Find a place where you can sit comfortably with your back supported and be undisturbed for a few minutes.
When you've found this place,
Allow your eyes to close or your gaze to lower to beyond the tip of your nose.
This is your time to practice some self-care,
To remind yourself of your inner strength,
To water it like a seed and encourage it to grow and expand during these challenging times.
Adjust your position so you're sitting upright like a tree.
Bring your awareness to the sensations of your breath and the gentle movement that it creates in your body.
No control,
Just letting it be,
One breath at a time,
Moment by moment.
Now notice sensations in the parts of your body that have contact with your chair,
Your seat,
Your back and feel your feet planted on the floor like the roots of a tree and supported by the ground beneath you.
Feel that sense of connection and rootedness.
Now picture a tree in your mind,
An old oak tree with deep roots and solid branches.
Watch its leaves whispering in the breeze whilst the trunk,
The foundation is solid and unwavering.
Notice all the features of the trunk,
The pattern,
Texture of the bark,
Grown thick and indented over many years.
Whatever force of nature it faces,
The oak tree still holds proud and still.
And it grows according to the will of nature.
Branches that reach for the sun,
Leaning away from the wind.
Leaves that grow towards the light.
Now try to share that feeling of stillness and composure.
Feel your own body sitting upright,
Rooted.
Feel your own strength grounded in this moment.
And if you feel yourself distracted by thoughts,
Sensations in your body,
Sounds around you,
Know that that's completely natural.
But when you realise it's happened,
Just escort your attention back.
Back to the setting of your tree.
Is it standing on its own within a forest of other species,
Plants and wildlife?
Is there a sunset projecting shadows or cascading light beams through the gaps in the foliage?
Wherever it stands,
Your tree is the tallest,
The grandest,
Stronger in every way than the rest.
More established.
Now imagine you are the tree with a perspective over everything that surrounds it.
Rooted,
Continually growing,
Slowly but surely.
Feeling your own roots in your feet on the ground.
Feeling your own stability from your head,
On your neck and shoulders,
Down your arms,
Your branches.
Awareness of sensations in your ribcage,
Your trunk,
Your abdomen.
Feeling the control of your spine,
Stability in your pelvis.
Noting feelings in your thighs and legs,
Down to your feet,
Returning once again to your roots.
The rhythm of your breath is all that moves you.
Whatever challenge you face,
Whatever knocks you in jaw,
You have a grounded core.
Whilst thoughts allow us to time travel through memories of the past or fears of the future,
Focusing on the body grounds us in the present moment,
Where stress rarely exists.
Right here,
Right now.
There may be times of darkness,
Of light,
Heaviness,
Wind,
Sun and rain,
But like the tree,
You can rest on your stability,
Foundation and your core to keep you upright.
To weather the storm and allow you to see beyond it.
To witness the clearing of the clouds ahead.
Now come back to your seat,
The core of your stability,
Together with the grounding from your feet rooted in the ground.
Feeling sensations in your spine,
Upright,
Proud,
Resilient,
Climbing up one vertebrae at a time.
And now coming back to the breath and the natural movement in your belly,
The rise and fall with this breath in and this breath out.
Coming back to this moment.
Before leaving this place of strength,
Resting on two quotes from beacons of resilience.
Nelson Mandela,
Who said,
Don't judge me by my success,
But by how many times I fell down and got back up again.
And from Maya Angelou,
Who said,
I can be changed by what happens to me,
But I refuse to be reduced by it.
Now we're going to take three deep breaths through our nose and hold them at the top before releasing anything that's holding us back right now.
So breathing in now and pushing that new breath all the way down to the belly,
Holding the breath.
And let go,
Pushing out every last drop.
Again,
Inhaling deeply,
Feeling expansion of the whole body down to the abdomen.
Pause at the top.
And release.
And one final long breath in.
Notice that moment of stillness at the top.
And exhale.
Now breathing naturally and slowly in your own time.
Open your eyes.
Know that you can return to this place of strength and groundedness whenever you need it.
