Welcome to the Daily Insight.
My name is Kevin Griffin.
Today I'd like to offer a practice I call Sitting Like a Mountain,
Melting Like Snow.
In this practice we work with complete stillness of body while finding release and calming.
Begin by sitting upright on a chair or cushion and finding a place of balance and alignment in your posture.
You might find it helpful to rock front to back and side to side until you find that center point of balance.
When you do,
Come then to stillness.
Not moving the hands or the feet,
Not moving the head or torso.
Sitting like a mountain.
As we establish this stability,
We see that the mountain breathes.
No matter how still we hold the body,
Chest and belly must expand and contract.
Feel the contrast between the stillness and stability of your posture and the movement,
The natural movement of breath.
Stillness of body supports the arising of stillness of mind.
As you feel the stability of the mountain,
The immovable quality,
Notice too the energy coursing through the body,
The nervous system,
Awake and alive.
This is the snow melting off the mountain.
Feel this flow of energy and sense it moving downward into the earth like the snow melt flowing off the mountainside.
Stay connected to the mountain,
To the stability and stillness,
Immovable.
There is no tension in that stillness,
No effort.
It is in the mountain's nature to be still.
The flow of energy,
The snow melt off the mountain brings a quality of ease and release.
As the snow melts into the earth,
It supports the stillness of the mountain,
The body and mind held by the earth.
Feel the contrast between the solidness of the mountain and the fluidity of the snow melt.
Hold these both in the mind.
Hold them together in the mind.
The mind is still like the mountain and flows like the snow melt.
When the bell rings,
Relax and release.
Stretch the body.
Stay connected to the mountain,
To the stability and stillness,
Immovable.
There is no tension
