Grounded Elevator Meditation

Welcome to meditation for grounding. We're going to practice lowering our attention, our awareness, our heaviness from our head down onto the support of the ground. We're going to use some imagery as well as breath awareness and body awareness to move through a series of breathing practices that will help us drain our weight. So the image we will use is an elevator. You can imagine a 10-story building and the way an elevator would go down one flight at a time until it gets all the way down to the ground floor.

We're going to go down in our body on each exhale, imagining an elevator was taking our weight, our racing thoughts, our busyness down with it until we land on support. We'll use 10 long breaths to go down and that will invite you to be with your breath on the ground for a few minutes as we feel what it's like to allow our bodies to be supported by what's underneath us. You can do this with your eyes open or closed, whatever you wish. You could also do this in any seated position, a chair sitting like I am or any other position of comfort. You're also welcome to lie down on the ground if you wish.

Begin by placing your palms on your thighs. Take a few long, exaggerated breaths. Just gently stretching the breath a little longer than natural. As we begin by releasing any obvious tension that we can find in our face, beginning with the area around the eyes, any squinting that you sense, not only in your eyelids but your brows, the space between your brows wide, softening the temples and the area around your ears. Imagine you could release squinting in your ears.

Your tongue rests on the floor of your mouth as your jaw dangles, allowing your shoulders to fall from your ears. I'm going to just take one more gently exaggerated breath, exhale out your mouth and we'll begin the imagery. Bring your attention to the crown of your head. Imagine up there an elevator. Take a moment on your inhale, imagine the spaciousness of the crown.

And on your exhale, imagine the elevator lowering any heaviness, any busyness from your crown down maybe to around your third eye point or your bridge of your nose. As the elevator doors open, imagine the breath coming in and refreshing that whole floor. Exhaling again down from the bridge of the nose to the jaw, heaviness going down with it. The doors open and the breath refreshes. All the heaviness is lowered by the elevator from the jaw to the shoulders.

Weight going down, the doors open and the breath comes in and expands you. Going down to the breastbone, weight, whatever you're carrying lowers. In your next exhale, lower to the solar plexus. Everything lowers down to the belly. All the way down into the pelvis.

Exhaling down, feel your breath and your heaviness go down your legs. Take two more breaths on your own, allowing yourself to be lowered onto the ground floor completely. Take one more long breath out through your mouth and feel your whole body landing on the floor. As you allow the ground to take your true weight, once again soften the squinting muscles around your eyes. Your jaw dangles, shoulders fall from the ears.

Allow what's ever under your body to hold all your weight. Exhaling as much as your weight on the ground as possible. We'll use three elevator breaths. One more time to again go down through the body and lower our weight. So return to the crown of your head.

Anything else you may be carrying in your head or with your shoulders, place inside the elevator. And as you exhale, lower from your head all the way down to your breastbone. From your breastbone on your next exhale, lower down to your belly. The doors open, let the breath refresh that whole center. One last exhale all the way down, land on the ground floor all over again.

Allow your body to land on the earth that is actually holding you up. We're gently going to practice re-relaxing when we notice we're holding weight on our shoulders or in our head. Anytime you feel your back up in your head or your shoulders, just on your own take one elevator ride all the way down or three all the way down. As we sit quietly for just a little bit, I invite you to feel where you meet the solid ground. And as you notice your creeping back up to the head and the shoulders, just take an elevator ride down on your own.

Practice is simply to continually on each exhale return to allow the ground to hold you up. And allow each inhale to come in and fill you on its own the same way when the elevator doors open, the breath just comes in, just fills the space. On each exhale allow yourself to land and then just get out of the way, imagine how doors open and the breath comes to you. You don't need to do anything, no extra effort needed, no need to suck the air in or pull it to you, as the ground holds you, it makes space for the breath to fill you on its own. So last few moments here to feel the ground underneath you, to feel how the breath comes and goes on its own.

We're going to practice staying aware of the ground, allow your seat to spread into its outline. If you were standing you would allow your feet to spread into their prints, allow your seat to spread into its print. And as you allow yourself to be heavy on the ground, your breath to flow freely, very gently little by little allow your eyes to softly open and we're going to practice staying grounded in your seat, present on your breath as you also become aware of the space around you. So that as you move back into your day, as you move back into your activity off the cushion, imagine that you could be in your body carried by the ground landing on the earth that is actually under your body. You can be grounded and with your breath and you can still begin to move around in the space around you.

So just let your eyes be soft, you could look around very gently if you wish and practice being you aware of the world without losing your ground, without losing your breath. And anytime you need to return to a sense of groundedness, presence, you can do this in your day with just three elevator breaths at any time or even one elevator breath at any time. Slowly bring your hands to meet in prayer, Anjali Mudra in front of your heart, set an intention to return to the ground as often as you become aware that you're off it. And may you feel more grounded and more open, namaste.