Strength of the Mountain
April 13, 2021- 00:00Good afternoon everybody and thank you
- 00:03so much for taking the time to join
- 00:07or guided imagery meditation today.
- 00:09Again, I'm Michelle Graham
- 00:11licensed Massage Therapy 6 Milo
- 00:13Cancer Hospital and it's my honor
- 00:16privilege to be meeting you today.
- 00:18We're gonna do both an anti anxiety
- 00:22grounding breathwork opening and then
- 00:25we're going to go into our guided imagery.
- 00:29Meditation to follow.
- 00:33As we begin just always keep in mind
- 00:36that any thought that comes through
- 00:39you while we do the meditations.
- 00:42Don't give it any positive or
- 00:45negative focus, just sort of.
- 00:48Allow yourself to.
- 00:49Experience the thought and just
- 00:51have it so to come and go in
- 00:53order to keep your mind open.
- 00:57If you're if you're not already
- 01:00in a comfortable position,
- 01:02just bring yourself there.
- 01:04Where you can be still
- 01:06and quiet in your body.
- 01:09You can either close your eyes
- 01:11or keep them slightly opening,
- 01:13just softening your focus.
- 01:17Read slowly and patiently.
- 01:20In an out through your nose.
- 01:26Intentionally place your
- 01:28attention on your breath.
- 01:35Take 3 deep cycles of breath and let
- 01:39yourself be fully present with each one.
- 01:47Stay with the breath as it moves
- 01:49in and out through the nose.
- 01:56Oh, you can feel the sensation of breath.
- 01:59As it moves through the body.
- 02:05Or you could just notice how
- 02:08the body is breathing itself.
- 02:10Three full breaths in.
- 02:16And three full craps out.
- 02:24And now, as you notice,
- 02:26your breath as you look upon
- 02:29your breath with wonder and awe.
- 02:32Notice also a warm sensation of
- 02:35gratitude arising in your heart.
- 02:41Continue to watch the breath as
- 02:44you let this warmth or this light
- 02:47of gratitude grow and expand.
- 02:53Continue the deep breaths.
- 03:00And as this gratitude grows,
- 03:03feel it embracing or
- 03:07enveloping the heart itself.
- 03:10An intentionally draw
- 03:12awareness to your heart.
- 03:16And your heartbeat.
- 03:21Feel or hear your heartbeat.
- 03:26Or just visualize an imagine and
- 03:29trust and know that it's there.
- 03:35An look upon the heart with the
- 03:38same sense of wonder and all.
- 03:40With which you recognize the breath.
- 03:48And continue with your
- 03:50deep breaths in an out.
- 03:57Recognize how special and
- 04:01precious your heartbeat is.
- 04:04Now feel the warm sensation of
- 04:07gratitude within your heart.
- 04:09And grow and expand
- 04:11throughout your whole body.
- 04:18Let this light of gratitude
- 04:21fill your whole torso.
- 04:23Your legs and arms your head.
- 04:27As you look upon the entire
- 04:32body with wonder an A.
- 04:35Grateful for the breath.
- 04:38Grateful for the heartbeat and grateful
- 04:41for this wonderful functioning,
- 04:44protective and useful shell,
- 04:47through which you can experience all the
- 04:51joy beauty animazement in the world.
- 04:59Continue at the breath.
- 05:07Now feel your entire body
- 05:09filled with warmth and light.
- 05:12Full of gratitude and thankfulness.
- 05:15Appreciative of all the small joys
- 05:18and perhaps the big ones as well.
- 05:32Let yourself feel full and complete,
- 05:35full of gratitude. Full of all.
- 05:40There's nothing else you need right now,
- 05:43except to remain open. Adaware
- 05:51continue to allow the body to be still.
- 05:56Sitting with a sense of dignity,
- 05:59a sense of resolve,
- 06:01a sense of being complete.
- 06:03Whole. In this very moment.
- 06:07With your posture reflecting
- 06:09this sense of wholeness.
- 06:17As you sit here.
- 06:19Let in image form in your minds
- 06:22I have the most magnificent.
- 06:25Beautiful mountain you have been to.
