Guided Practice

🌱 "Bamboo Strength Meditation"

10-Minute Guided Practice

Opening (1 min):

“Sit down and root yourself as comfortably as you can.” Bend your gaze or close your eyes. Notice the under beneath you, the unshakable ground that bears you, as it bears trees and mountains. …I take three deep breaths… in… and out…”

Visualization (4 min):

Imagine yourself as a young bamboo shoot in a sun dappled forest that is busy growing." Feel your slender form sunk deep in rich soil. Your leaves flutter lightly as a breeze stirs.

Now a stronger wind arrives. You cannot fight and so you aren’t, you swaying back and forth… convincing yourself you are light, flexible. Not against you, each gust moves through you.

And there, nearby, is the oak – stiff, implacable. You walk and don’t worry, while the storm grows fierce, hear its trunk crack under strain…

Pause

Be the bamboo now. What would happen if you were gentler flexible in your life?"*

Body Scan (3 min):

*"Push your attention on to your jaw… shoulders… hands." Are they oak-tense or bamboo-soft? Invite them to exhale with each bamboo like, not collapsing, but wisely adaptable.

Now to your heart and mind. Visualize worries as passing winds. ‘I bend but don’t break”’ instead of bracing, practice whispering that instead. *

Closing (2 min):

“When we leave, feel returning to the earth, drawing out stability from the roots, shining through your ‘stem’.” True strength always wears the appearance of softness.

Stay open and when ready gently open your eyes carrying this bamboo wisdom into your day."*