Hello and welcome friends to this adaptation of the mountain meditation.
I invite you now to find a seated position,
Perhaps seated on a chair,
A cushion,
Or the bed.
Whatever feels right for your body,
Where you can be most comfortable and held.
When you are ready,
Allowing your eyes to gently close all the way,
Or just softening your gaze into one particular spot.
Bringing your awareness to the body breathing itself.
Awareness to the body breathing in.
Awareness to the body breathing out.
Feeling each breath as it comes in and out.
Letting the breath be just as it is without trying to change or regulate it.
Allowing the breath to flow naturally to its own rhythm and pace.
As you are sitting there,
I invite you to visualize the most magnificent or beautiful mountain you have ever seen or imagined.
Perhaps it's a mountain from a favorite vacation,
A TV show.
Maybe it's a mountain right outside of your window.
Just noticing whatever image of a strong rooted beautiful mountain arises for you in this moment.
Seeing its lofty peaks high into the sky.
The mountain deeply rooted into the bedrock of the earth.
Noticing how massive it is,
How solid,
How unmoving and beautiful.
Whether you're seeing it from afar,
Or perhaps from very close up.
Perhaps your mountain has snow blanketing its tops and trees,
Reaching down to the base.
Perhaps your mountain has ragged granite sides.
Or smooth,
Gentle earth.
Perhaps your mountain has gentle fragrant flowers.
Noticing all the elements.
Maybe there's a sound,
The sound of cascading waterfalls,
Or the humming of the wind.
Perhaps you can notice the smell of grass,
Or cool air.
Noticing as many of your senses alive with this mountain.
Observing it,
Noticing its qualities.
Seeing if you can bring the mountain into your own body sitting here in this moment.
Using your mind's eye,
Noticing the mountain within you.
You share in the massiveness and the stillness of this mountain.
Perhaps even becoming this mountain.
Grounded in the sitting posture,
Your head becomes the lofty peak,
Supported by the rest of your body,
Affording a panoramic view.
Your shoulders and arms,
The sides of the mountain.
Your buttocks and legs,
The solid base rooted to your cushion or chair.
Experiencing in your body a sense of uplift from deep within your pelvis and your spine.
With each breath,
As you continue sitting,
Becoming a little more of this breathing,
Alive mountain.
Alive and vital.
Unwavering.
Inner stillness.
Beyond words,
The centeredness,
Grounding,
Unmoving presence.
As you sit here,
Becoming aware of the fact that as the sun travels across the sky,
The light and shadows and colors are changing vitally.
Moment by moment in the stillness and surface with life and activity.
Streams,
Melting snow,
Waterfalls,
Plants and wildlife.
As the mountain sits,
Seeing and feeling how night follows day and day follows night.
The bright,
Warming sun,
Followed by the cool night at sky with stars and the gradual dawning of a new day.
Through it all,
The mountain just sits,
Experiencing change in each moment.
Constantly changing,
Yet always just being itself.
It remains still as the seasons flow into one another.
As the weather changes,
Moment by moment,
Day by day,
Calmness abiding all change.
In any season,
It may find itself at times enshrouded in clouds or fog or pelted by freezing rain.
People may come to see the mountain and comment on how beautiful it is or how it's not a good day to see the mountain.
That it's too cloudy and rainy and foggy or dark.
But none of this really matters to the mountain,
Which remains at all times its essential self,
Its authentic true self.
Clouds may come and clouds may go.
Tourists may like it or not.
The mountain's essential true self remains.
The mountain's magnificence and beauty are not changing one bit,
Whether people see it or not,
Like it or not.
Whether there is sun or clouds,
Day or night.
It just sits being its true self.
There may be times where it's visited by violent storms pelted by snow.
Winds of unthinkable magnitude through it all,
The mountain sits unmoved by weather.
Unmoved by what happens within its surface.
Remaining its essential authentic self.
Remaining true through the seasons,
The changing weather,
The activity ebbing and flowing on its surface.
And the same way we can learn to experience the mountain.
We can embody the same central unwavering stillness and groundedness and the face of everything that changes in our own lives over seconds,
Over hours,
Over years.
In our lives,
We experience constantly the changing nature of our mind,
Our body,
Of the outer world.
Periods of lightness and darkness.
Periods of activity and inactivity.
There may be moments of darkness within us or bright radiance.
We are aware.
We are connected.
Let us now take a moment to bring a sense of loving awareness to our own inner climate.
Gently holding our own inner climate and acceptance.
Allowing.
Holding and loving awareness.
Connecting with our own inner light,
Connecting with our own inner gold in this moment.
Knowing that sometimes it's really difficult to connect with it.
And other times we may not want to.
And that's OK,
Too.
That's OK.
Giving ourselves permission to be as we are.
And holding that with loving awareness.
And now whenever you're ready.
Gently opening your eyes.
Perhaps looking around your space.
Getting acclimated to your environment.
Stretching if that feels right to you.
Thank you so much for this practice.
