Breathe

Transformation meditation
By Maria Andrade

Begin standing. Palms together. Hands at heart center. Inhale deeply. Exhale completely. Repeat.

Inhale, extend your arms up to tall mountain. Exhale, wrap your arms around your body as if you are giving yourself a big hug.

Imagine the transformation of water. Our bodies are made of 60 percent water. Just like water, our bodies can go through amazing transformations.

Eyes closed, squeeze your arms into your midline. Imagine you are water. Go to a very, very cold place. Imagine the freezer, snow or a huge glacier in the arctic. You are ice. Squeeze your body together, tightening your face. Squeeze your eyes, your jaw, your fingers, your legs. Ice is hard and cold and has a very strong shape. Frozen water molecules move slowly and close together.

Squeeze your body together, tightening and freezing into this dense state. Inhale and exhale life into this important state.

It is a sunny day. The warm sun shines on your head first. Keeping your eyes closed, see the brightness and feel the warming power of the sun shining down. Very slowly, the warmth begins to melt the ice. You begin to melt. Inhale. Exhale.

One body part at a time begins to soften with the transforming energy of heat. Soften your eyes, your ears, your jaw. As you soften, imagine water molecules slowly moving apart and beginning to separate. Melting, you begin to slowly sink. With each transformative breath, you melt a little more.

Sink into the ground, slowly and softly as you melt. Transformation is gradual. Imagine your shoulders melting, lower your arms down by your sides. Feel your hips softening until finally your knees bend. Melt further into a watery puddle.

Water is a universal solvent and has no shape. Be a puddle of water. Breathe. Relax. Enjoy the transformation. Melt until you are a shapeless, fluid puddle on the floor or ground.

Sink deeper as the sun continues to shine upon you. Your puddle begins to evaporate. Breathe. Relax. Stay with this soft breath for a few more minutes.

Feel the lightness, the energy, as your puddle begins to evaporate. You become a gaseous state and part of this vast atmosphere. You are light. Float up into the clouds. Breathe. Just as water can move through different states, so can you. From anger to gratitude. From sadness to calm. From open to closed. From fear to joy. Continue to breathe.

Feel a situation in your life that you would like to transform. Look deeply within yourself and see yourself making that leap. Maybe you need to be more like ice, firm and strong. Maybe you need to be more like water, fluid and flexible, or perhaps more like a gaseous molecule, light and airy floating high to see the world below. Whatever the state and wherever you are, you have the energy to transform. When you are ready, come to a comfortable seat. Open your eyes and notice how you feel.

Maria Andrade is the CEO and director of training for ABC Breathe. Learn more at ABCBreathe.org, or by contacting her at 478-361-7246 or maria@abcbreathe.org.