My name is Elise Larenne.
I'll be leading you through your meditation today.
Come to a comfortable seat.
You can sit cross-legged in Sukhasana or with your knees bent,
Your heels back towards your glutes in Virasana.
You can sit up in a chair or down on the ground.
Whatever feels the most comfortable for you.
Place your palms face down on your lap and first start to just move your body side to side,
Front to back.
You can choose to find shapes like figure eight through your spine or ovals.
Allow for yourself to find organic movement before we settle the body.
Invite in your neck,
Your head.
Take this moment to go a bit more inward,
Observing how you feel in your body today.
Start to settle.
Stack your shoulders back over your hips.
Draw your belly button towards your spine and reach up through the crown of your head.
Feel your sit bones rooted into the surface that you're sitting on.
Allow for this connection to earth to ground you.
Know that this grounding is there for you whenever you need it.
Close down your eyes.
Start to imagine a forest.
Your forest can be on the banks of an ocean,
In the middle of a desert.
Your forest can have many different types of trees or one specifically your favorite tree.
Feel the leaves move with the wind.
Hear the creaking of the tree limbs,
Of the tree trunks.
Feel the wind on your face as you walk through the forest.
Notice what you see in front of you.
Notice what you see when you look up,
But keep moving forward,
Pausing to take in the beauty of nature whenever you need to.
Maybe here you smell the trees or you smell the dew that lands on the leaves on the plants that surround you.
Notice how all of the trees and plants work together in harmony.
They take the amount of water that they need to continue to grow,
But no more than what's needed.
They spread out their roots covering the earth below them,
But they leave enough space for other trees to grow.
Now you come across one singular tree and you notice that that one tree is what creates the entire forest.
The forest would not be the same without that one tree.
You look up and you can see all of the different leaves and each leaf creates the tree.
It helps to fill the branch with greenery.
You look closer and you see each individual piece of bark.
Some are connected to the base of the tree than others.
And you notice that each piece of bark is what creates the full trunk.
As you look down towards the earth you see some of the tree roots moving out of the earth and some moving directly into it.
Each root supplies nutrients to that tree.
As you think about the roots that are underneath the earth you remember that that tree came from one single seed.
One seed that found itself in the earth.
One tiny little seed created this beautiful big tree and this beautiful singular big tree created the entire forest.
The lungs of the earth.
Without that seed the forest would be very different.
You are the seed.
Many people walk this earth but none of them are quite like you.
You're one tiny seed.
One tiny splash in the ocean that creates a giant ripple.
You can choose what comes out of your roots.
What your foundation looks like and where you grow from there.
Be the strong tree.
A part of the entire forest.
You know sit here for a moment of silence.
I will call you out.
You you Take a deeper breath in and let a deeper breath out.
As you breathe feel your connection to nature.
Taking in the oxygen the tree provides and feeding nature with your breath out.
Bring small movements into fingers and toes.
Drop one ear to one shoulder and the other ear to the other shoulder.
Come back through center bring your palms together in front of your heart.
Anjale mudra.
We'll close our meditation with one final breath together.
Inhale through your nose.
Let it go.
Draw your thumbs to your third eye.
Namaste.
