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Good morning. This is morning stillness for a peaceful, resilient day.
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So we'll just begin by simply arriving here, exactly as you are.
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And we do this by allowing our breath to flow naturally.
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Breathing in calm.
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Breathing out relaxed.
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There's no need to do anything with your breath.
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There's no need to force it.
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Your body knows how to breathe,
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just as it knows how to relax. relax
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So let's just invite the body to soften.
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Starting at the crown of your head.
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And gently inviting the muscles of your face to release.
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Your jaw,
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Your shoulders and your arms.
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All the way down to your toes.
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And we'll trust that the body remembers how to let go.
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And you're simply giving it permission. Breathing
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in calm. Breathing out relax
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being calm Breathing out relax.
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And just notice how the mind goes quiet when we just allow the body to relax.
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We allow the breath to be what it is and we allow the moment to be what it is.
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One of the real good arts of meditation is allowing the moment to be what it is.
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Really underneath everything we're already meditating.
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So now I just want you to imagine you're sitting or standing in a place that feels deeply peaceful to
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you.
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Perhaps it's a forest, a
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meadow or a quiet garden.
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And you can sense the earth beneath you.
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It's solid and it's supportive.
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And as you settle here, begin to visualize your body as strong, ancient tree.
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Your spine is the trunk.
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It's steady and dignified.
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Your arms and your fingers stretch like the branches toward the sky.
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And beneath you, from the base of your spine, the roots begin to grow.
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And these roots extend deep into the earth.
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Through all the layers of the soil or sand and through the stone. Just anchoring you
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into the quiet strength of the ground below you.
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And just while you're still settling in and
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becoming the symbol of an ancient tree
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it's a wonderful poem.
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Roots don't rush to reach the dark. They
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trust the slow unfurling.
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What is solid need not shout.
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The deepest ground is holding.
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And notice, just like the tree, the tree doesn't have to stand tall and doesn't have to work at it.
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It just is.
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And just like your wisdom and your resilience, it's already there. You already have it. You
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just have to allow it to be. You have to trust it.
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And just like the tree, with every breath in, draw up that nourishment from the earth. The
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stability. The resilience. The
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quiet wisdom of a thousand seasons.
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With every breath out, release anything that feels shaky or uncertain. Just
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allowing it to let go.
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A tree doesn't grab hold of a loose leaf.
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Nor does it grab a loose branch.
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It just allows it to do what it does.
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And let the earth absorb it, transforming it into strength. Just
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like the tree with every change of a season. Just
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like every breath with every change of the body still
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allow it to be what it is.
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You are held just like the trees are held. Not by force, but by surrender. To the
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support that's always here.
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And you, just like the trees, hold all this wisdom and knowledge and resilience
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over a millennia of generations past, all deep within inside of you.
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If only we slow down and recognise that. And
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if we just feel it deeply
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And allow the body to do what it does.
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And as we slowly come back to bring the awareness back to our bodies. To the sensation of the earth
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beneath you. To the rhythm of your breath.
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Know that this rootedness is always available to you. This steady refuge like an ancient
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tree. Whenever
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you're feeling a bit unstable or whenever you're wavering, just remember you have so many years of
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experience, so many generations of experience, and it's all there deep within if we only trust.
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So in a moment I'm going to tap the bowl. And just bring your awareness back to the room.
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Gently open your eyes, shake out your arms, wiggle your fingers and toes. And just take a deep breath in
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and... Recognise that you do have all this wisdom and you do have all this resilience. But sometimes life
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gets on top of us. Sometimes the noise of thinking and planning and worrying and the stress of life,
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sometimes that just covers everything up and makes a bit of a mess of everything. So if we just take
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a step back and just be like that tree in the middle of a field. Ah, I've got this. Thank
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you. I'm Steven and thank you for supporting this podcast and keeping it free for everybody. You can always have
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a look at my Stillness in the Storms course which is now pay however much you want or support me
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by treating me to a coffee or just look up what else I do and the other podcasts like Stillness
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in the Storms all on StevenWebb.uk. Have a beautiful peaceful day and thank you.
