Guided, one image, one question, no effort required. Music underneath
About 15 minutes with Steven Webb's calm voice.
A patch of winter earth, bare and cold for a long time. Then one green shoot, barely visible, that did not ask anyone's permission. You do not dig up a bulb to check whether it is growing. You sit nearby and trust that something is happening underneath, and that is the entire practice.
Who this is for
Something in you went quiet a while back. Not broken, just dormant. Energy, curiosity, tenderness, creativity, hope. Something that used to be alive and has been asleep for a bit.
This is not about getting it back on a schedule. It is about noticing it stir.
What happens in this meditation
We soften the body and settle on the breath, including the small gap between the in and the out where nothing at all is happening.
Then one question, and you let it arrive rather than answering it. Is there something in you that has been dormant? Whatever comes, or nothing, both are fine.
Then a patch of winter earth, bare and cold for a long time, and one green shoot pushing through. It did not ask anybody's permission and it did not wait until it was ready.
How to get the most from it
Fifteen minutes, and there is genuinely nothing to work at here. Trying makes this one worse.
You would not dig up a bulb to check whether it was growing. Sit nearby and trust that something is happening underneath. That is the whole instruction.
It goes with the Stillness in the Storms episode What Rises When You Stop Pushing, though you do not need to hear that first.
Questions people ask
Nothing came up when you asked the question. Have I wasted it?
No. Nothing coming up is a common answer and often an honest one. The asking is what does the work.
Is this only a spring meditation?
It was recorded around Easter and the imagery is spring, but the thing underneath it is not seasonal. Use it in November if November is when you need it.
What if I am nowhere near ready to feel renewed?
Then do not force it, and do not let this one push you. Being still in the ground is not a failure. Warmth reaching the soil is enough for now.
The transcript
Read alongIt follows the audio. Press any line to jump there.
I'm Steven Webb and welcome to What Arises. This meditation is a companion to today's episode on
stillness In the storms, where we talked about renewal, about the things that come back to us in life when
we stop trying to force them.
Today, we're going to just sit with that, gently, no effort required. You don't have to listen to the podcast
to benefit from this meditation. So just find a comfortable place to sit, whether you're lying down or sitting.
Whatever your body is asking for. And when you're ready, let your eyes close or just soften your gaze,
letting them rest just a few feet in front of you. No focus. Just rest.
And let's begin where we always start with the body.
Feel the weight of yourself wherever you're resting the chair, the bed or the floor
Feel the surface holding you. You
don't have to adjust anything.
You don't have to sit up straighter or relax all your shoulders. You don't have to do anything that you
think meditation requires. Just
feel yourself be held.
And now gently just let the body begin to soften.
Start with the face, the
muscles around the eyes, your
jaw. Notice if it's clenched at all. Just let it loosen
down through the neck
the shoulders let the shoulders drop
They've been carrying things all week.
They can put them down for a few minutes
down through your chest, the belly, let your belly be soft. Let it rise and fall without you
managing it
down through your hips, your legs, and your feet.
Just a gentle wave of permission moving through the whole body. You
can hold it all again later. For now, just let it all go
And now just notice your breathing. You
don't need to change it. Your body already knows exactly how to breathe. It's
been doing it beautifully without your help since the moment you arrived.
Just notice the rhythm, the
in the
out,
The tiny pause between them
a little gap where nothing is happening at all.
rest your attention wherever you feel the breath most clearly could
be the nose, the chest, the belly, and
just stay there with it,
like sitting by river watching it flow
You're not the river. You're
not trying to change the river. You're just here watching
Now I want you to try something gently. You don't have to work at this. Just let the question arrive
and see what happens. Is
there something in you that's been dormant,
not something wrong, not a problem, just something that went quiet, something that used to be alive in
