Ik Welcome and thanks for joining me today.
I'm Pam Ressler and I'm going to be guiding you through a mountain meditation.
So allowing yourself to come to a seated upright posture.
We call it a dignified posture with the back straight,
Perhaps tipping the chin slightly towards the chest.
Feeling grounded to the earth through your sit bones,
Your feet on the floor.
And bringing your awareness to the breath.
Allowing the breath to move gently in the belly,
Expanding the belly on the in-breath,
Deflating on the out-breath or exhale.
Let's completely bring our awareness to simply the power of the breath as it comes into the body and leaves.
Noticing the sensations of the breath.
Perhaps the gentle rhythm it's creating within you.
And just letting it be just as it is without trying to change it or manipulate it.
Each inhale and each exhale.
Simply announcing the next inhale and exhale.
Allowing yourself to expand your awareness to the sensations that you're feeling in the body.
Sitting upright,
The sense of dignity and purpose.
Bringing your attention to the surface beneath you.
Perhaps it's a cushion or a chair and noticing how it supports you in this upright posture.
Rooting your body into the strength and becoming aware of your connection to the body.
To what's supporting you.
To this foundation.
Complete and whole.
And in this moment,
You're grounded by its unwavering resolve.
And as you sit here,
Begin to visualize a large mountain whose peaks pierce through the clouds and continues upwards to where the air is clear and the view is panoramic.
A mountain with slopes that are both jagged and gentle coexisting on the same mountain.
This mountain is supported by a vast foundation rooted deep in the bedrock.
This mountain is solid and grand,
Unmoving and beautiful.
So observe this mountain that you have created.
Are there trees?
Is there snow that perhaps blankets some of its very tall peaks?
Maybe waterfalls cascading down the side.
Perhaps you're noticing life of animals or various creatures,
Flora and fauna upon your mountain.
Take a moment and simply observe.
However it is,
Let it be.
It's perfect in its creation.
And come back to the breath.
And simply be this mountain and share in its stillness.
Allow yourself to be grounded again in your posture.
Understanding how your head is the mountain's skyward peak supported by the rest of your form.
Allowing you to have a perspective of the landscape before you,
Behind you and all around you which flows from your center into the distant horizon.
Be this mountain.
Be this mountain.
Take on its stability as your own from the top of your head,
Moving down your neck into the balance of your shoulders like cliffs descending down into the arms and forearms and coming to rest in the valley of your hands.
Whatever position that you find them in right now.
Simply notice and be the mountain.
Be the mountain.
Your feet,
Legs and hips at the mountain's base are solid and rooted beneath you.
They become your foundation,
Extending up your spine and your abdomen,
A core of stability.
That rhythm of the breath is all that moves you.
A living mountain,
Alive and aware yet unwavering in inner stillness.
Centered,
Grounded,
Unmovable.
Be the mountain.
Be the mountain.
A mountain that witnesses the sun traveling across the sky,
Casting light and shadows and colors across the mountain.
Moment by moment,
Breath by breath.
The mountain's stillness contrasts with the life and activity upon the mountain.
Maybe it's snow melting or streams running down the face of the mountain.
Trees and flowers bloom and bloom again.
Wildlife returns and departs.
Be the mountain.
Be the mountain.
The mountain sits and sees how night follows day and back again.
Day follows night.
Night follows day.
The mountain knows the sun by the warmth it brings and the stars,
How they show in the darkened sky.
Through it all,
The mountain sits,
Aware of the changes that each moment brings.
But it remains itself still as the seasons flow one into the other,
As the air swirls hot and cold,
As perhaps the weather turns from calm to turbulent.
It's the winds,
So treacherous,
Yet the mountain remains.
The mountain remains in stillness and observes the change,
The weather that surrounds it.
Be the mountain.
Be the mountain whose serenity is housed within and can't be disturbed by the changing seasons and weather.
This is the same way as you sit in meditation,
Learning to be the mountain,
To embody the same centered,
Unwavering stillness,
Groundedness in the face of all the changes in our lives for seconds,
Over hours,
Days,
Weeks,
Months,
And years.
Like the mountain,
We remain.
As things change around us,
We remain centered,
Grounded in the foundation of the mountain.
We all will have periods of varying intensity,
Of darkness and light,
Of activity and inactivity,
In moments that fill our lives with color,
Fill our lives with joy and also with sadness,
Just like the weather circles the mountain,
But the mountain remains.
Through it all,
Be the mountain.
Be the mountain and call on your inner strength and stability.
Let it empower you to encounter each moment with mindfulness,
Compassion,
Clarity.
Let's notice the breath once more and notice that stability throughout the body,
The groundedness and that breath that moves gently as the mountain remains.
Only the breath moves.
