This is a meditation for patience.
Find yourself a comfortable posture and if you feel like it,
You can close your eyes.
Let's begin with bringing our body to a state of patience.
In other words,
Relaxing our body.
Let's start with the head.
So bring your awareness to your head.
Relax your face muscles,
Your jaw,
Neck,
Shoulders,
Arms and hands,
All your fingers,
Thumbs,
Palms,
Your wrists.
Now bring your awareness to your chest and relax your chest,
Your upper back.
Relax the heart within,
Your belly,
Lower back.
Relax your pelvis,
Hips,
Thighs,
Knees,
Calves and relax your feet.
Now become aware of your emotions,
Your feelings.
Notice how you feel in this moment,
But without any judgment,
Simply observing your energy.
Now bringing your awareness to any thoughts crossing your mind and again without associating with the thoughts,
Simply observe them.
Let them come and go as if you're watching them from a distance.
And now bringing your awareness to your breath and again simply observing the breath,
Not trying to change it.
As you place your awareness on your breath,
Eventually it comes back to its natural rhythm.
Now in your mind's eye,
Visualize a tree,
A big tree in a forest.
Visualize the trunk of this tree,
Its brown color.
Visualize all its branches and all the green leaves coming out of those branches.
And also visualize the surroundings of this tree,
All the other trees around it,
The landscape of the mountain on which this tree stands,
The blue sky above,
The sun shining through the leaves,
Creating a shadow on the ground.
And now allow yourself to embody this tree.
Imagine and feel that you have become this tree,
That you are this tree.
Feel your roots in the ground,
Firm,
Feel your strong trunk,
Feel all your branches and the leaves and the flowers,
The fruits,
And as you are standing tall as this tree,
Feel the cool breeze of the mountain flowing through you,
Feel the sun shining on you,
Feel your sturdiness,
How sturdy you are as this tree,
Centered,
Patient.
Visualize this whole forest around you,
How does it feel to be a tree?
Feel yourself to connect it to all other trees in the forest,
Your roots reaching out to other trees and notice how patient you are as this tree.
You have stood here for decades,
For centuries,
You have been through all the seasons of life,
But you have remained patient,
You have remained centered as all these seasons have passed,
You have embraced all the seasons of life.
Standing here for centuries,
You have learned the art of patience,
You understand that seasons are just phases,
That winter is not permanent,
It is a phase,
That fall is not permanent,
It is a phase.
Now feel and visualize that all the seasons are moving around you as you stay grounded.
Visualize and feel that you are in the summer right now,
The sun is shining brightly,
You are also enduring the heat of the summer,
But still you are patient,
You know that this heat is necessary,
You are not resisting the summer,
You are embracing it,
You are patient,
You can see that hikers are walking all around you,
Touching you,
Resting under your shade,
Leaning their bodies on your trunk,
Some hikers are nasty,
They peel off the bark from your trunk,
Some of them put a nail through the trunk,
But some of them are also very loving,
Some of them are tree huggers who give you a hug and send you loving energy,
You do not resist or judge these hikers,
Even if they are nasty,
You accept everything,
You understand the duality of existence and you embrace it and now summer has passed and it's time for fall,
You are about to shed all the leaves,
All your beloved flowers,
All your fruits,
You are about to become naked,
But you know that this is not the end and this is just a necessary phase of life that you have to go through,
So allow yourself to shed all the leaves without resisting,
Letting go of attachment to these leaves,
Flowers and fruits,
Embracing the impermanence of existence,
Yes it is a painful phase,
But you stand strong,
You endure it,
Because you know patience,
You know how to wait through the season,
You are centered,
You are calm,
You are grounded and now it's time for winter,
It is freezing,
It is cold,
You can see that the whole forest around you is filled with snow,
You are covered with snow,
But you don't resist it,
Because you know that it is time for rest,
You embrace the season,
You are patient and then the season changes and it's time for spring,
You feel that vital force returning to the forest,
To your own body as a tree,
You feel that joy returning,
That happiness,
The Sun has started shining again and the flowers have started blooming,
The leaves are back,
The fruits are back and you have become full now,
Full with life,
Joy,
Abundance and you look so beautiful,
Decorated with all these leaves and flowers,
Beauty has returned,
You are enjoying the season of spring,
You embrace it,
But you also know that this too is impermanent and you are not attached,
You are just enjoying the moment,
But not attached to it,
You know that this too shall pass,
So you are centered,
You are patient and then the season changes again and you are back in summer,
The cycle has completed one circle,
Again you are back in the heat,
The hikers have returned and you do not resist anything,
You have embraced all the seasons of life,
You are patient,
With that patience,
Gradually now allow yourself to come back,
Once again come back to your human body,
You can wiggle your toes,
Move your fingers,
Take a breath and in your own time,
You can come out of the practice and open your eyes.
