Hello and welcome.
This is Julia Ferdal and in this recording I'll be guiding you into a nice earthy grounding meditation.
And when I say grounding I mean tuning into the physical connection between yourself and the earth.
Entering our connection to the earth helps us return to the simple joys and pleasures of just being a human being doing simple human things.
In returning to the earth we more easily access the sweetness that naturally arises when we just slow down and become present,
The simple joys of sitting in a beam of sunlight or listening to birdsong or actually listening to music or reading a good book.
These days we tend to chase after joy.
We look for it externally in places where unlikely to find it.
Joy cannot and need not be bought.
It doesn't even have to be earned.
It comes with simply being,
Being present,
Being connected,
Being attuned.
So let's find that attunement here together.
To prepare please if possible be outside where you can make contact with the earth,
Where you can feel the air on your skin or some earth under your feet or your body or just have a more open sense of the endless sky overhead.
And of course if you can't be outside for any reason for this meditation that's okay too.
You can connect from indoors.
So if you need a moment to find the place where you'd like to be you can pause the recording here until you're ready.
And then when you're ready wherever you are set up a comfortable seat.
You can sit directly on the ground with one shin in front of the other or you can sit in a chair with your feet planted down on the ground.
In your comfortable seat turn the palms up on your thighs and tuck the tip of the index fingers under your thumbs.
Symbolically in hand mudras the thumb represents universal consciousness and the index finger represents individual consciousness.
And so the idea behind this common hand mudra is for the individual self to tuck itself under the wisdom of that which is greater.
When you're ready close your eyes and invite your mind to let go for a moment.
Ask it to stop trying to figure the world out.
Instead let yourself just be part of the story of nature.
Let yourself belong to nature instead of trying to master her or grasp her vastness with your too small mind.
And then begin to connect with the physical environment and the energy or feeling of your surroundings.
And let that be whatever it is.
Just let that be whatever it is.
Notice the air on your face and around your body.
Feel the skin that wraps your body together.
Notice your body's weight and its temperature.
And as you stay connected to your body let your sense of hearing roam and become aware of any sounds you can hear in this moment.
Nothing else but what you can hear without strain.
Just open yourself to hearing the most distant sounds that you can hear.
Let your sense of hearing roam and radiate outward.
Hearing these distant sounds and following them for a few moments without naming them,
Without any words.
Just let your attention move from sound to sound.
And then gradually bring your attention to the closer sounds,
The sounds nearest you.
And then to your own breath.
And begin to follow the breath into the body.
Follow the breath down into your body.
Allow your belly to soften.
Allow your mind to soften.
Allow your heart to softly open like a flower blooming.
Just let it unfurl.
Breathe in through your nose slowly and deeply all the way down.
And as you exhale,
Feel your stomach relax.
Stay lifted in the heart center as you exhale.
And continue to soften down into the support of the ground beneath you.
Stay lifted at the heart as you soften down into the support of the ground beneath you.
And then soften down into the ground beneath that ground.
And the ground beneath that ground.
Gradually moving down like the roots of a tree drawing themselves deep into the soil of the earth.
Let your breath be consistent and effortless as you let yourself drop in here,
Fully supported and deeply connected.
Notice what happens in the body as you ground here,
As you let yourself drop in.
Stay aware of the ebb and flow of your breath,
Its ins and its outs,
Just like the tide.
Notice,
If you have gotten caught in any distractions and return your awareness to your breathing,
Very simply.
Notice if you are slouching and relift the heart and relift the crown.
Let your body continue to root down into the earth while your crown naturally rises toward the sun.
And on your next exhale,
Release into the ground what your body's been holding and no longer needs.
Ask the earth to recycle and reuse these things for you in the same way the trees use your out-breath and you use theirs.
Notice your body releasing.
Follow the ebb and flow of your breath.
On your next exhale,
Release into the ground what your mind is holding,
What your heart is holding and no longer needs.
Ask the earth to recycle these things for you as well.
Notice how it feels for your mind to release and your heart to release.
Let your focus continue to root down into the ground beneath you.
Follow the way to the depth of the very planet that supports you and gives you life and be reminded that you are that planet.
You are not something other,
You are made of her.
Stay tuned in to the earth's vibration beneath you and all around you.
And allow the earth's energy to flow into and through you,
Through the rivers of your veins,
The branches of your bones,
Your arms and your legs,
Through the oceanic heart and up through the vast galaxy of the brain.
And let yourself return home.
Come home to the earth.
Come home to yourself.
Notice how it feels to come home.
And be reminded that the earth is always here with you.
We are naturally tuned to the earth like a musical instrument and all you must do to live in harmony with your own nature is remember to listen,
To connect to the vibration of the whole body,
Which is the same vibration,
The exact same frequency as the earth's.
To allow yourself just to be,
To sometimes just be a little animal that belongs to the earth,
That roams the earth,
That comes from the belly of the earth.
And then in your own time,
Become aware again of the sounds around you.
Notice the air on your face.
Feel the weight of your body and the infinite layers of support beneath you,
The infinite possibilities above and around you.
And begin to sense your surroundings,
But keep your eyes closed for a moment and just let yourself linger in the feeling of home,
Linger in the feelings of groundedness,
Belonging and calm.
And then when you're ready,
You can place your hands over your heart or your head on your chest,
Or into prayer if you'd like.
And offer yourself some appreciation for taking the time to connect.
Thank the earth for its wisdom and nourishment.
Feel gratitude for the miracle of this planet that is filled with soft green leaves,
Salty oceans and great mountains in a universe otherwise filled with barren and dusty spheres.
And when you feel ready,
Just peek the eyes open to the floor,
No more than that.
And as you do,
Feel the whole earth beginning to look through your eyes.
And as you keep this connection,
This remembrance of oneness,
Come to this present moment just as it is.
Whatever it is,
Come to the present moment with the whole earth looking through your eyes so that you might do more of what she'd have you do today.
Namaste.
