So,
I wanted to record a meditation about snow,
And to me,
My feeling is,
What could be more beautiful than to meditate about snow?
And actually,
The very first meditation retreat I ever went to,
Was a weekend session,
A Zen retreat in the Netherlands,
And that weekend it was snowing enormously.
So my first meditation deep dive,
In the sense of a retreat,
Was also filled with snow.
And I would actually encourage you,
If it's possible,
That you do this meditation outside,
In the fresh air,
Preferably cold air.
So if that's not available to you,
Of course,
Then that's fine too.
And if it is,
Then dress warm,
No need to be cold,
But to breathe in the fresh air would be my recommendation for this one.
So with that introduction,
I want us to get seated well for our meditation.
Maybe you're lying down or walking,
But I'm going to assume again you're sitting.
So sit in a way that you can be alert and relaxed,
Have your spine straight,
And just start by relaxing the skin on your face.
Relax the skin around your ears and eyes and cheeks,
Your mouth,
Let the corners of your mouth drop down.
And as you slow down,
With every exhalation,
You can maybe find a bit more of muscle relaxation and really allow yourself to enjoy sitting here.
And perhaps you are already breathing in the fresh outside,
Perhaps winter air.
So maybe where you are,
It is already snowing or there is snow,
But more likely there isn't.
So we'll use our imagination for most of us to imagine a landscape with a layer of snow and with snowflakes falling silently from the sky.
So I would invite you to close your eyes if you're comfortable with that and just see a white landscape covered in snow.
And with the most quiet of precipitation that nature has to offer,
Adding more slow snow,
Adding more slow as well.
The slowing down of meditation really fits the slowing down that nature gives us when it snows.
And if you've ever been in a snowy landscape,
You might have noticed that there is a very special kind of acoustics that happens.
And the way it sounds to me like in a snow landscape,
Is that it sounds a little bit like you're inside while you're actually outside.
And if you know that feeling,
It feels a little bit like the boundary between those two isn't quite real.
And another aspect of snow is of course winter,
The element,
The season of winter.
And in winter it is in some ways the most still of all the seasons where nature is hibernating,
Animals and trees are sleeping.
And at the same time there is,
For me,
Maybe for you as well,
There is such an awakeness in winter.
And I relate it to the breath.
Breathing in winter and breathing in winter has such a quality of crisp freshness that my lungs so enjoy after a hot and fuzzy dreamy summer.
In contradiction to me,
To summer,
Winter has such a still awakeness.
And as you're sensing the breath going into your nose when you inhale,
Maybe you can connect to this feeling of crisp,
Alert,
Silent awakeness that we can find only in winter with that particular quality.
So here we are sitting,
Perhaps outside,
Perhaps in an actual winter landscape,
And perhaps imagining this beautiful white world.
And I wonder in your imagination is it early morning?
Is it midday?
Or is it night time?
And I would love you to really invite this crisp,
Awake,
Spacious air of snowy winter into your lungs,
Your spacious lungs,
As you sit with this visualization for about ten minutes more.
So the rest of this meditation will be in silence.
And when you hear the footsteps again,
The footsteps in snow,
That will be the signal that the meditation is slowly coming to an end.
There will be no more words.
And I hope I have been able to convey my love for the magic,
The silent grace of snow,
That's such a rare gift,
And such a beautiful meditation object.
Enjoy.
