The Mountain Meditation For Strength, Resiliency & Performance

You are the mountain. You are strong. Capable. Confident. The Mountain Meditation encourages you to connect to internal strength, resiliency and anti-fragility in the face of anxiety, stress and difficulty. This practice helps anyone facing adversity and can help turn a sense of being overwhelmed into a sense of empowerment. This practice is best done in either a seated or standing position and incorporates visualization and reflection practice.

Transcript

Hey,

It's Dr.

Justin Ross and today's practice is called the mountain meditation.

Now this is a great practice for building internal strength and resiliency and anti-fragility.

This is a great practice to feel and connect to when maybe we're not feeling so strong or we're feeling fragile or vulnerable.

This is a great practice that helps us both see and connect to internal strength all around us but also within us.

And this is really important for us just in life in general.

We have so many potential stressors and triggers and things that overwhelm us.

And we need it in our day-to-day lives,

A way to cultivate connection and strength and well-being.

It's also really important in the life of an athlete.

As athletes,

We perform best when we feel like we are strong and capable and competent.

And sometimes through the rigors of training,

Through the rigors of both life and sport,

We may question that.

We may lose sight of that.

We may forget the deep wells of strength and resiliency that we both have currently but that we've also been through in our lives.

And so the mountain meditation really helps us reconnect to that.

And it's one of my favorites.

Okay,

Now to get started on this one,

You're going to need to find a position,

Whether that's seated or standing.

Either of those are great.

Lying down for this one doesn't work quite as well.

So find a position where you can sit for the next 10 to 15 minutes but a position where you're adopting a strong posture.

Now if you're getting into a comfortable seated position,

You want your back straight,

You want your head tall,

You want your spine elongated so that you're sitting tall.

Feet firmly in the floor or on the ground.

Feeling your body really stacked strong over your sit bones.

Arms at your side or in your lap.

If you're standing,

Same thing,

Squarely rooted into the ground,

Your feet planted firmly.

Knees,

Hips,

Shoulders all aligned in this strong posture.

Take a moment or two to really connect to your breath.

If your eyes are open,

Allow them to close gently.

And in your mind's eye,

Begin to picture a mountain.

Now this could be a mountain you know well.

It could be a mountain you see or explore regularly or maybe a mountain you've been to maybe once or maybe only seen in pictures.

But whatever mountain you see,

Begin to explore it in as clear a way as you can.

Taking your time to really see this mountain starting at the base.

Scanning the bottom,

The base of the mountain,

Really noticing how it looks.

What do you see?

What are the colors?

What is the vegetation?

Perhaps you see a sea of green trees expanding at the base or maybe it's rocky and jagged and rugged.

Maybe it's at the bottom of some water.

There's expansive blue.

So really take in,

Notice visually what is there,

What is present.

Beginning just to scan up the mountain very slowly with your eyes.

Getting a sense of the middle of the mountain,

What you can detect,

What you can see,

How the landscape changes.

Really exploring the details,

The lighting,

The shading,

The textures,

The contours.

Maybe that forest of trees starts to change into rocky,

Rugged,

More jagged landscape.

Really picturing the color variations here.

How does this landscape change in front of you?

And continuing to guide that gaze up,

Trying to find the ridge line of the mountain on the sides,

Following it up.

Perhaps noticing the sky as the backdrop.

Maybe it's blue and bright,

Maybe it's cloudy and gray,

Whatever it may be.

Use it clearly.

Following the ridge line all the way to the peak of the mountain.

Again,

Being mindful of what variations are present.

How might the top of this mountain look compared to the middle or the base?

Perhaps it's snow capped or windblown or bare and rocky.

And really trying to get a sense of your mountain now as a whole,

From the top and the peak all the way to the base,

Sort of seeing it more clearly as a complete unit.

And as you're surveying this mountain,

Continue to see it in as much visual detail as you can.

Picture the weather on the mountain today.

Is it bright and sunny and clear?

Is it cold and snowy and windy?

Somewhere in between.

Whatever the weather may be,

Imagine all the conditions that this mountain has faced over its existence.

It's been through storms,

Temperature changes.

Maybe it's been through snow and wind,

Lightning and thunder,

Rain,

Hail,

Torrential downpours.

Just imagining all the conditions this mountain has endured.

And yet,

Here it is.

Tall,

Strong,

Formidable,

Relatively unchanged.

Seeing these weather patterns sweep over the mountain,

Over years and decades and centuries of its existence.

And yet,

It may change a little in landscape,

But is still tall and strong.

And now feeling your body in space,

Feeling your own strength as you sit or stand tall,

Imagining for a few moments that you are the mountain.

That you have stood through and endured so many things.

In your life as a human,

As an athlete,

You have been through storms and here you are.

By feeling that in your body,

Feeling that strength and noticing the current weather of today.

What are the conditions of your existence right now?

Is it warm and sunny and bright?

Is it gray and cloudy and cold?

Are there severe storms that sweep through?

Whatever those conditions are,

Acknowledge them.

Be aware of the weather of today and this time in your life.

Notice to the weather that you have endured throughout your life.

The many storms,

The many seasons,

The many bright days and the many hard days.

They may have left an impact,

But yet here you are.

Here you stand tall and strong and ready to continue to endure.

Feeling your breath in your body.

Feeling your posture remaining rooted,

Firm.

Feet solidly below you.

Shoulders back,

Head tall,

Breath rhythmic yet strong.

Picture yourself as this mountain.

Seeing yourself of all you've been through and all you will continue to be able to endure.

And tuck this away.

Tuck this feeling away.

Tuck this vision away.

Tuck this idea away somewhere that you can come back to.

Because there will be a time,

A day,

A season in which you're going to need to review and remind yourself of your own strength.

Now slowly return back to your breath.

Take a few breaths deep in through your nose,

Out through your mouth.

Each breath really connecting you back to your body and your present surroundings.

Maybe give your body a little movement.

Get the blood circulating again.

Wiggle your toes,

Your legs,

Your hands,

Your arms.

When you're ready,

You can slowly open your eyes from bottom to top.

And this practice,

This mountain meditation practice,

Just notice what it left you with.

How are you feeling now?

Did anything change from when we started to where you're at at this moment?

What did you notice?

What did you see?

This is such a vital practice for us as humans and as athletes.

This reminder that we have endured so much in our lives,

Both in and out of sport.

And we can often forget that when our current season,

Our current climate may be full of storms or cloudy and cold.

And it takes some purposeful connection,

Both in this moment to feel it in our bodies,

But in our thoughts to be reminded of everything we've been through and everything we can continue to endure.

It's a great practice if you're feeling vulnerable,

If you're feeling stressed,

If you're feeling overwhelmed.

It's a great practice to remind yourself of.

All right.

That is it for today's class on the mountain meditation.

I wish you well.

Reviews

One of the best mountain meditation I've practiced. Thank you 🙏💙

Thank you!

Thanks for this mediation before a race today!

Thank you 🙏🏽

This meditation has a great pace and balance of guidance and time for the practice. It’s a wonderful way to look inward and strengthen your sense of resilience.

Amazing! Feeling stressed and overwhelmed I have a burst of energy, determination and ideas surging through me to tackle the challenges I have to face today and in the near future! Im ready to GO!
Thank you 🙏🏾

So wonderful to become aware of that perspective, which is that I truly HAVE endured so much, and I can weather this storm too.

Really enjoyed this one...

Very nice! A great message to try to remember often. Thank you!