So let's make ourselves comfortable.
Taking a few deeper breaths as we settle our body and put it somewhere comfortable.
If we're sitting,
Our feet are planted on the floor,
Our legs somewhere neutral.
And as we inhale next,
We're going to lengthen our spine a little bit.
Allow the crown of our head to get a tiny bit taller.
And as we exhale,
Soften our shoulders and settle into our chair a little bit.
Our arms resting comfortably somewhere.
Then let's notice our breath for a few moments as we become quieter.
As we turn down the external world.
Bringing our focus into our internal world.
And keeping our attention there as best we can.
If our mind wanders,
We know it does that.
We just return without any criticism,
We just come back.
We can rest and relax knowing our only task in this moment is to breathe consciously.
Bringing our attention then to our feet.
Feeling the earth beneath our feet.
And allowing our awareness to flow from our body out through the soles of our feet into the earth beneath us.
We can use our imagination any way we like.
To feel the solidity.
A huge mass.
A stability.
Allowing our attention to flow across through the earth to a mountain.
We can see the mountain from the outside.
It may be a real one we've seen.
Or it may be purely from our imagination,
It doesn't matter.
See it in your mind's eye.
And then we're going to flow into it and be inside the mountain.
We can imagine our body,
Our seated body is inside the mountain.
Our head and shoulders,
The tip,
The rocky pinnacle.
Our legs and feet extending deep into the earth.
Understanding how the mountain feels.
Timeless.
And still.
Allowing our awareness to flow from our feet.
Allowing our awareness to rise up,
To become lighter,
Start to float up.
We're leaving the mountain and experiencing the air around the mountain.
Flying on the currents of air.
Maybe like an eagle experiences the air.
Maybe we're looking down on the slopes of the mountain.
Maybe catching a thermal.
Feeling it lift us.
Almost weightless.
Clouds are beneath us.
We see the atmosphere from below.
How does that feel?
Bringing our attention now to the fire element.
And there may be small fires in this landscape.
Or there may be volcanic heat and energy under the mountain.
But there's also the fire of transformation in every cell of every being.
In the body of the eagle.
Fire respiration.
Biology silently buzzing.
Fire transformations.
In the eagle.
In the trees.
Covering the surface of the earth and the mountain.
In the animals living on the surface.
In the little lives in the air.
In the lake beneath us.
Let's go explore the lake beneath us.
So we can visualize it coming closer.
How the water looks.
How the life appreciates it.
Is drawn to it.
Let's touch the water.
And if we would like to,
We can allow ourselves to be immersed in it as much or as little as we feel comfortable with.
Seeing its coolness.
Its fertility.
Its affinity with life.
Its affinity with our bodies.
We are very nearly the same stuff.
Our body,
Watery membranes.
And we can rest in the water.
Being supported.
Held.
The water as the mother of life.
Mother to so much life.
Ether.
The element of ether,
Of spirit,
Is everything.
Everywhere.
Everything.
The earth,
The air,
The fire,
The water,
Are made of the ether.
The space-time.
The fabric of space-time folds,
Swells into the world we can see.
The mountain.
Our bodies.
The air we are breathing in.
The chemical transformations.
And the water.
Each particle aware of its neighbour.
And connected in a vast web of which we are a part.
And as we survey the landscape,
We are the conscious part.
We are the part of the landscape that is aware of it all.
Appreciating it all.
Solving it.
And when we offer our admiration,
It is reflected back to us.
And the landscape,
Each tree and blade of grass becoming slightly more beautiful because we have appreciated it.
Resting for a moment in this unfamiliar,
Familiar landscape.
With a sense of your part to play in it.
With a sense that your existence is a small but very necessary part of the jigsaw.
Because it fits just so.
And feeling how that feels.
Returning to the sensation of your body.
Bringing your awareness back inside your body.
And feeling your feet on the floor.
If you feel ungrounded,
You can allow any excess energy out through your feet back into the air.
And taking a few deeper breaths to reanimate our body.
Slowly start to move our fingers and our toes.
Our wrists and our ankles and our arms and legs.
And very slowly coming back to your regular waking state when you are ready.
There is no hurry.
Thank you for practicing with me.
