Did you know that an elephant cannot jump?
Not one inch.
Not off of a boulder.
Not over the smallest puddle.
She never lifts all four feet off the ground at once.
Not even when she's moving her fastest.
It might be easy for us to assume that's some kind of a loss,
Not being able to leap But let's sit with her a while and see what holds true.
I invite you to settle in now.
With the same unhurried way that an elephant pauses to rest.
Get as comfortable as you are able to do.
And if it feels right,
Let your eyes close.
Notice the weight of your body as you sink deeply into whatever is holding you.
Feel the pressure.
Your weight creates against the chair.
The bed or the ground.
Take a long,
Slow breath here.
And as you exhale,
Wherever your body touches a surface,
See if you can let it sink even deeper.
Now,
Bring your attention to the top of your head.
Let the muscles there soften.
Release any tension you've been holding.
With no worry about doing this exactly right,
Just let it go.
Now let your attention move slowly down into your face.
Let your jaw soften.
Feel your whole expression.
Drop into restfulness.
You are becoming.
Completely relaxed.
Breathe here.
Let the relaxation travel down your neck.
Into your shoulders.
Down your arms.
Now to your hands,
However they're resting.
Feel the weight of your hands.
Just be here now,
Exactly as you are.
And breathe.
Let your attention keep moving down through your chest.
Down to your belly.
Notice the rise and the fall of your breath.
As you relax even more deeply.
Now,
Down through your hips.
Your legs.
All the way to your feet.
Every part of you.
Present.
Already whole.
Asking nothing more of you.
Than to be noticed.
To be here.
To be still.
If your mind is already busy.
Already reaching ahead toward whatever is next.
It's okay.
There's no need to chase it down or beat it back in any way.
Just Observe it go by.
And then let it settle on its own.
The way dust settles after something large has passed through.
And when you're ready.
Come back to my voice.
Now let your breath grow fuller and slower.
Feel it low in your belly,
Unhurried.
The way a large and steady body breathes.
Breathe in low and full.
Breathe out,
Long and slow.
Feel yourself settle more fully into the ground beneath you.
Now imagine yourself out on open land,
Wide and quiet,
The light long and gold.
Ahead of you walks the matriarch,
The elephant herd's oldest,
Steadiest member.
She's unhurried,
Certain of exactly where she's going.
Feel yourself falling into step beside her.
Your two feet on the ground,
Matching her pace.
Trusting her to guide you on a path she's walked a hundred times before.
Reach out and rest a hand against her side.
Her skin is thick.
She feels broad and warm.
Beneath your palm.
You can feel the slow,
Strong beat of her heart.
Steady.
Unhurried.
Exactly the pace.
It needs to be.
No leaping.
Is ever needed in a body this big.
She has power you trust.
And forward motion.
One slow step after another.
For a brief moment,
The matriarch acknowledges you by gently bringing the tip of her trunk to your hand.
She rests there with you for a few beats.
And then completely accepting your presence.
She relaxes her trunk.
Allowing it to swing gently as she moves.
The rest of the herd.
Calmly follows.
Behind the pair of you.
Keep walking.
Alongside her like this for a few breaths.
Your hand still resting on her side.
Notice how it feels to move without hurry.
Without needing to prove your speed to anyone.
Simply trusting her.
To show you the way.
As you walk beside her.
Consider her features.
She has a trunk.
With more muscles than your entire body.
It's capable of lifting a fallen branch?
Or picking up a single blade of grass.
Whichever the moment calls for.
Her enormous feet can feel the footsteps of her family through the ground from miles off.
No one in her herd ever really walks alone.
Her memory holds every water source she's ever found.
And every relationship she's ever had.
She always knows how to lead her family.
Back to what sustains them.
And how to help the younger mothers learn what they need to know.
None of this came from being able to jump.
It came from everything else that she was given instead.
Our dear matriarch friend doesn't think about what she cannot do.
She just knows that she is enough.
Just as she is.
That she has everything she needs.
Right now,
In this moment.
Let yourself consider.
What you have.
Not what might be missing.
But what is already here?
What is already yours?
It may be how you show up for yourself.
Or for others.
Or perhaps it's how you provide.
Or your steadiness.
Your memory.
The strength you have to carry all that you carry.
What are the things that You embody.
That make you exactly who you are in this moment.
My friend,
You have beautiful and unique gifts.
That make you exactly you.
And no one else is prepared the way you have been.
To do exactly what you want to do.
Are able to do.
Our elephant matriarch has brought us to the watering hole.
Gently,
You lift your hand from her side and step back as the herd moves forward to splash and drink.
As you observe them,
Take one more full,
Long breath here.
Low and unhurried.
Exhale and feel your own weight.
Resting easily on the ground beneath you.
Before we close,
Let's thank our elephant friends for walking the whole distance without ever needing to leave the ground.
For showing that slow and steady.
Was never a consolation.
It was always.
The design that gave her strength.
And power.
Begin to bring your attention back to the room around you.
Notice the surface beneath you.
The air on your skin.
Reflect with gratitude.
For the gifts you have and for all that you are able to accomplish with them.
Slowly.
And steadily.
And as we finish.
Take one more easy breath.
And when you are ready.
In your own time.
Open your eyes.
And come back.
Into the room.
