This is the mountain meditation.
So coming now to rest in a place where you won't be disturbed for about five minutes.
Sitting on a chair or a cushion or a stool.
Noticing the points of contact that your body has with the surfaces that are supporting you.
Your feet firmly on the floor,
Your bottom on the chair.
Your back perhaps being supported or resting slightly away.
Lid just finds alignment so that you are sitting in an upright and dignified,
Alert,
Relaxed posture.
Allowing your shoulders to drop if they are held high.
Noticing the rhythm of your breathing.
Your next breath as it enters your body.
Perhaps through your nose or your throat,
Your chest,
Your tummy.
And the breath as it leaves the body.
Perhaps muscles relaxing.
Air leaving warmer.
Breathing gently in through your nose or your throat,
Into your lungs,
Your chest,
Your tummy.
And the breath leaving your body.
Noticing your next few cycles of breathing.
And where you feel it the most.
Coming up close to the breath.
And closing your eyes if you haven't already done so.
Or lowering your gaze.
Perhaps on the floor a few feet in front of you.
Having a sense of your whole self sitting here.
In mindful awareness.
And now picturing if you can in your mind the most beautiful mountain you have ever seen.
Or that you can imagine.
Notice its shape.
Its tall peak.
How its base is rooted into the rock of the earth.
The sloping sides.
Just how massive it is.
How unmoving.
How beautiful.
See if you can feel the qualities of your mountain in your own body.
Your head rising tall is just like the lofty peak.
Your shoulders and arms the sloping sides of the mountain.
Your bottom and legs the solid base rooted to the ground through your cushion or chair.
Notice any emotions you're feeling.
As though they are the weather around the mountain.
Is your weather right now sunny and calm?
Or stormy with rain?
Perhaps its clear or foggy?
Allow your personal weather in this moment to be just as it is.
Just noticing if it changes,
Intensifies or just stays the same.
Fully become like the breathing mountain.
Unwavering in your stillness.
Being completely what you are.
Centred,
Rooted and unmoving presence.
Breathing gently in.
Breathing gently out.
Feeling the breath in your belly.
As the light changes,
As night follows day and day will follow night.
The mountain just sits simply being itself.
It remains still as the seasons flow into one another and as the weather changes from moment to moment.
Storms may come and go but still the mountain sits.
Calmness abiding all change.
Know that you are like the mountain.
Thoughts,
Sounds,
Emotions will come and go.
But sitting here in conscious awareness.
Anchored by the breath in your body.
Know that you can come back to this place at any time during your day.
The breath can anchor you at any moment.
And now having an awareness,
Expanding your awareness.
To the points of surfaces that are supporting you right now.
The floor,
The cushion,
The stool.
Your feet on the floor.
Your breath in your body.
The space that we are taking up.
The room that we are in.
And opening your eyes if you have them closed.
Adjusting to the light.
Or lifting your gaze.
Bringing yourself back into the room.
