Go ahead and take a nice deep breath in.
Bring that belly out and slowly exhale.
Nice deep breath in.
And slowly exhale.
Just one deep breath in.
And slowly exhale.
Go ahead and relax the shoulders.
Keeping your spine nice and straight.
Feel that relaxation move down your arms all the way to the ends of your fingers.
Maintain that slow and steady breath low in the belly.
Finding that natural rhythm just like the flow of an ocean wave.
Breath comes in,
The tide comes in,
The breath goes out,
The tide goes out.
Let the breath guide you to this nice relaxed state.
Put your focus on your breath,
Feeling it move through your body and release all those rushing thoughts in your mind.
Looks like we're plucking them out one by one and returning to balance in our bodies.
Feeling your heartbeat in your chest as it relaxes and joins the rhythm of that breath.
Bringing our bodies to this natural balance state.
There's nowhere to rush to.
It's just you and your breath,
Your beating heart,
All working together.
Feeling the calm come over your body.
Today's meditation is really about observing.
Not really processing or overthinking anything.
It's just meant to bring you to the center and calm.
Ground and reconnect you into your body.
Quiet the thoughts that race in your mind.
So I want you to think about a place that's outside,
A place you're familiar with,
A place you feel safe.
Perhaps it's nostalgic,
A place that you love to visit.
Pull this place up in your mind.
As you do,
I want you to feel yourself standing on the earth in this place,
Bare feet,
Connected to the ground.
I want you to raise your face to the sky,
Feeling the warmth of the sun on your closed lids,
Warming your cheeks,
Feeling those sun's rays warm your skin and radiate all the way down to your feet.
I want you to feel the cool breeze across your skin,
Hear the wind in the trees.
I want you to hear the bird song above,
As if it's floating on the breeze.
In front of you,
A path has carved its way through nature.
I want you to begin to follow it,
Feeling your feet rise and fall,
Reconnecting with the earth.
There is no final destination on this walk.
We're just walking to be present,
To feel ourselves connected,
And to observe.
I want you to notice if the trail you're walking on is narrow or wide.
There are trees along your path,
Perhaps you're walking through the desert.
Notice the small plants that find their way in the most interesting circumstances,
Growing out of dead trees that have fallen up between rocks.
Faintly,
I want you to begin to hear water trickling.
Observe the animals that cross your path,
Almost as if they don't see you,
Unafraid.
With every step,
Continuing to feel this grounding and re-centering in your body,
This connectedness to each cell that vibrates throughout you,
The energy and life force that connects you,
Not just to this flesh,
But to everything around you.
As you continue to walk,
I want you to hear that stream becoming louder as you're closer to the water.
You're eventually going to come to a small footbridge where it crosses over this stream.
As you get to the bridge,
I want you to notice the rope that's hanging over the railing,
Connected to something in the water.
Observe the thoughts in your mind as you see the rope and the questions that come up.
Not to pass judgment,
Just observe.
I want you to grab a hold of the rope.
Give it a slight tug and notice that whatever it's connected to is quite heavy.
I want you to begin to pull the rope up.
Noticing the tide on the other end is nothing but a large rock.
Small boulder.
I want you to feel the weight of it in your hands.
Look at the rock.
And toss it back into the water,
Making sure the rope stays above the railing.
And walking on your path.
Not far from the footbridge is a tree stump,
Perfect for sitting.
I want you to go ahead and take a break here.
As you sit on the stump,
You have a good view of the footbridge,
Any other travelers that could be walking that same path.
I want you to look down at your feet.
Observe the small foliage growing there of ferns and flowers,
Grass,
Mushrooms growing out of old trees that have fallen.
I want you to notice that someone else is coming down the path,
Making their way across the footbridge.
Noticing the rope hanging there,
Just like you did.
Noticing it,
Continuing on the path.
Not pulling the rock from the creek or tugging the rope.
They walk past you,
Almost as if they don't see you,
Continuing on their way and disappearing into the foliage.
On the path,
You see another approaching the footbridge.
They notice the rope as well,
Grabbing a hold of it,
Tugging it,
Pulling it up from the creek.
Like you,
They observe that it's a rock,
Feel its weight in their arms.
They untie the rope from the rock,
Wind up the rope.
Leaving the rope there on the bridge and taking the rock with them.
Noticing you as the other unnoticed,
As if you weren't there.
I want you to bring your eyes back to the footbridge and notice a small being walking along the banks of the creek,
Carrying a chest.
You can see them looking around,
As if they're looking for something in the water below the bridge.
Noticing that the rope is gone.
Seeing it perched on the railing,
They walk up to the bridge with the chest,
Tying it to the end of the rope,
Tossing it into the water.
Leaving the rope to hang,
Disappearing once again down the trail,
Past the creek.
Simply observing.
As you watch this creature from nature crawl out and hide their chest,
Watch the thoughts that cross your mind and the story that you create.
The story around the traveler that ignored the rope and what it was attached to.
The story of the traveler who pulled up the rock,
Carried it on leaving the rope.
And the story of this creature coming out of nature to hide their treasure,
Leaving it attached to a rope over a bridge.
I want you to stand up from the tree stump,
Make our way back,
Crossing the footbridge,
Leaving the rope where it lie,
And walking back down the path,
Feeling our feet rise and fall,
Our breath slow and steady,
Our heart warm and balanced.
Observing the animals that cross our path,
Watching our mind observe a story.
So we make our way back to where we started,
Feel your feet firmly on the ground,
Turn your face to the sky and feel the warmth of the sun moving through your body.
Place your hands on your heart center,
Take a nice deep breath in,
Slowly exhale,
Place a smile on your face,
And when you're ready,
Go ahead and open your eyes,
Come back to me.
Now,
There are a lot of stories that we could formulate in our minds about what we observed on that path.
But the whole intention behind the meditation was to observe without judgment,
To watch what was happening around us and observe how our mind will fill in the gaps and make up the story.
Now,
Something like this is really powerful because it can show us how we do this in our everyday lives,
How we fill in the gap when we don't have the whole truth before we truly discover it.
And the intention here is really to shift your perspective on how you do that and where you do it.
And also to just bring you a little space where you can observe and don't have to do anything else.
So whether you take this to the full extent of looking at yourself and shifting your own perspective or you just simply take it as a meditation where you walked a path and watched others and took really nice cleansing breaths and felt your heartbeat,
Either one is beneficial.
Have a beautiful and blessed day.
And as always,
I hope it brings you wholeness.
All my best.
