Welcome,
Take a moment to arrive,
Not just with your body,
But with your senses and with your awareness.
This is your time to slow down,
To return to stillness,
To remember what it feels like to belong to the earth.
Take a long,
Gentle breath in through your nose and release it slowly.
Feel how the air begins to move differently through you,
Calmer,
Deeper,
More alive.
Breathe in deeply again,
Feel your chest expand,
Your heart open and release slowly.
Let's do one more deep breath together.
Breathe in,
Let your shoulders soften,
Let your jaw unclench and breathe out slowly.
Let your mind begin to uncoil.
Now imagine yourself standing at the entrance of a vast ancient forest.
It's early morning,
The air is cool and rich with the scent of rain,
Soil and cedar.
A soft mist hovers above the ground,
Weaving through roots and ferns.
With bare feet,
You take your first step forward.
The path is cushioned with leaves and moss,
Soft,
Grounding,
Forgiving.
With every step,
You move a little further away from the noise of the world and a little closer to yourself.
With every step,
You feel every little piece of dirt and branches and little stones under your feet.
It doesn't feel uncomfortable,
It feels natural.
It allows you to begin to feel the connection with the earth,
With the ground,
The exchange in energies that happens every time each foot touches the ground.
Listen to the quiet hum of the forest.
The birds greeting the morning,
The gentle sway of branches,
The rhythm of your own footsteps against the earth.
You begin to notice the light,
Rays of golden sunlight filtering through the canopy,
Painting shifting patterns across your skin.
It feels like the forest is breathing with you,
Inhaling,
Exhaling,
A shared rhythm,
A quiet communion.
Take a deep breath in,
Inhale the fresh oxygen that this ancient forest creates and breathe out.
Breathe in again and smell the sweetness of damp bark,
The freshness of green life after rain,
The faint trace of wildflowers carried on the wind.
Breathe out.
As you walk deeper,
You sense the weight you've been carrying,
The thoughts,
The to-do lists,
The worries that loop endlessly in the background.
Feel them now as stones in your pocket and with each breath begin to release one by one.
With each exhale,
Let one stone fall softly to the forest floor,
Absorbed by the earth,
Reclaimed by something larger than you.
You don't need to hold it all,
You never did,
The earth is here to support you.
Soon you find a small clearing bathed in gentle light.
A stream winds quietly through the center,
Its waters clear and alive.
You sit or kneel beside it,
And when you look at your reflection,
You see yourself.
Not the things you do,
Not the things you think,
But the being you truly are,
Deep within.
The feelings,
The soul.
Let your hands cup the water,
Bring it close to your heart,
Feel its coolness,
A reminder that renewal is always within reach.
With your next breath,
Imagine this water cleansing you,
Washing through the mind,
Clearing space in the body,
Softening the heart.
You are recharging,
You are rebalancing,
You are remembering your natural rhythm.
Now stay in this stillness for a few breaths,
Listen to the quiet.
The forest has nothing to prove,
Nothing to rush,
And neither do you.
When you're ready to return,
Imagine walking back along a path,
Feeling lighter,
Clearer,
More grounded.
The sounds of the forest slowly fading into the background,
But the peace stays within you.
Bring your awareness back to your physical body,
The weight of it,
The rise and fall of your breath,
The ground beneath you.
Take one deep inhale,
And exhale with gratitude.
The forest will always be here when you need it,
And so will your calm.
