Tree and root meditation.
These planet meditations are designed for you to sit with the beautiful elements and life in all its glorious creation on our earth as you quiet yourself to be here right now.
They can be used as a metaphor as in the classic lake or mountain meditation in the mindfulness series.
They can be used to return you to a sense of oneness with the whole planet or you could simply enjoy them and relax.
I hope you can use them in a way that resonates for you.
If you have a suggestion for something in the natural world that you would like me to create a meditative moment around,
Please feel free to contact me via email,
Instagram or Facebook.
Blessings,
Mighty.
So I invite you to softly close your eyes and take a couple of full breaths.
Begin to feel your breath softly flowing in and out of your lungs.
Taking a few moments here,
Becoming aware of the softness of your breath and feeling it entering and replenishing your whole body as you simply sit or lie or even stand quietly.
Maybe this is the first time today you remembered.
Remember to stop,
Pause and begin to notice your life.
So smile as you remember now.
Breathing gently in your own natural rhythm.
Giving yourself this time and thanking yourself and coming back to this breath and the next and the next and gently noticing where your mind is travelling and then with the next breath returning it back to the flow in and out of your body of your breath.
As our mind wanders,
Our body waits with compassion for us to return and now you're ready to breathe.
Through your mouth or nostrils,
Whatever's right for you today.
Maybe your nose is a little stuffy with the pollens or a cold,
No matter.
Simply breathe however is comfortable for you right now.
And as you return to your breath,
Maybe you can begin to feel the movements in your body as it fills and nourishes itself with air.
And now bringing your awareness to the sounds outside or inside.
What sounds can you hear along with your breath?
Noticing them now in this moment.
No need to do anything.
Whatever you hear,
Just noticing it.
Nothing to decide.
Just resting here now.
Noticing your breath and sounds.
Noticing how they pass and change.
And as you rest,
Breathing the beautiful air made just right for you,
For your body here on this planet.
Noticing any sensations in your body.
Or thoughts like bubbles of air.
Thoughts and feelings rise through the water of your body and pop unexpectedly into your mind,
Into your heart.
And now you can let them rise and watch them float away.
And when they stay,
Just sitting with them and breathing.
There's nothing to do.
Returning always with a sense of ease to your breath.
To the inflow and outflow of your breath.
Or to the sounds in the room.
And now perhaps scanning more slowly through your body as you breathe,
Can you bring your awareness right down to your feet that root you to the earth.
And to your toes.
To each of your toes.
Resting here now.
And noticing the sensations in your toes.
And when you felt all the tiny tremors and itches and irritations or smooth sensations.
Or even just that you can't feel anything at all just now.
And breathing in and out.
And letting all be.
Today there's nothing to do.
This moment there's nothing to do.
But rest and breathe.
Smile a little as you notice the life within you.
You're only alive right now.
Perhaps you can bring your awareness to your hands,
Up to your shoulders,
To your neck,
To the soft nape of your neck.
And your throat.
Holding your head each day,
Each year.
Letting you turn and see.
Hear and absorb the full richness of this world.
Moment by moment.
A sadness,
A fear,
A worry or a joy,
A laugh or a wonder.
Notice how your strong neck carries your head and together they work to bring you all you need to live your life in the best way you're able.
And now noticing the air on your face.
Perhaps feeling its coolness as you breathe in.
And the warmth of your used air joining the planet atmosphere once more.
Breathing together with the animals and the plants and the mighty trees.
We're all one but we just forget.
So being here now and being in your body in this moment.
Sensing the air on your face.
Feeling the breath.
Softening your body as you take this pause.
Letting go and just being with yourself,
With your body.
And letting your mind find some space.
And in that space,
Each time you find this moment,
This breath,
This sound,
This wondrous leaf,
Bird or sky,
You're in that space.
You're here.
So bringing into your mind now the biggest tree you can imagine or have ever seen.
Maybe it's a tree from your childhood or a tree from a book or a film.
Or a tree you know very well.
Or simply a tree of your imagination.
Bringing your tree into focus.
Seeing its vast canopy spreading out over you.
And its great height reaching up to the sky.
Seeing your tree in its full abundant leaf now.
What are the leaves of your tree like?
Maybe they're a pale silvery green with sunlight filtering through.
Or maybe they're dark,
Nutty brown,
Dense.
Are they long and pointed?
Or are they curled up tightly?
Do they move with the wind?
Or do they barely move at all?
And now noticing the branches supporting those leaves.
Are they bumpy,
Null,
Straight,
Smooth,
Rough?
How are the branches of your tree?
So you breathe here now supported by the surface on which you've dressed.
Breathing gently in your own natural rhythm.
Seeing the trunk of your tree supporting the branches as they offer out their leaves for the air of this planet.
The air you breathe in even now.
And taking your attention down the trunk of your tree and seeing its base rooted firmly in the ground.
Steady,
Strong and moving even as the branches sway and move with the wind and even in the greatest storms.
The trunk stands steady and still.
Knowing its roots beneath hold it connected to the earth,
To the web of root and soil that it shares with all other trees.
A web of root and soil that talks and shares and supports even as you do.
You and your tree are living in this moment now.
And you are as the tree.
Even as the winds of your life and your emotions and your circumstances cause you to twist and turn and perhaps tire.
So within you is the silent and strong trunk whose roots are always connected to your earth.
To your own source of energy and inner wisdom that is always just the same.
Steady.
No matter what's happening around you.
But sometimes you may forget.
And that's okay.
You may begin to feel you're being thrashed or curling like the autumn leaves of your tree and so you may.
But just as the tree has the buds of next year's leaves,
Hidden and secretly waiting to open with the right conditions,
So do you.
You have a stillness that you can access.
It may be covered for a moment or an hour or a day or feel that it is not there for longer.
Just stop and listen and breathe.
Who belong here for as long as you may?
You have next year's buds.
You have the steady rock,
Solid,
Wise voice buried deep within your own roots.
Fear not.
You're as connected as the trees of your forest.
Seeing your tree again now.
Notice its courage.
Notice how it gets on with its life.
Growing,
Breathing,
Feeling the warmth of the sun,
Drinking the rain,
Accepting the storms and the breaks and the losses of its own mighty branches or even the trees of its surrounding earth.
It continues for as long as it may.
Now leaving your tree and bringing your awareness into your body and to the surface that's supporting you.
Feeling the pressure of your heels and calves on the floor or your feet planted firmly on the ground as you sit,
The chair beneath you and noticing again your breath,
Your own natural rhythm of your in-breath and your own breath becoming aware also of the sounds around you now and when you hear the chime,
Slowly opening your eyes,
Bringing your attention into your fingers and your toes and gently taking a stretch that feels right for you and smiling.
May your day be filled with joy and the strength of the trees.
