This is a meditation to find gentleness and ease in order to tap into the natural rhythms of the body and live with grace.
Begin with a gentle observation of the mind.
Bring yourself to a comfortable seated position or lying down.
Choose your position and then assume it.
Do not move.
Quiet the body.
Observe the ripples of thought in the mind.
Thoughts will come and go.
Let them.
Watch them rise and fall.
And choose not to ride the waves of the mind,
But merely observe.
Observe with curiosity.
As a thought arrives and then fades just as easily.
Observe the rise and the fall of your thoughts.
And now notice the rising and falling of your thoughts becoming more and more quiet.
More and more distant.
Until all that's left is the rise and the fall of your natural breath.
Breathing in through your nose,
Down your trachea and filling to the base of your lungs.
Simply nourishing your whole body.
The breath asks for nothing yet it keeps you alive every day.
There's no need to strive to continue the breath.
Because the rhythms of nature sustain its constant entry and exit.
Entering through the bridge of your nose,
Filling your lungs completely.
Nourishing the body with life-giving oxygen.
And then just as the thoughts come and go the breath soon will leave.
Taking with it what your body does not need.
Now imagine that with each gentle inhale your whole body expands.
Breathing bigger and bigger until it fills the room you're in.
Your surroundings relative to this body now as big as a room.
With your next gentle exhale see your body shrink.
Shrink down to the size of a pebble.
Shrinking up at this room you're in now the size of a whole world.
Continue between these two with each inhale expanding to the size of the room you're in.
With each exhale shrinking down to the size of a small pebble.
Make your imagination of this thorough but let there be no attachment to any particular vision you have in mind.
With a playful ease observe your physical body expand and shrink with the breath.
And then just as the thoughts come and go the breath soon will leave.
On your next exhale shrink your body down.
And picture this pebble-sized you safe and held beginning to root into the earth.
Every surface of your body that is touching the ground imagine roots growing into the earth wide and deep.
Drawing up nourishment just like the nourishment you draw in from the breath.
Draw your roots and feel their gentle hug into the safety of the solid ground beneath.
Draw your roots and feel their gentle hug into the safety of the solid ground beneath.
Inhale and notice your body once again expand.
Grow.
Grow and expand the periphery of the body,
The surface of the skin all the way up to the sky.
Feel the edges of your physical body blur as you enter into perfect union with the blue haze above.
Let go of your roots and become the sky.
Light and free.
Feel it and dynamic just like the wind.
Breathe this wind in imagining it as a green light.
Green light carrying the scent of pine.
Fresh air.
All the way from the bridge of your nose to the base of your lungs.
From the bridge of your nose to both feet,
Both ankles and calves,
Both knees and both thighs.
Feel this fresh air carrying with it a green light to your thighs,
Your low back,
Your low belly,
Your whole torso,
The tips of both fingers,
Both hands,
Both wrists and arms.
In between your shoulder blades and into your heart.
Into your heart let this green light flood,
Filling your body with a sense of warmth,
Safety.
Feeling yourself become so relaxed.
And it is as if your body were held in a cocoon,
Wrapped up in green glowing light,
Comfortable and completely at ease.
You are safe.
You are cared for.
You are a child of nature.
Everything embedded within you is the ancient wisdom of life itself.
There is no reason to worry or rush.
Everything will come in its due time.
Breathe into the base of your belly.
Observe as this green light glows even brighter.
Come back to your body.
Come back.
Know that this body is your home.
You are safe here.
Keeping your eyes closed,
Gently gaze at the point between your eyebrows.
And hold your attention there,
On one point,
Right there in front of you.
Relax your attention.
On one hand,
Over your heart,
And the other hand on top.
Thank yourself for practicing today.
I thank you for all of the gifts that you share with the world.
From my heart to yours,
Namaste.
Namaste.
