The birds fly by and sing their songs.
In the fall,
The mountain wears a coat of brilliant fire colors.
And in winter,
A blanket of snow and ice.
Spring comes,
Trees leaf out,
Flowers bloom,
And birds sing in the trees once again.
In any season,
It may find itself at times covered in clouds or thick fog.
Maybe pelted by freezing rain.
People will come to see the mountain and comment on how beautiful it is.
Or how it's not a good day to see the mountain.
That it's too cloudy,
Rainy,
Foggy,
Or dark.
None of this matters to the mountain.
Which remains at all times its essential self.
Clouds may come and clouds may go.
Tourists may like it or not.
The mountain's magnificence and beauty are not changed one bit by whether people see it or not.
Seen or unseen,
In sun or clouds,
Warm weather or cold,
Day or night.
It just sits,
Being itself.
At times visited by violent storms,
Winds of unthinkable magnitude.
Through it all,
The mountain sits.
Unmoved by the weather,
By what happens on the surface.
It remains its essential self.
Through the seasons,
The ever-changing weather.
Unmoved if it is adored or unseen.
And in this way,
We can embody the same qualities of unwavering stillness and groundedness.
In the face of everything that changes in our own lives.
Over seconds,
Over hours,
Over years.
In our lives,
We experience the same changing nature of mind and body.
We experience the same change in our outer world.
We too have our own periods of light and darkness.
It's true that we experience storms of varying intensity.
Violence in the outer world,
Within our own mind and body.
Hit by high winds,
By the cold and the rain.
We endure periods of darkness and pain.
As well as the moments of joy and happiness.
Even our appearances change constantly.
We experience a weathering of our own.
But how do you remain your essential self?
How do you find your strength?
How do you cultivate stillness?
As you continue to sit here and embody the mountain,
Can you also take on its strength,
Stability,
And adopt them for your own?
The weather of our lives is not to be ignored or denied.
It is to be encountered,
Honored,
Felt,
Known for what it is,
And held in awareness.
And in holding it in this way,
We come to know a deeper silence,
Stillness,
And wisdom from within.
Bring your attention back into your breath with a full,
Deep inhale through the nose.
And a full,
Complete exhale through the mouth.
Bringing your attention back into your body,
Back into the space,
And back into the room that surrounds you.
Taking as much time as you need.
Maybe giving yourself permission to stay here as long as you'd like.
And whenever you decide,
When you carry on with your day,
Go with care.
Go with strength.
Go with a sense of inner stillness.
