Relaxation Through The Inner Landscape

This meditation was inspired by Thich Nhat Hanh. In this journey, we bring to the foreground the elements within our mental landscape and use them to draw upon powerful affirmations and traits from within ourselves that we can use in our every day lives.

Transcript

Hello and welcome.

For this meditation,

We're going to explore some affirmations,

Tapping into some elements within nature to really feel into what exists within each of us.

To begin,

I'd like to invite you to find yourself in a comfortable seated position.

And to ground down,

We're just going to start by actually counting the breath.

So as you inhale,

Count one,

Exhale one.

Inhale two,

Exhale two.

Take your weight all the way up like that until you reach ten.

Inhaling,

Exhaling.

If your mind drifts away,

Just bring it back to your breath until you get all the way to ten.

And then release the count.

And just allow yourself to enter into a state of aware relaxation.

You still want to have awareness of awareness,

But relaxed enough in the body that the mind can take over for a little while while feeling safe and protected.

To begin,

I'd like to invite you to visualize a mountain.

Any mountain,

However big or small,

Visualize it in your mind's eye.

You can bring to mind the mantra,

Mountain strong,

Mountain strong,

Mountain strong.

So repeating that in your mind.

And as you repeat,

Mountain strong,

Think about what life would be like as a mountain.

How this small day-to-day elements that most of us go through would even phase a mountain.

Mountains stand for millions of years.

And how undisturbed the mountain is by the blowing of the wind.

Still may be affected by the wind,

And be aware of it,

But knows that no matter how strong the wind blows,

The mountain stays a mountain.

Mountain strong,

Mountain strong.

Think about that feeling of strength and solidity.

Bring that into yourself right now.

As you say,

Mountain strong,

Mountain strong.

Imagine having those roots deep into the earth,

Being part of the earth.

Mountain strong.

And knowing that you have that strength within you,

Whenever you find yourself in those challenging situations,

That you can stand tall,

That you can allow the ice,

The wind,

The rain to roll off of you,

Just as the mountain does.

Mountain strong.

And allow that image,

That feeling of the mountain to dissipate for now.

And then visualize a flowing river.

It can have winds and it can be a big wide river,

Or a narrow one,

More like a creek.

And the mantra you can bring to mind is river flows.

River flows,

River flows.

Think about the essence of that river and what attributes within you it connects to.

This idea of always moving,

Being able to go with the flow.

River flows,

River flows.

That idea of not being able to step in the same river twice.

That it's always changing.

And that that is its nature.

And thus it's okay with the change.

That it can go with the change.

That it can flow,

It can split around boulders,

It can ripple around and over rocks,

It can make its way down rapids and the river keeps flowing.

Contained by the banks,

But has enough spontaneity within those banks of the river for it to flow.

Knowing that you can go just like that river through some of those rapids of your life.

Moving in the river,

River flows,

River flows.

And then allowing the image and feeling of the river to dissipate for now.

And then visualize a flower.

It can be any type of flower.

And the mantra you can use here is flower fresh.

The freshness in this case is related to the delicacy of the flower.

Flower fresh,

Flower fresh.

That in that delicacy lays part of the beauty of the flower itself.

Flower fresh,

Flower fresh.

It's that part of the flower that we nourish,

That we take care and that we support.

Because we know how to handle the flower,

Because we know that there are some vulnerable aspects there.

But we acknowledge and we accept those aspects of the flower.

Flower fresh,

Flower fresh.

So when we find ourselves feeling delicate,

Feeling vulnerable,

We can see the beauty within that.

We can take a big inhale and take in a smell of that beautiful flower that resides within us.

And then allowing the flower to dissipate.

Next I'd like you to just visualize space.

Maybe you just see the darkness of your eyes closed knowing that you feel safe.

You can repeat the mantra space free.

Space free.

And you can just feel that freedom,

That space in your mind.

And the importance for space.

How space allows things to grow.

Space gives us perspective from challenges,

From different situations that we come across.

And that we all need to embrace from time to time some space within our lives,

Within our mind.

Space free.

Space free.

Space free.

And it's within this space that that mountain can stand tall.

That that river can flow and that flower can flourish.

Because that space provides the freedom for all of it to exist at the same time.

Just as you can be the mountain and then the next moment be the flower or flow like the river.

Focusing on honoring and being compassionate for all elements within you.

Take a couple of breaths just to feel all of that integrate within you.

And then bring your awareness slowly back into your room,

Wherever you find yourself.

You can invite some subtle movement back into your body.

Maybe wiggle fingers or toes and then slowly blink the eyes open.

Maybe feeling fresh as that flower.

Thank you for listening.

Namaste.

Reviews

Outstanding! Thank you. I’ll be coming back.

Beautiful visualizations leading to a real sense of calm and equanimity. Thank you!

Thank you for a beautiful practice this morning 🙏

Beautiful meditation, incredibly grounding

🌿✨💜✨🌿 Thank you. Xxx

Very calming. Thank you.🙏🏼

Lovely visualisations to begin the day 😊⛰

G R E A T L Y 🌸 A P P R E C I A T E.

Thank YOU.

This was a lovely way to approach the flower fresh meditation. Thank you.

I love how the images emerge, as one moves from things that hardly change at all, to those which are constantly changing, to those which are also potentially vulnerable. Wonderful meditation. I am bookmarking this.

Thank you for this meditation Jason, I know I will return to it often! The flower portion reminded me of Amos Lee’s song ‘Flower’...
‘My heart is a flower, that blooms every hour, I believe in the power of love’ Namaste
🙏🏻🌼💙

This was a unique and beautiful experience. Thank you.

Wow. This was just breathtaking. Love how he incorporated the elements into metaphors and mantras. Beautifully done💜✨Thank you🙏🏽

Wonder visualizations. Calming. I was feeling very scattered when I started. Now my breath comes with ease. 🕊

Thank you Jason! That was awesome! Sending blessings and gratitude 🙏

Lovely imagery. Thank you 🙏

Wonderful!! Thank you!!

I liked the images and will try to remember them when needed. 🙏

Thank you, this meditation is just what I needed today 🙏🏾🥰✨