Greetings,
This is the mountain meditation.
Sit comfortably on a chair or a bench or a mat and feel that you're sitting very upright and yet with a relaxed body.
Feel a very dignified,
Anchored posture.
It may help to visualize that your head is suspended from the ceiling by a cable attached to the very top of your head.
Holding you upright,
Yet allowing the body to relax.
Let the eyes close gently.
Now direct your attention to the sensations in the abdomen when you breathe.
The sensation of inhaling as the diaphragm muscle pushes down,
The abdomen pushes out,
And the air flows into the lungs.
And the sensation of exhaling as the diaphragm muscle relaxes,
The abdomen relaxes,
And the air flows out of the lungs.
Just watch the body breathe like that without trying to influence the breath in any way.
Now feel how your chair or bench or mat supports the body.
Feel the pressure against your buttocks,
The back of your legs,
Your feet,
The lower back,
Wherever your body is supported.
And feel how solid and well anchored it is.
Now picture in your mind's eye a beautiful,
Majestic mountain.
Picture a mountain that you may have seen yourself before or one you've seen pictures of,
Or just a mountain you can visualize in your imagination.
Whatever epitomizes the majesty and grandeur of the most beautiful mountain.
Picture and feel the solidity of the base of the mountain where its mass is anchored on the earth.
And feel and picture the shape of the mountain.
Could be gentle slopes to the top,
Or it could be rocky cliffs steeply ascending to the top.
There could be forests,
There could be plateaus with meadows.
The top may be steep or it may be rounded.
Picture and feel the shape of the mountain as vividly as you can in your mind's eye.
There may be snow at the top of your mountain.
There may be streams and waterfalls cascading down the cliffs of its sides.
Picture and feel the massiveness and the stillness of this beautiful,
Majestic mountain.
And now let your image of the mountain and your image of your body begin to merge.
Feel how your body has the characteristics of the mountain.
It's anchored solidly to the earth.
It's still.
It's massive.
Feel how your buttocks,
Your legs,
Where they're anchored to the chair,
To the mat.
Feel how they correspond to the base of the mountain where it anchors on the earth.
Feel how your trunk corresponds to the core of the mountain.
And your arms are like the slopes of the mountain.
And your head and shoulders are like the top,
The peak of the mountain.
Feel that you are the mountain.
The mountain is your body.
Now let the sense of time passing enter the picture.
And notice how during the day the sun moves to different parts of the sky and illuminates the mountain in different ways.
The shadows change,
The light changes,
The quality of light changes.
And then at night the sun sets and the stars come out.
They move through the sky.
And again at dawn the sun rises and begins its journey again.
Through this daily cycle the mountain remains still,
Massive,
Anchored,
Unchanging,
While the light around it changes.
Now picture changes in the weather.
Clouds moving in,
Clouds clearing away.
Rain coming and rain going.
Winds coming and winds subsiding.
Snow coming and snow stopping.
Lightning flashing across the sky.
Thunder booming.
Through all these changes in weather the mountain remains still,
Solid,
Unmoved.
Now picture the changing seasons.
The springtime when new growth of the trees,
The meadows comes to the mountain.
Streams begin to flow.
Flowers bloom.
Summer when the days are warm even hot.
The days are longer.
All the snow melts except maybe at the very peak.
Autumn when the trees burst into colors.
The days grow shorter.
The weather grows windier.
And winter when quiet descends.
Snows thicken.
And the days are short and dark.
Until spring comes again.
And through all these changes in season,
Through all these changes in weather,
The mountain remains still,
Massive,
Steady,
And unmoved.
Contemplate and feel how you,
Sitting in meditation,
Are like the mountain.
Different thoughts,
Feelings,
Sensations come to you as you sit.
And you observe them all without ever ceasing to be,
At your core,
The steady,
Still,
Unmoved mountain.
Picture yourself,
Your unchanging,
Essential self,
At your core,
Steady,
Solid.
As all the incidents of your life,
All the feelings,
All the sensations move around you like so much weather moving around the mountain.
You watch and you entertain all the ups and downs,
All the changes,
And yet you remain who you are,
Solid,
Anchored.
The joys,
The sorrows,
All the feelings that come,
All the feelings that fade away.
They leave you in your essential nature,
Solid and unchanging,
Like the mountain.
This image of the mountain is one we can carry in our meditation,
And one we can remember as we move through our lives.
Whenever we feel buffeted by incidents in the world,
By feelings,
By emotions changing,
We can remember the image of the mountain.
We can remember that in our essential nature,
Our essential selves,
We are not bothered by the weather,
Just as the mountain is never bothered by the weather.
We remain solid,
Massive,
Still,
Anchored,
In spite of circumstances,
In spite of our reactions to circumstances,
At our core we remain still.
We remain solid,
Massive as a mountain,
As we sit and we inhale,
And we exhale.
We inhale,
And we exhale.
We inhale,
And we exhale.
Bring some movement into your body,
Wiggle your fingers and toes,
Allow the eyes to open.
Thank you for meditating with me.
I'm Steve Diamond.
You can find more meditations on the web at MoreThanMindful.
Com and on the More Than Mindful channels on SoundCloud and YouTube.
