[NATURE SOUNDS]
Welcome to this mindfulness session.
You are standing in an ancient rainforest
in a mountain valley.
Far below you, Antarctic winds crash into a rugged coastline.
Those winds flow over cliffs to a world above us
where giants reign. Mountain ash trees hundreds of years old.
There, the wind becomes mist and falls as rain,
feeding cold streams that run through valleys
thick with tree ferns and alive with the songs of birds.
Valleys like this one, calm and peaceful.
During the day, sugar gliders sleep in tree hollows
around you.
When darkness falls, the forest is their playground.
And the shining stars above are reflected down here
by the twinkling of tiny glow worms.
These are the traditional lands of the Gadubanud people.
Today, I am inviting you on a journey.
I am inviting you to see the forest beyond the trees,
to hear the beating heart, and the quiet breath
of the thousands of creatures that call this
place their home.
I am inviting you to connect to this magical place.
You can follow along with me on this journey.
Or you can simply look and listen to the forest.
You are free to do exactly as you please.
To begin with, I invite you to join me
in paying respect to the traditional owners who
have called this place home, who have cared for,
and in return, been sustained by it since time immemorial.
Now, the first thing I'd like you to do
is to make yourself comfortable.
This journey will go for about 15 minutes.
So it is important that you feel relaxed.
You can sit, stand, or lie down.
OK, now that you're nice and comfy,
take a moment to have a good look at what you
can see in the video.
Now, I'd like you to focus your attention on something
small that catches your eye.
Maybe it is a water droplet glistening
on top a garden of moss, a single fern, or strip of bark
hanging from the branch of a tree.
Consider this thing, which has caught your eye.
How many shades and colours does it hold?
What about textures?
Is it rough or smooth, shiny, or dull?
Now pick something else in the forest, which
catches your eye, focusing on the small details, which
make this object different from everything else around it.
What makes it unique?
Now, find a third thing in the forest.
Look at it closely.
What are its distinctive features?
Consider all three objects together.
Are they near or far apart?
Are they similar in colour or different?
Does one object make the others look bigger or smaller.
Now that you are aware of some of the small details that
make up the forest, imagine the forest
as one whole connected living being.
Drink it all in, the plants, the rocks, the fallen leaves,
the moths, the water, the light, the air.
Imagine, too, the things that you can't see, but are
connected to this picture, the place
from which the stream springs that's based
behind the waterfall, the sky beyond the forest, the roots,
which stretch down into the earth as deep as the trees
are tall.
Take a mental picture of everything you see
and close your eyes.
Focus on your ears.
What can you hear?
Does the forest sound quiet to you?
Pick out one sound.
Maybe it is the wind, the water, or a bird.
Pick a sound and pay close attention to it.
Breathe in the sound you have chosen.
Hold that sound in your mind with your breath.
And listen to the sound of your breath as you exhale.
Now pick another sound.
What else can you hear?
Listen to your two sounds.
How do they interact?
Is one louder than the other, higher pitched or faster paced?
Is one closer and one further away?
Now pick a third sound.
Consider it.
See if you can listen to all three sounds at one time.
By now you will be aware that the forest is not
a silent place at all.
It is alive with sounds--
running water, rustling leaves, singing birds.
Take it all in.
Listen deeply.
Imagine that the forest is an orchestra and the wind,
the leaves, the water, the animals
are all different instruments in that orchestra,
making one harmonious song.
Use your breath to join the orchestra.
Imagine the cool, fresh air of the rainforest
as it enters your nose goes down your throat
and fills up your lungs.
Now, take a deep breath and feel the air
warmed inside your belly.
Focus as it travels back up your throat and out of your mouth.
Continue to take deep breaths in and out.
As you focus on your breathing, think
of a word that describes your connection to the forest.
Maybe it's respect, life, or water.
Choose a word that best fits your connection.
As you breathe in, repeat your chosen word,
filling yourself with thoughts of your connection
to the forest.
See if you can make your mind still and calm.
Continue to breathe in and out and focus
on this word for a few moments.
You will probably find your mind wandering.
And that is totally normal.
It's what your mind does.
It thinks.
When that happens, bring your thoughts
back to your chosen word and your connection to the forest.
Now, let your chosen word out with the final breath.
Focus again on your breathing only.
When you have a random thought, imagine
that thought as a passing cloud.
Breathe in quiet and calm.
Breathe out the clouds.
Breathe in calm and out clouds.
Slowly, in your own time, open your eyes.
We're going into the next phase of mindfulness.
So readjust your position if you need to.
You are still breathing nice and slow.
You are still seeing the forest as one living being and hearing
it as one soothing song.
You still imagine your thoughts as passing clouds.
As you do, take a mental photograph of the forest.
Now, close your eyes again.
Imagine your whole body is nice and cool.
Imagine the fish swimming in the water,
the birds flying in the air, the ants scurrying
along the ground, the worms chewing
through the air, the possums sleeping in the trees.
Imagine all that swimming and flying and scurrying
and chewing and sleeping as one vibration.
With your little toe, see if you can feel that vibration.
You don't need to move.
Just focus on your little toe.
Can you feel it getting warm?
Does it tingle?
As you breathe in and out, feel that warmth
spreading to your next toe.
Now, all your toes are nice and warm,
humming with the vibrations of all
the creatures in the forest.
Now the soles of your feet are warm.
Now your whole feet.
Feel the energy rising into your ankles
as you breathe in and out.
Now it's in your shins, slowly, slowly making its way up
to your knees.
As the relaxing warmth rises up your legs,
feel how relaxed your body becomes.
Now it's in your thighs, your belly.
Now it's rising up your spine, vertebrae by vertebrae.
Your legs and your core are now relaxed.
Feel the warmth spreading into your shoulders
and down your arms into your elbows, your wrists, the palms
of your hands, your knuckles, the first joint
of your fingers, all the way to the tips of your fingers.
Your whole body now is warm and relaxed--
now your neck, your chin, your cheek, your nose, your eyes,
your ears, your scalp, finally, your head.
You are now totally relaxed.
In a moment, you're going to hear a whipbird call.
When you do, we are going to be totally quiet
and still for a few moments.
In a moment, you will hear another whipbird call.
When you do, you can open your eyes.
The whip will signal the end of this journey.
After you hear the whip birds call, take your time.
You can sit and look and listen to the forest
until you are ready.
When you are, you can stretch your legs
and go about the rest of your day, calm and refreshed.
[NATURE SOUNDS]