Hold A Stone

Stillwater Meditation is creating 40 guided meditations in 2026! This is our meditation #7, improvised for a sacred group of meditators online. For this practice, hold a stone. It can be any stone, particularly if you have a special rock or crystal. If you are in a natural location, you might find a stone from the earth. Meditation is a place where we learn to embrace all that is, and we can begin by feeling the sensation of a stone in the palm of a hand. Our human bodies are earth bodies. We can enjoy the mystery of life as it unfolds through us, one breath and one curiosity at a time.

Transcript

I welcome you to hold your stone or have it nearby and allow it to invite you inward into your own practice, Into your own body, Mind, Heart, Spirit. Sometimes having a tangible object from earth helps us to honor the earth body and that can also help us to honor our own bodies and then perhaps feel the connection between the earth body and the human body. As you hold your stone or have it nearby, I welcome you to consider your body, Your human body. And I also invite you to consider the body of the earth. Open your heart. Open your heart to your earth body. This body is your earth body because if you were anywhere else, You would have a different body. We are all together in this heavenly realm of earth. Open your heart to your body. Notice how in this realm of body and earth, There is light and dark. There is yin and yang. There is heaviness and levity. There are these opposites, These polar forces, Positive and negative. They co-exist. And can we be present with the full spectrum? This is the inquiry I'd like you to take into your heart. I invite you to find the tender places within and hold them with equanimity, A balanced view of loving kindness. The dark has its place just as the light does. They are what grow the plants and animals and beings of the earth. We need both. The dark and the light, The balance nourishes us. Welcome in the nourishment. Welcome in the reverence, As well as the excitement and joy. Whatever response you have to this earth realm, Allow curiosity to be present. Allow the welcoming in of the good. Allow the acceptance of the bad. And notice where there is judgment. Notice how judgment is related to discernment. Discernment allows for a little more equanimity. Judgment is very helpful for knowing our true internal yes and no. So even in the spectrum of judgment to discernment, Both are allowed. Both can be welcome. And both are helpful. Meditation can be a place where we learn to embrace all that is, All that we prefer, And all that we don't prefer. And finding the balance within all that is. There is a resting place of the true self that allows us to see clearly, Rejuvenate, And enjoy the mystery as it unfolds through us. Anytime you find yourself moving too far into the light, And it gets too bright, Or too far into the dark, And it gets too dark. Allow yourself to find that balance. A little more of this, A little more of that. Find the ingredients that allow you to rest within, Within yourself, Within your true self, Within the essential nature that allows all that is to be. Be as it is, With acceptance and equanimity, With compassion and honesty. Rest here. Rest with yourself. Allow breath. Whatever arises for you in this meditation. Allow breath. Feel how your breath embraces you and holds you in life. Trust your breath, Moving in and out of your body. Trust the wind that moves around the earth. Feel your breath connected to wind. It is the wind that enters and exits your earth body. Breathe. Breathe through every judgment. Breathe through every discernment. And breathe all the way into perception. Perceiving, Perhaps, Is on the other end of the spectrum from judgment. We could entertain discernment being in the middle. All are welcome. Breathe. Continue breathing consciously.