Alright,
Find yourself seated comfortably.
You want to be alert yet relaxed with your back and spine straight.
Let your hands fall gently by your sides.
You can close your eyes or have a soft gaze out in front of you.
From here,
Take three deep breaths.
Inhaling through your nose and exhaling through your mouth.
Start to feel into your body.
Feel the connection of your body with your cushion or your chair.
Feel where your feet touch the ground.
Feel your shoulders relaxing and moving down.
Your shoulder blades moving towards each other gently.
Now,
Start to feel the familiar tug of gravity pulling down on your body.
You might feel the weight of your arms,
The heaviness of your legs.
Recognize that the earth is holding you.
The earth is both pulling down on you,
Pulling you towards the earth,
And equally supporting you,
Holding you up from the earth.
We're going to set a visual grounding connection with the earth.
So,
Take a deep breath and imagine tree or plant roots connecting your body to the earth.
Imagine the roots coming off of your hips and sits bones.
They easily penetrate through the floor,
Through the foundation of the building you're in.
They go into the topsoil,
Down through the bedrock,
And even as deep as the molten core of the earth.
As the roots spread gently out from your body into all parts of the earth,
They divide and extend,
Tethering you,
Connecting you,
And securing you to the earth.
Just allow yourself to feel held and supported by the earth.
Now,
With each exhale,
Imagine the pull of gravity pulling down on you and pulling out any negativity,
Any physical pain or discomfort.
With each exhale,
Allow any negativity or discomfort to leave your body.
Just gently moves down through your sits bones,
Through the roots,
And into the earth.
The force of gravity is doing all the work for you.
You are simply allowing the earth to remove any impurities from your body.
If you want to feel even more grounded,
Imagine the roots coming off of your body and actually attaching,
Maybe with an anchor or carabiner or a lock,
To a spot in the deepest center of the earth.
You are not going anywhere,
My friend.
And the earth easily recycles and composts whatever you give.
The earth is so much wiser,
Older,
And stronger than any of our human concerns.
As you allow the earth to remove your impurities,
Allow yourself to imagine that you can contribute to the nourishment of the earth.
Just as waste and compost feeds the earth,
Your exhale feeds the roots and the soil in innumerable ways.
Gently,
In your mind's eye,
Travel down through these roots and see the interchange of energy with the soil.
A beautiful dance of giving and receiving.
Gently,
In your mind's eye,
Pick one root and follow it as it emerges above the ground.
You look around and see you are surrounded by a lush forest.
Allow yourself to journey into an abundant jungle in the heart of the Amazon.
It's humid and hot.
There are trees,
Shrubs,
And plants of every shape and size.
There is the tall canopy and there's the understory and you are lying in a hammock.
In this lush green forest.
Begin to really see this place.
Look all around you.
Look behind you.
Start to feel the forest.
Smell the forest.
Hear the forest.
Perhaps there is even a taste in the air.
Allow yourself to be deeply immersed in this jungle.
Slowly,
Imagine how all the trees and plants are exhaling beautiful,
Purifying oxygen for you to breathe in.
Let this gift from the earth flow into your body.
With your inhale,
Allow the vitality of the earth to nourish you.
Imagine that pure oxygen,
Fresh from those trees,
Comes in through your body.
With your inhale,
Deeply nourishing you.
Replenishing you.
The space between yourself and a nearby plant is hardly a void.
You are present in the thick of swirling currents adrift with oxygen,
Soft powders and silken threads.
A medium instilled with subtle pheromones and other messages riding the unseen flows that compose the atmosphere of our breathing world.
You are part of the giving and receiving the living breathing world.
Inhale the mystery of this world through your nostrils and draw it into your lungs.
Remember the vital exchange of nutrients with each inhale and each exhale.
With your grounded presence and connection to the earth.
Allow gravity to hold you,
Allow the earth to support you.
Feel the nourishment of this exchange.
Continue to enjoy this beautiful two-way connection with the earth.
Continue to breathe in and out,
Knowing that with each breath,
You are held and nourished by the earth.
And in turn,
You are nourishing the earth.
Continue to breathe in this way.
With an inhale,
You're breathing in pure oxygen provided by the forest.
And with your exhale,
You're grounding off any negativity,
Anything that doesn't serve you.
We'll sit in silence together for a few more minutes.
If you lose your focus,
Come back to your breath.
And I'll ring the bell to end the meditation.
Again,
If you've noticed your mind wandering,
Gently come back to your inhale.
And your exhale.
The giving and the receiving.
The pulling down and the supporting up.
Again,
Gently come back to your breath.
