Hello everyone.
My name is Stephen Hick.
Welcome to my mountain meditation.
If you're using this to follow along in my book entitled Mindful Transformation,
Then it will be for weeks 25 and 26.
So let's get started.
Today's meditation invites you to connect with the quiet strength and unwavering presence of a mountain.
It's really a practice of grounding,
Not through force,
But rather through a deep stillness and a trust in your being.
So let's begin by finding a posture that feels steady,
Relaxed,
And dignified.
You can be seated on a cushion,
On a chair,
Or even lying down.
Whatever best supports your sense of presence.
Letting your spine gently lengthen,
Letting your shoulders ease away from your ears,
And placing your hands wherever they can rest in stillness,
Either on the thighs or on your lap,
Allowing your chin to tuck slightly so that the back of the neck is long.
The gaze of your eyes is either soft or your eyes can be closed.
There's nothing to do here,
Nowhere to go.
We're simply visualizing ourselves as a steady presence.
Now gently bring to mind the image of a mountain.
It can be any mountain.
It could be a soft,
Rounded mountain with trees,
Or it could be a jagged mountain with snow on top.
Whatever mountain resonates with you,
Perhaps it's a mountain that you've seen,
Or just a mountain that you imagine to be beautiful and majestic.
Maybe you have a photograph of it.
Just imagine it in your mind's eye,
Noble and strong,
And bringing the image into focus.
Perhaps your mountain rises as a single majestic peak,
Or perhaps it has rolls and ridges and valleys.
Perhaps it's windblown,
Or perhaps it's covered in trees.
Perhaps it's snow-covered,
Or just snow at the top,
Or perhaps it's all green,
Allowing its presence to become vivid in your mind's eye.
Notice the scale,
The strength,
The unshakable presence.
Noticing how the mountain is grounded,
It's vast,
It's endured storms and seasons and stillness and sun.
The mountain remains,
Simply is.
Continuing to hold that vision of the mountain in your mind,
Noticing its strengths,
Its dimensions,
Really sensing into the mountain.
Now,
Seeing if you can embody this mountain,
Feeling your body taking on the shape of the mountain,
Your spine,
The central axis of your body rooted and rising.
Your legs are the base of the mountain,
Grounded into the earth like the mountain's base.
Your shoulders come out like the mountain's slopes.
Your breath moving gently in and out like the wind blowing over the surface of the mountain.
Whatever changes around the mountain,
Whether it's sunshine,
Snow,
Wind,
Stillness,
The mountain remains.
Noticing how your body,
Too,
Can be still,
Solid,
And at the same time,
Soft.
Inviting that sense of the mountain into your very being,
Just like the mountain sitting with presence through whatever arises moment by moment.
Noticing that the mountain exists within an environment and seeing the way that sunlight casts shadows and lights over the slopes of the mountain.
And watching how the shadows move with the wind and move with time.
Noticing when night falls,
Colors of the mountain change.
Moonlight might rest over its ridges,
And still the mountain remains steady and solid.
Imagine a storm moving through the mountain,
Thunder crashing,
Winds howling,
Rain lashing at the slopes of the mountain.
And yet,
Beneath it all,
The mountain sits unmoved,
Solid,
Receptive.
Imagining,
Too,
The seasons shifting,
The warmth of the summer producing greens on the trees and the grass.
Imagining fall where the reds and oranges and yellows show up on trees,
If there are trees on your mountain.
And in winter,
Perhaps the white snow that falls on the mountain.
And the renewal of spring.
Through every season,
Every transformation,
The mountain remains itself,
Solid,
Grounded.
Letting yourself rest in this image of the mountain.
Whatever thoughts,
Emotions,
Or challenges arise in your life,
They're like the weather passing through,
Yet you remain steady,
Aware,
And present.
Imagine now the people who come and go along the mountain's paths.
Some stay briefly.
Some linger longer.
Some days are busy with activity.
Other days are quiet.
But the mountain doesn't shift based on the visitors.
Its sense of self doesn't depend on who comes or goes to the mountain.
It just remains steady and solid.
In this way,
Too,
We can learn to sit with dignity.
Have the courage to even be disliked.
Not grasping for approval.
Not shrinking in judgment.
Just being.
Beginning to sense the same solidness,
Steadiness,
Resiliency within yourself.
This inner mountain.
Resilient and solid.
And strong.
Has always been there.
And feeling into your inner mountain.
And trusting your inner mountain.
And letting go of the image of the mountain and simply resting in this moment in the body.
This quiet and gentle presence.
And letting your awareness be wide open to whatever might be passing through.
Whether it be storms or soft sunlight.
Whatever is here,
Just like the mountain,
Allowing it to be.
Letting everything pass through like the weather on the mountain.
You are here.
You are whole.
And you are enough.
Just as you are.
