Welcome to this mountain meditation.
Begin by finding a comfortable and stable position.
Preferably seated.
Whether on a cushion,
A chair or the floor.
Feel the support beneath you,
Sensing the contact between your body and the surface holding you Allow your spine to lengthen your shoulders to relax.
And your hands to rest wherever they feel comfortable Let your arms hang effortlessly like heavy curtains,
Stable yet at ease.
When you're ready,
Gently close your eyes or lower your gaze.
Bringing awareness to your body.
Notice your feet Your leg.
Your head.
Your lower and upper body.
Your shoulders.
Arms,
And head.
Simply sensing into your physical presence Now bringing awareness to breath.
The actual physical sensations.
Feeling each breath as it comes in and goes out.
Letting the breath be just as it is without trying to change or regulate it in any way.
Allowing it to flow easily and naturally with its own rhythm and pace.
Knowing that you are breathing perfectly well right now.
Nothing for you to do Each inhale and each exhale anchoring you in this moment.
Allowing the body to be still and sitting with a sense of dignity.
A sense of resolve.
A sense of being complete.
Whole in this very moment with your posture reflecting this sense of wholeness.
Now in your mind's eye,
Begin to imagine a mountain.
The most magnificent or beautiful mountain you know or have seen or can imagine.
A mountain that rises high into the sky,
Its peak or peaks touching the clouds.
Notice how massive it is,
How solid,
How unmoving,
How beautiful See its strong,
Unwavering base,
Deeply rooted in the earth.
Its slopes may be rugged or smooth,
Covered in trees or blanketed in snow.
There may be streams and waterfalls cascading down the slopes.
There may be one peak.
Or a series of peaks.
Meadows,
High lakes.
No matter the season,
No matter the weather.
.
.
The mountain stands tall.
Unshaken.
Enduring.
The sun warms its face during the day At night,
The stars keep it company.
The mountain does not chase the sunrise or resist the night.
It simply remains still and steady.
When you feel ready,
See if you can bring the mountain into your own body sitting here so that your body and the mountain in your mind's eye become one.
So that as you sit here,
You share in the massiveness and the stillness and majesty of the mountain.
You become the mountain.
Grounded in the sitting posture.
Your head becomes the lofty peak.
Supported by the rest of the body and affording a panoramic view.
Your shoulders and arms the sides of the mountain.
Your buttocks and legs,
The solid base,
Rooted to your cushion or your chair.
Experiencing in your body a sense of uplift from deep within your pelvis and spine.
With each breath as you continue sitting.
Becoming a little more a breathing mountain,
Alive and vital.
Yet unwavering in your inner stillness.
Completely what you are,
Beyond words and thoughts.
A centered,
Grounded,
Unmoving presence.
You are not separate from the mountain.
You are the mountain As you sit,
Begin to notice the world around the mountain.
The sky above shifts from blue to golden to black.
The clouds gather and pass.
Rain may fall.
Winds may howl.
Yet through it all,
The mountain remains.
Like the mountain,
You too witness change.
Thoughts come and go.
Emotions rise and fall.
Some moments feel warm and bright like summer sunlight.
Others feel cold and heavy,
Like winter storms But just as the mountain does not resist the seasons,
You do not need to resist your own experiences.
Instead,
You allow them,
You observe them.
You welcome them with the same quiet presence as the mountain.
When restlessness comes,
You do not push it away.
When sadness arrives,
You do not cling to it.
When joy visits,
You appreciate it without grasping.
Everything comes and everything goes.
But you remain.
Still,
Steady,
Strong,
Grounded in the face of everything that changes in your life over seconds,
Over hours,
Over years.
Feel yourself sitting in this deep stillness.
Feel the quiet strength within you.
Just like the mountain,
You are not defined by external conditions.
Your worth does not change based on the weather of your emotions or the opinions of others.
Some may admire the mountain's beauty.
Others may not see it at all.
But the mountain does not seek validation.
It simply exists.
Whole.
Complete.
Just as it is.
And so do you.
Let this truth settle deep into your being.
You are enough.
Exactly as you are.
Strong,
Grounded,
Resilient and whole.
By becoming the mountain in our meditation practice we can link up with its strength and stability and adopt them for our own.
We can use its energies to support our energy to meet each moment with mindfulness and equanimity and clarity.
It may help us to see that our thoughts and feelings,
Our emotional storms and crises are very much like the weather on the mountain.
We tend to take it all personally,
But its strongest characteristic is impersonal.
The weather of our own lives is not to be ignored or denied.
It is to be met,
Honoured,
Felt,
Known for what it is and held in awareness.
And in holding it in this way,
We come to know a deeper silence and stillness and wisdom.
Mountains have this to teach us and much more if we can let it in.
Now take a slow,
Deep breath in.
And a long steady breath out.
Gently begin to bring awareness back to your body.
Feel the weight of your hands the support beneath you.
The air on your skin.
Now slowly awakening movement.
Stretching in any way you need to.
When you feel ready.
Gently open your eyes carrying the stillness with you.
No matter where you go,
No matter what happens today.
Remember you have the strength of a mountain within you.
If you so wish,
Continue to sustain the mountain meditation on your own,
In silence,
Moment by moment,
Until you hear the sound of the bell.
