Mountain Meditation


Name

Mountain Meditation

Purpose/Effects

Often we can feel ungrounded, fearful, or even paralyzed in the face of difficult emotions and life circumstances. The Mountain Meditation is designed to cultivate stillness and calm and to connect with our inner strength and stability in the face of internal and external challenges.

Method

Summary
Sit, envisioning and then embodying a mountain as you meditate.

Long Version

  • Take a seated position that is comfortable for you on the floor or in a chair.
  • After following your breath for a few rounds, vividly imagine the most beautiful mountain you know of and resonate with. Envision its various details and stable, unmoving presence grounded in the earth.
  • After a few minutes of developing and holding this clear image in your mind, imagine bringing the mountain inside yourself and becoming the mountain
  • Imagine yourself sitting stillness and in calm, simply observing and resting unwavering as the various weather patterns, storms, and seasons pass the before you.
  • Just as a mountain endures constant changes and extremes, we also experience various thoughts, emotions and life challenges. Imagine viewing these experiences as external, fleeting and impersonal events, akin to weather patterns.
  • Feel yourself unwavering and rooted in stillness amidst the constant change in your internal and external experience.
  • This meditation is designed to last about 20 minutes but can be shortened or extended based on the practitioner’s preference.

History

Adapted from a meditation created by Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care and Society and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR).

Notes

An audio recording of the Mountain meditation can be found here.

See Also

Equanimity Meditation

One Comment

  1. Dru Hak

    I was meditating at home and a bird led me to a mountain. im not sure what it means but it brought me here, so thank you for the information friend!

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