Lessons From A Mountain

An adapted version of Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mountain Meditation, this practice makes use of the powerful metaphor of a mountain to help us explore strength and resilience amidst change and chaos in our lives.

Transcript

Begin this meditation by getting into a comfortable seated position.

Sitting on a chair or on the floor.

Gently rest your hands on your knees.

Explore having your feet firmly rooted on the ground.

Allow your eyes to gently close.

Bring your awareness onto the movement of your breath.

Feeling the sensations of your breath going in and out through your nose.

Observing this flow of your breathing,

But allowing it to occur naturally.

Just allowing it to be as it is,

Not how you want it to be.

As you focus your mind on your breathing.

Feel your body arrive into a sense of stillness and wholeness.

Reflecting a sense of completeness in the posture of your body.

In your mind's eye,

Begin to imagine the image of the most beautiful or magnificent mountain.

It may be a mountain you have seen before.

Perhaps you would like to create a new mountain in your imagination.

Take some time to create this image of the mountain in your mind's eye.

And focus completely on it.

Bringing this image into greater clarity and focus over time.

Visualize the shape and texture of this mountain.

Seeing the peak of the mountain stretching high into the sky.

And the base of the mountain firmly fixed into the earth.

Admiring the gentle curves and crevices of this magnificent mountain.

Noticing the enormity of this mountain and admiring its solid nature and the graceful beauty it has.

Continue to observe the various details of this mountain.

Noticing how many peaks it has.

Maybe it has just one large peak.

Maybe it is made up of many smaller peaks.

Perhaps there is snow or trees decorating this mountain.

Perhaps there are streams and waterfalls cascading down the slopes.

Notice all of these and try to make this mental image as detailed as possible in your mind.

When you are ready,

Try to bring this mountain into your own body.

Imagining your body uniting with this mountain.

Embodying and feeling the nature of the mountain within you.

The massiveness,

Stability,

Stillness and the majesty of this beautiful mountain.

Feeling like you have become this mountain.

Feel the nature of this mountain throughout your entire body.

Build the stable base of the mountain underneath you.

Extending this inner mountain down towards the ground.

From this stable base,

The tip of the mountain then extends out of the top of your head.

Supported by the rest of your body.

Imagine the curves of your body.

The peaks of the shoulders and arms.

Embodying the sides and crests of the mountain along the sides of your body.

Feel your body lifting higher towards the sky and embodying this tall majestic mountain.

With every breath,

Feel the energy of this mountain spreading throughout your entire body and transforming you completely.

With each inhale and exhale,

Becoming a little more like a breathing mountain.

Alive and vital,

Yet unwavering in your inner stillness.

Being completely what you are.

Beyond words and thought.

A centered,

Grounded and unmoving presence.

Become aware of the fact that the sun travels across the sky.

Shining light into the shadows and bringing color to the mountain.

As the day turns into night and as the night turns into day,

The mountain remains still,

Rooted and strong.

Feel the sense of calmness as the changing nature of weather and wind all around you have no effect on this stable mountain.

Through the seasons,

The outer nature of this mountain changes.

It may be snowy in the winter,

Shining and reflecting granite in the summer,

Or covered in the changing colors of leaves in the fall.

But through all of these seasonal changes and storms that may surround this mountain,

It remains stable and calm.

On any given day,

The mountain may be covered by fog or it may be shining bright in the sun.

Clouds may come and clouds may go.

People may comment on these changes,

Noting its beauty or lack thereof on various days.

None of this matters to the mountain,

Which remains stable in its true self.

As everything outside of the mountain changes,

The mountain's beauty and magnificence remain beneath all of this.

Through it all,

The mountain sits on its own,

Stable and beautiful,

Withstanding chaotic storms,

Pouted with rain and snow,

But remaining magnificent and strong.

Remaining its essential self,

Unmoved by what happens on its surface or by the world of appearances.

In the same way,

As we sit in meditation,

We learn to experience the mountain within us.

We learn to access within us the central,

Unwavering stillness and groundedness in the face of everything that changes in our own lives.

The external world in our lives is always changing.

There are times of light and times of darkness,

Times of vibrant color and times of grey coldness,

Times of storms and violence,

And times of clear skies and beauty.

Through all of these emotional and physical changes in the world,

We go through and experience this in our lives all the time.

But by becoming the stable mountain through meditation,

We can discover our strength and stability and find stillness within us to withstand the storm.

We can use the energy of the mountain to support us and carry us to greater equanimity,

Mindfulness and clarity in our lives.

We may begin to see that our thoughts and feelings are just like the weather on the mountain.

We cannot ignore or deny the weather of our lives,

But we can learn to hold these experiences and honor them.

Bringing our inner selves into deeper stillness,

Silence and wisdom.

Our true,

Essential inner mountain nature remains the same.

Mountains have this to teach us and much more if we can let it in.

As you prepare to transition to your day-to-day life,

Observe the space around you.

Bring your awareness to the support beneath you,

The sounds in the space,

Your sense or smell,

Sensations in your body.

Perhaps gently awaken your fingers and your toes.

If you like,

Take a full deep inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth.

And when you feel ready,

Gently open your eyes.

Thank you for watching!

Reviews

Loved this! Being the mountain is a great analogy to use. 🙏🧘‍♂️🏔

Loved this🙏🏼 very calming and soothing. Just be like a mountain 🙏🏼❤️

Brilliantly thought provoking - thank you.

Fantastic!
Be like a mountain. 🏔

That was deep with amazing visualization.
I actually teared up.

Calming, soothing and peaceful. Loved it because your mountain meditation was very meaningful to me as I lived for a few years in a Town surrounded by mountains. You brought back some lovely memories of them. Thank you 🙏

I really enjoyed embodying the mountain under Jeremy’s gentle guidance.

I now feel my inner mountain. 😌❤🙏 ⛰

Thank you for sharing, really grounding and settling. 🙏🏽🪷

Beautiful visualization thank you Namaste 🙏🏻

Amazing thank you for this. Can’t wait to practice on an actual mountain

Nice visualisation. Thank you 🙏🏼

Absolutely beautiful

Thank you so much🙏🏼

Deeply profound, thank you

Brilliant. So calming and supportive. Thank you Jeremy

I found the meditation and the mountain that I saw beautiful and helpful on so many levels, thank you for this guidance, for sharing wisely with us and more than anything thank you for this precious moment 🙏💛💜

Very relaxing. 💜

Peaceful and encouraging. 🌸🦋🙏🏻

Thank you - lovely meditation