Begin by finding a comfortable seat,
Whatever that is for you.
You can sit cross-legged on the floor or a pillow,
Legs long in front of you,
Leaning against a wall in a chair and or propped up with blankets and bolsters.
Once you find a comfortable seat,
I invite you to sit with a nice tall spine,
Your head gently reaching for the sky and your shoulders relaxing.
And if you'd like,
You may place your hands on your knees or in your lap,
Palms up to feel more connected to your surroundings and palms down to feel more grounded,
More connected to the self.
If it feels okay for you,
You may close your eyes and bring attention to the flow of your breath.
Feel each inhale and exhale and simply observe the breath without trying to change it in any way.
There is no right or wrong way to breathe here.
Feel free to sigh on that exhale to release any tension in the body and feel free to take any small movements or shifts you may need to become comfortable and to maintain an upright seated position throughout this meditation.
You feel ready.
I invite you to begin to call forth the image of a mountain into your mind's eye.
This mountain can be a real mountain that you visited or seen pictures of,
Or it can be an imagined mountain.
Just hold this image of the mountain in the mind's eye and gently,
Slowly allow the mountain to come into shape and into focus in the mind's eye.
Observe its overall shape.
Perhaps it has lofty peaks,
Maybe just one peak.
Notice the base,
The foundation of the mountain rooted in the rock of the earth's crust.
Notice the sides,
Whether steep or gently sloping.
And gently observe this mountain,
Allowing it to become more and more solid.
Notice how solid,
Strong,
Unmoving and peaceful the mountain is.
How beautiful it is from both far away and up close.
Perhaps your mountain is snow capped or perhaps covered in trees.
Whatever its shape or appearance,
Just sit and breathe with the image of this mountain,
Observing it,
Noticing its qualities.
When you feel ready,
And if it's okay for you,
I invite you to bring the image of the mountain into your own body,
Embodying the mountain itself so that your body sitting here and the mountain in your mind's eye merge into one.
You are the mountain,
Rooted in the sitting posture,
Feeling the heaviness of your legs,
Your pelvis,
The foundation of the mountain connected to the earth,
The solid base rooted to your chair.
Envisioning your head as the peak of the mountain reaching upwards towards the sky and sensing all of the spaciousness within the mountain.
Your arms,
Your shoulders become the sides of the mountain.
And with each breath you become a little more mountain,
Unwavering in your stillness,
Completely what you are,
Beyond words and thought,
A sense of centeredness,
Rootedness,
An unmoving,
Strong presence.
Now as you sit here as the mountain,
You can begin to imagine a variety of experiences,
Noticing how the surroundings change as the mountain moves through each season.
Perhaps a snow covered peak or sides in the winter.
Perhaps little sprouts of plants and trees coming up in the spring,
Noticing the rainfalls,
Flowers blooming.
Moving into summer,
Feeling the heat,
Seeing all of the greenery in full bloom and growth.
And noticing the fall,
The mountain may be covered in a variety of beautiful earthy colors.
Or perhaps there are no trees at all.
And notice how through the changing of the seasons,
The mountain itself never changes.
It remains peaceful,
Strong,
Unmoving and solid.
Beautiful from both far away and up close.
The changing of the seasons do not matter to the mountain,
For the mountain remains its essential self at all times.
Clouds may come and go,
People may come to visit the mountain and one day comment on its beauty and another day comment on how it's not a good day to see the mountain.
Or perhaps a storm has rolled in and the mountain looks and feels shadowy,
Scary,
Difficult to reach.
And none of this matters to the mountain.
The mountain's magnificence,
Strength and beauty are not changed one bit by the way people see it.
The mountain's essential self is not changed by the weather.
At times the mountain may be visited by violent storms,
Buffeted by snow and rain or winds of unthinkable magnitude.
And through it all the mountain will continue to sit,
Unmoved by the weather,
Unmoved by what is happening on the surface.
We too can be like the mountain,
Maintaining a sense of peacefulness and calm,
Allowing the seasons to change around us and remaining unmoved,
Unaffected.
Perhaps those changing seasons,
Those storms and sunshine are our changing thoughts and emotions.
Perhaps it's the changing of our environment or surroundings or our interactions with others.
But no matter what storms come our way,
No matter the changes of the seasons,
We can still maintain and cultivate the sense of peacefulness,
Groundedness,
Strength and beauty.
We can be the mountain.
In daily life we constantly experience the changing nature of mind and body,
Of the outside world.
But just as the seasons,
These things are fleeting,
While the mountain is steady,
Unmoving and strong,
Unchanged by the experiences around it.
By becoming the mountain in our meditation practice,
We can link ourselves to its strength,
Stability,
Beauty and power,
Its unmoving peacefulness and we can adopt these qualities for our own.
We can use the energies of the mountain to support our own energy to encounter each moment with mindfulness and clarity.
Using this mountain meditation,
We may be able to see our thoughts and feelings,
Our preoccupations,
Our personal and emotional storms and crises,
Very much like the weather on the mountain.
The weather of our own lives is not to be ignored or denied,
Just as the mountain witnesses the weather that occurs around it.
This weather is to be encountered,
Honored,
Felt,
To be known for what it is and accepted and held in gentle,
Non-judgmental awareness.
And if we can begin to hold the weather in this way,
Those storms,
That sunshine,
The fleeting,
Changing parts of our lives,
Then we can come to know a deeper silence,
Stillness and wisdom.
We can embody the archetype of the mountain,
How solid it is,
Its strength,
Its peacefulness and beauty.
Humans have this to teach us and so much more if we are willing to come to listen.
You can stay here with the image of the mountain,
Simply observing what happens in the mind,
In the body,
Acknowledging it and gently allowing it to pass,
Knowing that it does not have to affect you as the mountain.
You can continue to cultivate feelings of strength,
Rootedness and unmoving peace.
Whenever you feel ready,
You can gently let go of the image of the mountain,
Allow it to fade from your body,
From your mind's eye and begin to connect once again to your breath,
Feeling the inhale and exhale,
Sensing your body,
Feeling your bottom,
Your legs,
Your hips connected with the earth,
Sensing that spaciousness and length through the torso,
The softness of the shoulders and arms and that crown reaching ever skywards.
And once you feel fully present in the body,
You can open your eyes,
Come into the room and take the archetype of the mountain out into your day.
