A note to the reader. This piece is here to open you up to the many ways one can connect with The Mountain. It is not a focused piece, but instead is created by weaving together different mountains, and different types of experiences that I have with them. I write it with the intention of opening you up to the ways that you may best connect with The Mountain, knowing that this may change from day to day, or season to season.
There are two types of journeys that one can take with The Mountain
Much of the time, you will find me experiencing the first type of journey, that which takes place outside: running, or else walking the trails that lead me up, and up, and up and up and up the faces of these grandest expressions of Planet Earth. Yes, while physically present in the mountains, I get to experience my favorite spaces as I move my body, feet grounded in connection to Earth. Out here, I can take in life in all its beautiful and diverse forms, and in these moments it is so easy to be filled as I experience myself in connection to it all.
I cannot express a greater joy, or a deeper of fulfillment than that which comes from climbing a mountain. For, all-the-while as you are ascending, there is moment after moment to soak in it all.
What all is here to soak in, you may ask? What is here to soak in, for sure at the top, but also every step along the journey!?
The forest, as life expresses around you in more ways than your mind will ever comprehend. Not that your mind needs to be busy engaging in such a task. But rather, here your body, and your whole being, gets to be engaged as you open your senses to it all. Take it all in. The flowing creeks, the endless sea of wildflowers. Trees – so many deeply rooted, tall rising trees! The animals, and all the other plants that are taking form around you. Open your senses. Breathe it all in.
In addition to life expressing around you, there is the fierce fulfilling that is happening within you! This fulfilling occurs through your efforting, for no journey up a mountain is filled with ease. Instead, steady devotion for that which beckons you forth is what will move you forward on this ascension journey. Are you willing to stay the course? If so, with each step, you may tire, but your self will be filled. Let yourself be filled.
Then, of course, comes that one glorious moment. This one, the one that occurs upon the top as you, eventually reach the peak. It isn’t a long moment, and it is certainly not everlasting. Still, for a moment upon this journey up the mountain, the climb will eventually come to an end, at which point you will be graced with a most light-filled of moments where you can stand tall, looking out upon the great expanse of it all, and know how deeply filled you are.
Of course, this moment will be short lived and will, eventually fade, leaving you with a journey back down through it all. Not to be discouraged though, for as any mountain climber knows, the true gifting of the journey up the mountain is not meant to be held only for the top, but for every step along the way.
With this, know that it is every step along the journey up a mountain that matters:
- bringing more of yourself, ever-more fully present to it all, each step of the way
- cultivating more courage, more skill, and more awareness of it all every step of the way
- cultivating more discernment every step of the way
- cultivating more connection, within self and with all that lives outside of self, every step of the way.
This is The Journey Up A Mountain, and it is a significant part of what I teach as an Embodiment Coach and Earth Priestess. It has everything to do with my very real experiences climbing countless mountains in this wild life of my own. And, it has much to do with the work that I have been honored to learn through the many embodiment traditions passed onto me.
A second experience to have with The Mountain
Some days, you will find me physically climbing a mountain to experience this most wondrous of life’s experiences.
Other days, you will find me like today. Snowy, and rainy outside, with my own self sitting comfortably in stillness; in quiet. Still, being with The Mountain. Only, this time, connecting in a different way. This path is powerful as well, and I would like to invite you onto it.
I would love to do this experientially. So, if you may….
Practice
Find yourself seated comfortably. If you are able, close down your eyes and ensure you will not be disrupted. Otherwise, do your best to follow this practice.
Begin, as always, with several deep breaths down into your body. Feel your body in connection to the physical surface that holds you in this moment. Feel your feet on the floor, else, your seat in connection to the chair. Whatever way you are connecting with the physical surface beneath you, feel into the sensation that connects you to this ground.
Breathe deeply down into your body. Inhale, feeling into the 3 dimensional expansion of your ribs.
Exhale, holding an intention to let go of any thoughts or other energies that are taking up space in your field that do not serve this space.
Inhale once more, letting your breath flow naturally from inhale to exhale.
Inhale, let more of yourself be guided into self as you bring more and more of your attention to those sensation in your body:
- your expanding ribs
- maybe dropping down lower into your rising/expanding abdomen
- maybe dropping down even lower into your root in connection to the chair beneath you
With each inhale, be guided deeper into self.