- 06:29You have seen, you know.
- 06:37Letting it gradually come into greater focus.
- 06:42And even if it doesn't
- 06:44come as a visual image,
- 06:46allowing the sense of this mountain.
- 06:50And feeling its overall shape.
- 06:54It speaks high in the Sky.
- 06:58The large base rooted in the
- 07:01bedrock of the Earth's crust.
- 07:04It's steep or gently sloping sides.
- 07:10Noticing how massive it is, how solid,
- 07:15how unmoving, how beautiful.
- 07:18Weather from a fire or close up.
- 07:26Perhaps the mountain has snow
- 07:29blanketing its top and trees
- 07:31reaching down to the base.
- 07:34Or rugged granite sides.
- 07:39There may be streams and waterfalls
- 07:42cascading down the slopes.
- 07:46You may be one peak. A series of peaks.
- 07:52All with medals trees. Anne High lakes.
- 07:59Observing. The qualities and
- 08:02when you feel ready seeing if
- 08:06you can bring the mountain.
- 08:09Into your own body sitting here.
- 08:13So that your body and the mountain
- 08:15in your minds, I become one.
- 08:18So that as you sit here.
- 08:21You share in the massiveness
- 08:24and the stillness and the
- 08:26Majesty of the mountain.
- 08:28You become the mountain.
- 08:32Grounded in your sitting posture,
- 08:36your head becomes its lofty peak.
- 08:41Supported by the rest of your body.
- 08:44And affording a panoramic panoramic view.
- 08:49Your shoulders and arms are
- 08:52the sides of the mountain.
- 08:54Your buttocks and legs the solid base.
- 08:58Ludy in to the question of your chair.
- 09:03Experiencing in your body's sense of uplift
- 09:07from deep within your pelvis and spine.
- 09:13With each breath,
- 09:14as you continue sitting,
- 09:17becoming a little more,
- 09:19a breathing mountain, alive and vital.
- 09:23Yet unwavering in your stillness.
- 09:27Completely what you are beyond
- 09:31words and thought.
- 09:33A centered grounding.
- 09:36Unmoving presence.
- 09:41As you sit here.
- 09:43Becoming aware of the fact that
- 09:46as the sun travels across the Sky.
- 09:49The Light and shadows and colors are
- 09:53changing virtually moment by moment
- 09:55in the mountains, stillness and
- 09:58the surface teems with life and activity.
- 10:03Streams, melting snow, waterfalls,
- 10:08plants and wildlife.
- 10:12As the mountain sits seeing
- 10:14and feeling how night follows
- 10:17day and day follows night.
- 10:21The bright warming sun,
- 10:24followed by the cool night
- 10:27Sky studded with stars and the
- 10:31gradual dawning of a new day.
- 10:34Through it all. The mountain just sits.
- 10:39Experiencing change in each moment,
- 10:43constantly changing yet always
- 10:47just being itself.
- 10:50It remains still as the seasons
- 10:53flow into one another,
- 10:55and as the weather changes,
- 10:58moment by moment and day by day,
- 11:01Commissa biting all change.
- 11:08In summer, there's no snow on the mountain,
- 11:11except perhaps for the very peaks.
- 11:15In fall, the mountain may wear
- 11:18a coat of brilliant fire colors.
- 11:22In winter, a blanket of snow and ice.
- 11:27In any season it may find itself
- 11:29at times and shrouded in clouds or
- 11:32fog or pelted by freezing rain.
- 11:35People may come to see the mountain
- 11:38and comment on how beautiful it
- 11:40is or how it's not a good day to
- 11:43see the mountain that it's too
- 11:46cloudy or rainy or foggy. Or dark.
- 11:51None of this matters to the mountain,
- 11:55which remains at all times.
- 11:57It's essential self clouds
- 12:00make common clouds maaco.
- 12:02Tourists may like it or not.
- 12:05The mountains, magnificence,
- 12:06and beauty are not changed one bit
- 12:10by whether people see it or not,
- 12:12seen or unseen in sun or clouds.
- 12:16Broiling or frigid day or night.
- 12:19It just sits being itself.
