Find a place and a way to be. You may find it helpful to be somewhere without distraction, if such a place exists for you. If not, let it be what it is.

In this practice you will be asked to consider your body in relation to where you are — and so you may like to be out in the world, or you may want to be somewhere private. You may wish to sit, stand, lie down, or you may wish to keep moving. Remember you can always repeat this practice, listen or read again, in a new place and in a new way.

Begin by bringing your attention to your body, and to the place where your body is meeting the ground. This may be through a chair, or bed, or floor, or through many floors. Or you might be somewhere closer, somewhere where the ground is right there. However close or far you are, try to sense this contact, this relationship between your body and the earth.

And now sense the relationship between you and what is above and around you — the air meeting your skin, and the sky that is both far away and right there. You may be out in the open and under this sky, or you may need to sense it through layers of wood or concrete. However close or far you are, try to sense the air and the sky as it forms the space above and around you.

Notice the way you are being met and held by the ground; the way you are being embraced by the air and the sky.

As you consider this, begin to open your attention to where you are right now. And in the same way that you tried to sense what was below you and what was above you, try in your mind’s eye to consider what is beyond the walls and buildings that might immediately surround you. Try to sense instead the natural landscape that is also a part of this meeting between earth and sky.

Consider this landscape and what you know of it, as clear or fuzzy as that image may be.

Consider if you can the way rock forms where you are.

The kind of plants or trees that grow.

The way water pools or rushes.

The way the earth rises or falls.

The way the sky is wide or heavy or full of light.

Consider how your body is allowing you to understand where you are right now
And how the land is allowing you to sense yourself in turn.

To know the grounding nature of rock
To sense the reach of plants and trees
To feel the rushing of water
To meet the air with your skin
The earth as it holds you from below
The sky as it embraces you from above.

Feel the way the landscape is meeting you
Feel the way gravity is meeting you
Feel the way it is holding you and keeping you connected — to the earth and sky and everything in between.

Open your gaze if it has narrowed.

Take a deep breath and as you exhale take in the space around you.

Notice yourself here in this place, as it is and as you are
Your body meeting the land
The land holding your body.