Welcome and I hope that each one of you will come to find peace within yourself.
Today I would like to try doing a visualization with you.
Visualization techniques have been a core practice in Buddhism for over 2000 years.
Today visualization techniques are used by sports to help improve performance.
Meditation is about focusing our attention in a calm and controlled way.
And visualization techniques can build on that.
Visualization can help calm you.
Close your eyes now and let's begin to settle in.
It doesn't matter if you're sitting,
Lying down or standing.
The goal is simply to connect with your breath.
We're looking at finding our inner mountain.
So if you're sitting or standing,
You'll be a tall mountain.
And if you're laying down,
You'll be the entire front range.
The goal is to be comfortable in this moment.
And that can be lying down on your bed or sitting in your favorite recliner.
It can be standing with your back against the wall.
It doesn't matter,
Really.
Just stay alert and in the present moment.
Just be comfortable and at ease with yourself.
And please be sure to silence all your other devices.
This is your time.
And you don't need to be interrupted by chirps and sounds coming from your phone or computer.
Try to be somewhere where you won't be interrupted.
Let's scan our body and begin to relax.
Just breathe.
Breathe normally and don't force anything.
Just breathe in and then slowly let it out.
Unclench your jaw.
Unfurl your brow.
Relax your face.
Release any tension that's in your shoulders or your neck.
Relax your arms and your hands.
And let go of any tension in your chest or belly.
Feel yourself getting heavier with each and every breath.
Relax your arms and your legs and your feet.
And as you begin to relax,
Let's start to focus on our breath.
Breathe in slowly and then gently exhale.
Notice where you feel the breath as it flows in and flows out.
Our focus is only on our breath.
Right now,
It's just you and your breath moving gently in and gently out.
One breath at a time.
One moment at a time.
Your breath is the key to calming your mind.
The key to dealing with frustrations and insecurities.
Now,
As we begin to relax and settle in with our breath,
I want you to picture in your mind the image of a mountain.
Maybe it's Pikes Peak or Mount Rainier or Mount Fuji.
Or maybe you're thinking big and it's Mount Everest or K2.
It doesn't matter.
But try to make this image very clear in your mind.
Just begin to visualize the most beautiful mountain you can think of.
Or one that you may have seen.
Or one that you can imagine.
Let this image gradually come into greater focus.
The base of your mountain is rooted deep in the earth.
Notice how huge it is.
How massive.
How solid.
How unmoving.
How unchanging.
Beautiful mountains are solid and firm.
They're unmoving against everything that is around them.
Perhaps your mountain has snow on it.
And maybe trees stretching down to the base.
Your mountain may also have streams and creeks and waterfalls cascading down the slopes.
And your mountain may have one majestic peak or it might have many.
It's your mountain.
Fill your mountain with details.
The sounds of the birds calling out from the trees.
The sounds of the water running down the slope.
The sun is shining down.
The wind is blowing against you.
Make your mountain as vivid of an image as you can.
You're visualizing the mountain as a whole.
But also seeing all of the many things that make up a mountain.
Just like you.
A mountain is at once one thing and many things.
Now,
With that image firmly in your mind.
When you feel ready.
Imagine bringing your mountain into your own body.
So that your body and the mountain become one.
You are the mountain.
Imagine sharing this massiveness,
This stillness.
As you and the mountain merge together.
You're grounded in each other and with each breath.
Visualize becoming a little more of a living,
Breathing mountain.
Alive and vital.
But also still and solid and grounded.
Your mountain is full of light and shadows and colors that change moment by moment.
Your mountain is teeming with activity.
Streams from melting snows,
Waterfalls,
Plants,
Wildlife,
Birds,
Chipmunks,
Squirrels.
Visualize how your mountain,
The day becomes night and the night becomes day.
Imagine the warmth of the sun and that's followed by the cool of the night sky.
You feel all these things.
You are the mountain and the mountain is you.
Sunrise and sunset,
Winter and summer.
Through it all,
The mountain just sits.
Experiencing change in each moment.
Constantly changing,
Yet constantly the same.
And as the seasons flow into one another,
And as the weather changes from moment to moment and day by day,
We are the mountain.
In summer,
Winter,
Fall and spring.
Through rain and snow and hail and sunshine,
We weather it all.
Throughout a lifetime of constant change,
We persist through it all.
Throughout all of this,
The mountain remains as itself.
It is unmoved by the weather.
It is unmoved by the activity all around it.
And by what happens on its surface,
It remains the same.
And as we go through our days and our lives,
We can have moments where we meditate and are mindful.
And we can take time to become a mountain,
To become solid and quiet and still,
Just like a mountain.
And if you embrace this feeling of unwavering stillness and being grounded in the face of everything that changes in our lives over the course of a day or a week or a month,
We can take a moment and appreciate how everything is constantly changing and yet is constantly the same,
Just like the mountain.
We have our periods of light and darkness,
Activity and inactivity,
Our moments of color and darkness.
And by becoming a mountain in our own mindfulness practice,
We can appropriate the mountain's strength and stability and adopt them for our own purposes.
We can use the mountain's energies to support our energy to encounter each moment,
Each and every moment,
With mindfulness,
With stillness,
And with clarity.
Through joys and sorrows,
Through ups and downs,
Through highs and lows,
We persist.
We weather the storms and are there to feel the sunshine on our face and the wind in our hair.
In good times and in bad,
We are solid and our lives are there to be lived,
To be encountered,
To be experienced.
As a mountain,
We can weather the good times and the bad.
Now,
As we come to a close,
Open your eyes and come back into the room.
Wiggle your fingers and toes and stretch and feel how good it is to be alive.
Take in a deep breath and let it out through your mouth,
Letting out a sigh.
You're ready to move back into your day a little calmer and a little more joyful than before.
Through all the times of your life,
Be the mountain and call on its strength and stability within you.
Let it empower you.
Let the mountain and the visualization of the mountain help you to encounter each moment with clarity and calm.
I hope this has been a beneficial and calming session.
Till next time.
