Grounded and Calm Meditation
Let’s Meditate
Guided by Emily Dunuwila

Hello and welcome to this grounding and calm meditation. I invite you to find a position that is comfortable, make any shifts that you need to feel most at ease. Place your hands in a comfortable place—on your lap, along your sides. I invite you to close your eyes, or lower your gaze. 

Begin to arrive here in the present moment, letting go of thoughts about the past or worries about the future, simply attune to the sensations and awareness of this moment. I invite you to settle into this present moment. Settle mentally as your thoughts begin to slow. Settle physically as you let your body rest after your day’s activities. Perhaps taking off the armor that you may wear to get through the day. 

Allowing your shoulders to release down away from the ears. Jaw muscles and facial muscles relax,  hands unclench. Just settle, like leaves falling from a tree and settling gently to the ground. Inhaling, exhaling. If it feels ok to you, bringing your attention to your breath and noticing how your breath may have shifted since you started this meditation. Invite a slow, calming breath that flows through your nostrils and fills your low belly, then rib cage, then chest, gently exhaling it all out. Enjoy a nice long exhale, perhaps twice as long as the inhale. 

It may take a moment to settle, but with practice and patience, we’ll feel that shift happening. 
Breathing here, begin to bring your awareness towards  the places where your body contacts the floor or chair. Sense your feet on the floor and your sitting bones on your seat or even your spine on the floor if you’re laying down. Sense the support. Allow your body to receive that support. Acknowledge any discomfort—creating a compassionate space for your body to feel all that is. As your breath in, imagine that your breath can reach all the way to the base of of your feet. 

As you exhale, imagine roots growing down from the base of your body, in towards the center of the earth. Spreading out and down beneath you, strengthening your present here. 

These roots ground you, like a tree, and remind you that you belong here. These roots can be your anchor. These roots can remind you of your strength and steadiness when you're feeling unsettled.
 Feel into that strength and those roots. 

Just as a tree draws nutrients from its roots, I invite you to breath in anything you may need for your day ahead. Patience, Self-Compassion, Focus, then exhale as your feel your roots grow deeper towards the center of the earth. Inhale in, drawing up the support you need to nourish your day. Exhale out, feeling strong and steady.
Practicing another round of this. Inhale nutrients, exhale strength.

As you continue to root, imagine any people or things in your life that help you feel rooted. Those that give you a sense of belonging and a sense of rootedness. Bring them into your minds eye, extend gratitude, breath and exhale. 
Invite to mind the next person or thing that roots you, extending awareness and gratitude. 
Perhaps you notice the ways your body feels as your intentionally cultivate awareness of those people and things.
Pausing here. Taking time for gratitude and that continuation of settling.

Now just as a tree grows upwards from its roots, feel your spine and torso extend upwards from your roots, embodying the strength and steadiness in those roots. Head and neck gently lengthen, as shoulder blades relax downwards, feel the length in between each vertebrae, as you expand your chest, just slightly, letting the light in.
 Cultivate in your mind’s eye the kind of tree that you wish to be. What does your tree look like? Imagine the color and texture of your bark, height, perhaps it has leaves, needles, or fruit—imagine it all. 
Use your senses to fill this experience—with any other elements that you see or feel. As you continue to embody this tree, what does it feel like from the inside out. Being present to this experience. 

Sense the ways that change happens all around us. Wind blows, birds land, people climb or settle beneath us, sun shines and sometimes rain, thunder or lightening falls. How can our tree stay steady, calm, and strong amidst all of this. We’ll pause here for one minute, sensing into this sense of calm amidst any chaos around us. 
 
Lastly, we bring our attention to the ways we expand outwards. Our extensive branches reach towards the sky, ground or outwards around us, and our roots grow down towards the center of the earth. The ways we continue growing. Be present to any emotions or reactions that arise as you call to mind the growth that’s happening currently. 
Celebrate our capacity to grow and remind yourself of your inner strength. I invite you to extend self-compassion to yourself for any growth that may be happening slower than you want, any discomfort that comes with growth or any ways growth that still has yet to happen. Be present and patient with this process. 
Coming back to your breath. From this settled, strong, rooted place, I invite you to slowly return to my voice.
 
When you’re ready, open your eyes, as we come to the end of this meditation.