Alice in Meditation Begin by finding a comfortable seat.
Or maybe position yourself to lie down and close your eyes.
Begin to notice the natural rhythms of your breath.
How far the chest rises and falls.
How deep into the belly you're breathing.
Notice how your body wants to surrender to gravity.
Feel its tug on you as we begin to deepen the breath.
Start by slowly sipping the air,
Inhaling and feeling the chest rise.
At the top of the breath,
Hold it here and notice where your body has tension.
As you slowly exhale now,
Release that tension.
As you release the breath,
Surrender to gravity and feel that chest lower back down.
Sending the breath a little farther into the body now,
Inhale and feel the ribcage open up,
Followed by the rising of the chest.
Pause at the top of the breath to notice the body once again.
Exhale and release the tension,
Feeling the ribcage close back in and the chest lower down.
One last time,
We'll send the breath deeper into the body.
Inhale and feel the breath fill the belly.
Then open the ribcage.
Let the ribcage rise in the chest.
Pause here to notice the body.
And when you're ready,
Slowly let the breath out,
Feeling how the belly deflates.
The ribcage closes and the chest lowers down.
Releasing the pause at the top of the breath now,
We'll continue breathing in this three-parted way.
Inhaling into the belly for one,
The ribs for two,
The chest for three.
Exhale,
Release the belly for one,
The ribs for two,
The chest for three.
Inhale for one,
Two,
Three.
Exhale,
One,
Two,
Three.
Continuing this breath now,
I invite you to bring your attention back to your body,
Feeling gravity's pull on it once again,
Connecting here to the earth beneath you.
And in your mind's eye,
I invite you to imagine that if you were to flutter your eyes open right now,
You would find yourself at the base of a beautifully large,
Ancient tree.
Notice how the rough trunk and branches reach up to the bright blue sky.
See the leaves dance as a warm breeze blows through.
Feel the cool soil beneath you.
And take in any other details you notice about this setting.
Maybe you can hear birds chirping.
See soft grass or clouds in the sky.
Most importantly,
Notice how you feel.
But looking to the base of the tree now,
Right where its trunk meets the earth,
You notice a burrow,
A tunnel leading underneath the tree into the earth,
A rabbit hole.
I invite you to imagine yourself coming down onto all fours and making your way inside,
Feeling the soil on the palms of your hands and on your knees.
As you climb in it,
The light gets fainter the deeper you go.
Until you find yourself at the edge of a deep hole that goes straight down.
You swing your legs in front of you to let them dangle over the edge of the pit so deep you can't see the bottom.
Notice your breath again.
Inhale,
Feel the belly,
Ribs and chest expand.
As you exhale,
You take the leap off the edge and down the rabbit hole you begin to fall.
As you surrender yourself to gravity now,
You are free falling through the rabbit hole and much like Alice herself,
You notice objects suspended in the rabbit hole that you begin to fly past on your way down.
They approach you from below,
Coming up to meet you at eye level before soaring past you up and away.
Looking at these objects,
It becomes clear to you what they are.
They are your own thoughts.
Each one approaches you to simply be acknowledged and then released.
Notice the next object that comes to you here at eye level.
Name the thought,
Whether it's about work,
A person,
A memory,
An idea.
Acknowledge the thought while it meets you here.
And once you have,
Release it to the rabbit hole.
Let it fly up beyond you as you continue your fall down and move on to the next one.
Acknowledge each thought that passes.
Some strong ones may even appear more than once.
And that's okay.
Name it.
Acknowledge it.
Then release it.
And notice the next one.
Feel your deep,
Consistent three-parted breath the whole way down.
And maybe even release this thought to the rabbit hole as well.
Soon,
Fewer and fewer objects will be in the rabbit hole as you fall past them,
Each one having been released.
You simply feel gravity pull you farther and farther into the rabbit hole.
And once no more of these objects can be seen,
You'll notice your fall begins to slow.
As if gravity loosens its grip and your fall grows more gentle.
And soon,
The bottom of the rabbit hole appears to you.
Your descent grows so gentle that when you reach the bottom,
Your feet land on the ground as softly as a fallen feather.
And here,
There is only silence and peace.
Take this moment to just rest within it.
Notice your breath again.
And how gentle it has become.
Reunite yourself with your three-parted breath.
Maybe even count how long each breath is and see if you can lengthen it by just one second more.
Looking around the bottom of the rabbit hole once again,
You notice a faint light in the distance.
Walking towards it,
The light grows bigger and bigger until you realize you are on the other side of the tunnel into the rabbit hole.
Coming back down onto all fours,
You can feel the cool soil beneath your palms once again as you crawl your way back out of the rabbit hole.
And back into the warm sunshine of the day beneath that large and ancient tree.
Take one last clearing breath.
Let this be the deepest breath you've taken today,
Inhaling fully and sigh it out.
And when you're ready,
Opening your eyes.