- 12:23At times visited by violent storms,
- 12:26buffeted by snow and rain,
- 12:28and winds of unthinkable
- 12:30magnitude through it all,
- 12:32the mountain sits.
- 12:36Spring comes trees.
- 12:38Bloom Flowers are in the
- 12:42high Meadow and slopes.
- 12:45Birds singing the trees once again.
- 12:48Streams overflow with the
- 12:50waters of melting snow.
- 12:53And through it all the mountain
- 12:55continues to sit unmoved by the weather.
- 12:58By what happens on its surface
- 13:01by the world of appearances,
- 13:03Lee meaning its essential self.
- 13:06Through the seasons,
- 13:07the changing weather.
- 13:09The activity ebbing and
- 13:11flowing on its surface.
- 13:17In the same way as we now sit in meditation,
- 13:22we can learn to experience the mountain.
- 13:26We can embody the same central,
- 13:29unwavering stillness and groundedness
- 13:31in the face of everything that
- 13:35changes in our own lives.
- 13:37Over seconds over hour's over years.
- 13:43In our lives and in our meditation practice,
- 13:47we experience constantly the changing nature
- 13:50of mind and body and of the outer world.
- 13:55We have our own periods
- 13:57of light and darkness.
- 13:59Activity and inactivity are moments
- 14:01of color in our moments of drabness.
- 14:07It's true that we experience storms of
- 14:11varying intensity and violence in the
- 14:14outer world and in our own mind and bodies,
- 14:17buffeted by high winds by cold and rain.
- 14:21We endure periods of darkness and pain,
- 14:24as well as the moments of joy and uplift.
- 14:29Even our appearance changes constantly.
- 14:31Experiencing a weather of its own.
- 14:37By becoming the mountain in
- 14:39our meditation practice,
- 14:41we can link up with its strength and
- 14:45stability and adapt them for our own.
- 14:49We can use its energies to support
- 14:52our energy to encounter each moment
- 14:56with mindfulness. And clarity.
- 15:01It may help us to see that our thoughts
- 15:04and feelings are preoccupations
- 15:06or emotional storms in crises,
- 15:09even the things that happen to us are very
- 15:12much like the weather on the mountain.
- 15:17We tend to take it all personally.
- 15:21But its strongest
- 15:25characteristic is impersonal.
- 15:28The weather of our own lives is
- 15:30not to be ignored or denied.
- 15:33It is to be encountered. Honored.
- 15:37Felt. Known for what it is.
- 15:42An held in awareness.
- 15:46In holding in this way,
- 15:48we come to know a deeper sense.
- 15:51I've still miss.
- 15:52An wisdom.
- 15:56Mountains have this to teach us
- 15:59and much more if we can let it in.
- 16:05So if you find you resonate in some
- 16:07way with the strength and stability
- 16:09of the mountain in your sitting,
- 16:12it may be helpful to use it from
- 16:15time to time as you meditate.
- 16:18To remind yourself of what
- 16:21it means to sit mindfully.
- 16:24With resolve with wakefulness.
- 16:27In true spirit. Of yourself.
- 16:32Knowing that your inner state.
- 16:37He is strong and stable always.
- 16:48When you're ready.
- 16:50With your eyes closed,
- 16:52take one more deep breath
- 16:54in through your nose.
- 16:59And exhale through your mouth.
- 17:07You can open your eyes now.
- 17:10Just look around the room as
- 17:13you continue to feel yourself
- 17:16grounded in your chair.
- 17:19Being mindful and respectful
- 17:20of the meditation we just did.
- 17:25I'm stretching your arms out to
- 17:28both sides as far as you can.
- 17:31Little circles with here
- 17:34with simple directions.
- 17:38With a breath arms overhead.
- 17:44And exhale into prayer pose.
- 17:52Thank you everybody for joining
- 17:54together in this meditation.
- 17:57It's just a beautiful reminder.
- 18:00Again, the reference of the mountain and how,
- 18:04through seasons through days.
- 18:08Changes occur all around,
- 18:10but the mountain itself maintains
- 18:14its dignity and maintains itself and.