You may do this guided meditation before you sleep or at any time when you can relax and be quiet.
Make yourself comfortable,
Loosening any tight clothing or belts.
Close your eyes and begin to breathe in long,
Slow breaths.
Inhale through your nose to a count of seven and then exhale through your mouth counting to eleven.
Repeat this several times.
Don't worry if you can't hold to that count,
Don't force yourself,
Just do what you can.
Now just allow your breathing to fall into a natural and relaxed pattern.
Imagine yourself lying in bed on a windy night.
You are relaxed but for some reason you cannot sleep.
It's as if you are expecting something.
After a while you get up and walk to your bedroom window,
Opening it to look out.
Cool air drifts in.
A moon,
Candle-coloured and huge,
Floats in the dark sky.
Clouds whisper across its face.
A movement catches your eye and brings your view downward.
In the moonlit half-dark you see a great wolf emerge from the landscape.
Behind it comes others.
They sit looking up at your window.
Their eyes hold a bright gleam,
An invitation that feels so real you can almost hear the words in your mind.
Come run with us.
Still feeling as if you are half in a dream,
You go to your bedroom door and pass through the sleeping house.
You open the door and step out.
The wolves rise to meet you,
Greeting you with the press of bodies like waves around you.
The great wolf nudges your hand and then turns away beginning to trot.
You are inspired to follow.
You feel yourself surrounded by the wolves as their pace increases to a long,
Loping run.
Acceleration pours through your blood with the exciting scent of the night,
Earth and grass.
The wolves run,
Muscles moving under their silky coats,
Pores denting the ground.
And you run with them,
Under the moon,
Free and unbounded.
They plunge into woodland,
Sleek shapes among the trees.
You seem to feel a connection to each individual wolf as you weave through the trees following trails known only to them.
The tang of the woods,
Pine,
Fallen leaves is sweet and sharp as you run through pools of moonlight and back into shadow.
You feel alive in a way that you never felt before.
This is true freedom.
To run effortlessly,
Your breath coming easily,
Your whole body tingling with a sense of power and presence.
Your senses seem intensified,
Allowing you to flick past the trees and over the earth with the swiftness of an athlete.
Ahead of you,
The trees thin,
A stream glints and sparkles under the moonlight.
Without a pause and with the wolf pack pacing you,
You gather yourself and jump in.
With a movement smooth as a flowing wave,
You and the wolves are over the water and into rolling grassland.
The grass whips by you,
Fresh and clean,
The wind swirling it in long ripples like a dark sea.
The moon sails free of the racing clouds,
Bathing the land in a chill,
Bright light.
It seems to watch you as you run.
Your whole being is saturated with energy.
This is no hunt,
No flight,
But running for the sheer joy of it.
You can almost hear the heartbeats of the wolf pack,
The stretch and roll of their muscles as they run long and low to the ground.
You crest a low ridge and see before you a lake.
The moon's reflection wavers on the surface of the water like a lantern.
You approach it and the wolf pack slows to a halt.
They lower their muzzles to drink and you cup water in your palms,
The clean,
Clear stony taste refreshing you as you swallow.
The wolves relax,
Their breath misting in the cool air as they pant.
The great wolf,
A huge creature with eyes as golden as the sun,
Paces around them.
It is obviously the leader,
The alpha.
There is a sense of effortless authority and power in the way it moves,
But also a reassurance.
It walks lightly up to you,
Eyes like twin suns,
And presses itself close to your side.
The heat of its body soaks into you like a warm blanket.
You lay a hand lightly upon its head.
Its eyes hold intelligence and you know somehow that it will understand you if you spoke.
For a while the wolves rest,
Then as if at some unseen signal,
They rise.
Mist is rising from the lake as the night deepens and the wind quickens,
Sending ragged cloud across the moon once more.
The wolves lift their heads and howl,
A chorus that prickles in your blood.
It echoes through into the night.
The lead wolf moves on,
Away from the lake shore,
Trotting then running as if to catch the high sailing moon.
You run almost beside it and the earth rolls away once more beneath you.
The breath enters and leaves your lungs so easily you do not notice it.
You feel the wolf pack around you and you are at one with them,
With the surge of their muscles and the beat of their hearts.
Ahead of you,
Shapes rise against the sky and lights show at windows.
The pack have returned you to your home.
They slow their pace and sit as they sat when you first saw them.
The lead wolf walks with you towards your door.
You take a long moment to look into those golden eyes,
Sharing your thoughts.
With a nudge of its greyed head,
The wolf bids you goodbye and you enter your home again.
You still feel the rush of blood and the joy of running with the pack as you lay down to sleep.
As you listen in the distance,
You hear a howl and then only the song of the wind.
But now you know that you can join the wolves and run with them again any time you choose.
The wolf walks with you towards your door.
The wolf walks with you towards your door.
Thank you.