With each exhale, continue to let go of any distractions that arise.
Got the basic embodiment practice down? Try it out before you continue. Then, return to read more about invoking The Mountain.
Invoking The Mountain
There she stands.
Tall, bare, naked,
exposed.
Standing tall
in all her glory.
Standing, tall,
in all her glory.
Standing,
tall,
she lives on as she withstands
all the elements.
The wind and the rain,
long months of snow.
The sun – that endless raging sun,
that life-giving sun.
Standing,
tall,
she lives on as she withstands
it all.
She lives on as she withstands
it all.
–
I wrote this one as I sat in a Priestessing Circle one day. I admit, I wrote it for a specific mountain. Not the one pictured above, but one that lives far closer to home and is thus given an endless flow of my devotion.
As she lives close to home, I will say that, in her standing, she holds the space for the whole of the town that I call home. She holds this land – the whole of this land. Just as she holds me, my own life as I move and live and breathe upon it all.
As she stands tall.
As she stands grounded,
rooted into this Earth.
As she grounds in as this Earth,
rising up as this Earth.
Holding us all.
There is an aspect of the mountain that is Her ability to hold us all. As she grounds deep into the depths below, and as she rises up, up and up above it all. Meanwhile, we live here in the in-between. Sky above, Earth below. She spans it all, and we live here, being held between it all.
This is life, here. Living within it all.
There is another aspect of The Mountain that has to do with her beckoning, Her calling us on a journey upwards. Up, up, up to Her! An ascension journey: one that beckons us to leave our comfort in The Forest of our lives and to move with our will and our might upwards…
Rise up,
Rise up to meet Her.
What does it take to rise up to Her? To move from this point, grounded in this moment now, and to move forward with skill, with grace, taking each precious step rising up through it all?
The Mountain teaches us this skillful, aligned path forward through life. And, as human beings living in a world with far too many humans having fought destructive battles over who can rise the highest… well, now is damn good time to learn a different way of rising up through it all.
The Mountain teaches a new form of ascension journey
There are countless ways one can ascend through life. We can fight one battle after the next, cutting each other down as we squash our foes and bring through force of will each fiery step!
Or, we can rise with grace. We can allow the light of that which is up ahead to beckon us forward, allowing the light that is present in each moment of it all to light up the path that brings forth the most skill, and the most grace. In this way, it is not that we move forward without effort. Rather, in our efforting, and in our devotion to that light so high up above, we lift ourselves up, as we lift up an entire world alongside us.
Our world has lived for far too long in the overly masculinized narrative of rising up for the sake of one’s own gain. That we fight our way upwards and we conquer as we take steps that become our own right. Our world has lived far too long with this narrative, and in doing so, has caused far too much bloodshed.
Have you looked at the forest we’ve left behind as we’ve conquered these mountains? The scene is dismal. It is heart wrenching. And, it is ready to change.
The Mountain, Herself, teaches us how to be this change.
- How to embody her grounding, her depth of connection to this Earth.
- How to embody her rising, her emergence as she rises up, up through it all. Up into the light. Being the light.
- How to bring forth a higher expression of Life through it all. One that is held in connection to Earth. One that knows that all of this truly is of this Earth.
The Mountain is not a metaphor. And, while she exists outside of you in many physical forms, she also lives within you.
She lives within you. She lives as you. As you willingly embody Her.
Practice
Return to that breathing pattern from up above. Allow it to ground you in connection to self.
From this space, I invite you to ground in deeper. Drop your attention down into the earth beneath you. There is no forcing here, but an allowing as she guides you down… down… down into the earth below. If you’re comfortable doing so, close down your eyes. Invite in imagery to arise. What is here? Dirt? Rock? Roots? Soil?
Allow yourself to be held within this Earth. Then, as you are ready, rise back up fully into self. Breathe those deep breaths into your body. Become grounded fully within self, as you are now grounded, connected deeply with this Earth.
Now, get ready to invoke The Mountain with the audio provided below.
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Join in on a little journey
The following audio is taken from a recent episode of The Mountain Mystic Podcast. You can listen to the full episode to go deeper into The Mountain here.
Join in on a guided portion of the journey below.