Peace and greetings and courage.
Wherever this finds you,
I invite you to start this invitation with a series of deep breaths.
We'll do three together and if you are finding nourishment and ground,
I invite you to pause this meditation and continue with several more.
We'll start with one all the way in,
Slowly out,
All the way in,
Reaching into our lungs and our veins and our fingertips and our toes.
Slowly out,
Breathing our existence into the world around us.
A really deep breath all the way in,
Breathing in all the living things around us.
Slowly breathing out all the life within us.
So this invitation is a moving invitation,
Slowly unhurried,
Extra patient,
Extra tender.
I invite you,
If you aren't already,
To be in a place where there can be gravel underneath your feet or rocks near you.
It can be small stones,
Large boulders,
And if you aren't in a place where you can be near those things,
That's okay,
Just be extra mindful of the trees and the living things and the natural things around you.
I'm recording this in the outdoors and my furry friend is with me and so you will hear his whimpering and breathing and movement around us.
I'm also close to a shooting range,
Into a highway in the distance,
So you will hear unique sounds in the background.
And with that,
I invite you to welcome and honor and be with the sounds around you,
Where you are and where this meets you.
So after you feel like you have grounded with a good series of deep breaths,
Honoring your body,
Honoring life,
I invite you to slowly begin moving.
And as you move,
I invite you to kneel occasionally,
To peer close to the details around you,
The details of rock,
Of stone,
Of sediment,
If they're small pebbles,
If it's just river rock in a yard,
If it's in a park,
If it's on the beach,
Wherever it is,
Just peer frequently to notice the details as you move,
As you kneel.
I invite you to rest your hand on the stone,
To feel its texture,
Its story.
If you can notice layers of sediment,
Layers of weight,
Of disturbance,
Of serenity.
Just slowly move.
Slowly notice.
Enjoy.
Or resting your hand on stone or picking up a stone and noticing its textures and its layers as you walk.
I invite you to invite the stone to honor and mirror your own layers,
Sediment,
Weight,
Serenity,
Rest.
How you have formed to be who you are in this life as you are,
Nobody else.
Nobody else carrying your own unique idiom in this time.
That you are one of a kind,
Just like the stone,
Just like the veins and the patterns in the rock.
Slowly moving,
Slowly witnessing,
Slowly inviting,
Honoring your role as a participant,
A mysterious and significant participant in this web,
This great web.
When you are in a good place to stop,
Maybe it's in front of a rock,
I invite you to stop and come back to your breath.
Let's take three deep breaths again together,
All the way in,
Slowly out.
Breathing in the story of stone,
Slowly out our own stories and layers.
Breathing deeply in the brokenness,
The resilience,
And the serenity of stone.
Slowly out our own humility and brokenness and serenity.
Slowly return to movement.
As you feel maybe a new stone.
Maybe a new stone,
Or the same stone,
Or maybe a tree if there are no stones.
I invite you to peer into what looks like edges of shedding and breaking,
Shale,
Broken pieces,
Breaking when the weight and the tension became too much.
I just invite you to be with it,
To feel it,
Honor it.
I invite you to resonate with it,
Invite it in,
Inviting the stone and its story to weave itself into yours.
Slowly move.
So from here I invite you to continue this pace.
Continue this tempo of presence with stones,
With sediment,
With layers,
With the natural world.
To be with this practice of deep and intimate relating with the wisdom of stone and gravel and rock.
As we close,
Let's close with three more deep breaths honoring our bodies and our breathing,
Honoring our existence,
Our layers,
Our experience,
And all the unspoken things.
Deep breath all the way in,
Slowly out.
All the way in,
Slowly out.
In with the trees,
Slowly out with the trees.
In with the trees,
Movement and belonging.
