The following is a meditation from my recently published book. Please feel free to use it for your own use. I would welcome feedback.
amazon.com/author/relizabeth
The Tree - a guided visualisation for stress relief.
Make yourself comfortable, if you want to lie down that is fine but if you do, you might fall asleep and not complete the exercise but if you need sleep that will be no bad thing. You choose a time and place when you will be comfortable and uninterrupted. This exercise is best practiced with your eyes closed.
Take your awareness to your breathing, just be aware of your breathing, and notice the breath entering your body and be aware of the breath leaving your body. Letting the breath in through your nose and out of your nose. Watch your breathing settling down, becoming more easy as you observe the in and out breathe. Take a nice deep breath and allow yourself to relax and enter into a world of imagination for a short while. Imagine it is your favourite time of year and you are in the countryside. You are in a beautiful quite country lane. The weather is perfect, exactly as you like it. Wander up the lane a while until you come to a gate into a beautiful field. Open the gate and go into the field, shut the gate behind you. Look around and you will see the most beautiful tree, the tree seems like an old friend you have not seen for a while. You know the tree has healing, soothing properties. Depending on the time of year it might be leafless with its twigs spreading up to heaven, revelling in its nakedness so that you can see its magnificent structure against a beautiful blue sky. It might be smothered in fresh spring buds and leaves, maybe Spring blossom, full of promise of the new season, or maybe your tree is heavily covered with its beautiful summer canopy, shading the ground below offering respite from the sun which dances and filters through the leaves, if it is autumn your tree will be a burst of glorious reds orange and yellow where the tree stored the sunshine for a its final dance as the leaves swirl down to the earth forming a billowing petticoat around its roots. Walk towards the tree taking note of its bark, is it rough, smooth, mottled? What colour is the bark? You feel the tree inviting you to put your arms around its trunk, so you do. It is so welcoming, you know the tree will take away all your worries and stress, it will absorb all your concerns and channel them through its branches and down through its roots transmuting all negativity into positive Light. Talk to the tree, tell it about what burdens and stresses you. Let the tree take away your stress. As you do so you feel lighter and lighter as the tree transmutes your stress into positive Light
When you have finished telling your tree all that you need, you turn around and sit at the base of your tree, lean your back against the trunk and allow the tree to surround you with love. It is as if huge loving arms are around you giving you love and strength. After a few minutes it is time for you to leave. You are feeling strong and calm and ready to carry on with your normal life. Stand and thank your tree. You know you can return here any time you wish to. Walk back to the gate and go back into the lane closing the gate behind you. Walk back up the lane to the place you started this journey.
It is now time to carry on with your daily activities, twiddle your fingers and toes and drink a glass of water.
amazon.com/author/relizabeth
The Tree - a guided visualisation for stress relief.
Make yourself comfortable, if you want to lie down that is fine but if you do, you might fall asleep and not complete the exercise but if you need sleep that will be no bad thing. You choose a time and place when you will be comfortable and uninterrupted. This exercise is best practiced with your eyes closed.
Take your awareness to your breathing, just be aware of your breathing, and notice the breath entering your body and be aware of the breath leaving your body. Letting the breath in through your nose and out of your nose. Watch your breathing settling down, becoming more easy as you observe the in and out breathe. Take a nice deep breath and allow yourself to relax and enter into a world of imagination for a short while. Imagine it is your favourite time of year and you are in the countryside. You are in a beautiful quite country lane. The weather is perfect, exactly as you like it. Wander up the lane a while until you come to a gate into a beautiful field. Open the gate and go into the field, shut the gate behind you. Look around and you will see the most beautiful tree, the tree seems like an old friend you have not seen for a while. You know the tree has healing, soothing properties. Depending on the time of year it might be leafless with its twigs spreading up to heaven, revelling in its nakedness so that you can see its magnificent structure against a beautiful blue sky. It might be smothered in fresh spring buds and leaves, maybe Spring blossom, full of promise of the new season, or maybe your tree is heavily covered with its beautiful summer canopy, shading the ground below offering respite from the sun which dances and filters through the leaves, if it is autumn your tree will be a burst of glorious reds orange and yellow where the tree stored the sunshine for a its final dance as the leaves swirl down to the earth forming a billowing petticoat around its roots. Walk towards the tree taking note of its bark, is it rough, smooth, mottled? What colour is the bark? You feel the tree inviting you to put your arms around its trunk, so you do. It is so welcoming, you know the tree will take away all your worries and stress, it will absorb all your concerns and channel them through its branches and down through its roots transmuting all negativity into positive Light. Talk to the tree, tell it about what burdens and stresses you. Let the tree take away your stress. As you do so you feel lighter and lighter as the tree transmutes your stress into positive Light
When you have finished telling your tree all that you need, you turn around and sit at the base of your tree, lean your back against the trunk and allow the tree to surround you with love. It is as if huge loving arms are around you giving you love and strength. After a few minutes it is time for you to leave. You are feeling strong and calm and ready to carry on with your normal life. Stand and thank your tree. You know you can return here any time you wish to. Walk back to the gate and go back into the lane closing the gate behind you. Walk back up the lane to the place you started this journey.
It is now time to carry on with your daily activities, twiddle your fingers and toes and drink a glass of water.