Hi,
It's Mandy here.
Welcome to the Mountain Meditation.
Making yourself comfortable in the way you know how.
Preferably sitting in an upright and stable posture.
Maybe sitting in a chair,
On a meditation cushion or bench.
Just bringing your awareness to your body.
Allowing it to settle into gravity.
Just noticing the points of contact between your body and the surface beneath you.
Becoming present to whatever arises moment by moment.
Checking in with how you feel in your body,
Heart and mind in this moment.
Just noticing what emotions are here.
Maybe your mind is feeling busy or calm.
Just checking in with yourself.
And when it feels right for you,
Just noticing the fact that you're breathing.
Becoming aware of where in the body the sensations are most strong for you.
That might be in the belly,
In the chest or at the nostrils.
Just allowing your attention to settle and rest in this process of breathing.
Inhaling and exhaling.
And as you sit here,
Getting a sense of a beautiful mountain or perhaps bringing an image to your mind's eye.
Allowing the image of the mountain to become clear.
Noticing its size,
Shape.
Noticing how the mountains grounded in the earth and rises high up into the sky.
Still and stable.
Solid and unmovable.
Just breathing with this image or sense of a mountain.
Notice how the light and shadows and colors change moment by moment.
Even in the mountains stillness.
Night follows day and day follows night.
The mountain sits still under the canopy of the stars and the moon and then the sun.
Through it all the mountain just sits.
Experiencing these changes as they happen.
The mountain has constantly changing weather.
The clouds cast shadows on its slopes.
Storms generate above its peaks.
Rain,
Fog,
Even snow.
The seasons come and go as well to the mountain.
In summer the mountain might feel the full force of the sun beating down.
It might experience summer thunderstorms.
In winter the cold weather comes.
There might be snow or ice.
Spring brings with it new life and blossoms.
In autumn the colors change.
Preparing once more for winter.
Through it all the mountain sits.
The mountain is just itself.
Unmoved by the weather and the changes around it.
People may come to see the mountain.
Tourists.
People that come to make their homes on the mountain.
They may like it.
They may not.
The mountain doesn't care.
Its magnificence and beauty are not changed whether people see it or whether they like it.
Seen or unseen.
Day or night.
In hot or cold weather.
Being liked or being ignored.
The mountain just sits being itself.
Continuing to sit and observe the qualities of the mountain.
When you feel ready seeing if you can bring this essence,
This sense of the mountain into your own body.
Your body and the mountain become one.
Grounded in your sitting posture you sit just like the mountain.
Your head its lofty peaks.
Supported by the rest of your body.
Your shoulders and arms become the sides of the mountain.
Your bottom and legs the solid base.
Grounded into the cushion or chair beneath you.
Just as the mountain is grounded into the earth.
As you sit like a mountain getting a sense of uplift,
Dignity,
Strength.
With each breath breathing becoming a mountain.
Unwavering in your stillness.
Completely what you are.
A still grounded unmoving presence.
Imagining the mountain in this meditation.
We can adopt some of its presence.
Use its energy to support our energy.
Perhaps being able to embody the same unwavering stillness and groundedness when everything changes in our own lives.
We have constantly changing experiences in the nature of our mind and body.
Our experience.
Just like the mountain we have periods of night and day.
Of light and darkness.
Different seasons of life.
Different types of weather.
We experience storms in our inner and outer world.
We can endure darkness and pain.
As well as joy and light.
Opening up to the mountain in this way may help us see our thoughts and feelings and emotional storms and crises as just things that happen to us.
Like the weather on the mountain.
Constantly changing.
The weather in our own lives can't be ignored or denied.
It's to be encountered,
Known,
Felt,
Held in our awareness.
And holding it in this way we can come to know a deeper silence and stillness and wisdom.
Just like the mountain we can encounter each moment.
Perhaps with a little bit more mindfulness,
Equanimity and clarity.
Seeing things just as they are.
Moments that rise and pass away.
Mountains have this to teach us and more.
If we can spend some time sitting and listening,
Observing and becoming aware in this way.
And in the time that remains in this mountain meditation.
Just allowing yourself to sit in stillness.
Strong and stable.
Just like the mountain.
Thanks.
See you next time.
