Guided visualization

 

Get very comfortable.

Stare at the candle for a little while, then close your eyes.

I’m going to guide you on a journey that will be completely in your imagination. You need your eyes closed to help you see it. Don’t worry if you can’t see it all, let yourself relax and see what you can….

 

We are traveling far away, half way around the world.

Imagine a long plane ride… it lands and you are in India… it is close to the equator and a very hot place… the people you see are wearing cool, loose, cotton clothing in many bright colors… The city is crowded and noisy… horns honk and food sellers shout….there are cows walking in the streets, bicycles and motorcycles weave in between the cars… You turn a corner and look! There are monkeys playing near a beautiful old temple….

Turning another corner you see a woman bowing and bringing a plate of food and flowers to put before a shining statue…

There is so much to see here, you could stay a long time, but we have a long

Journey ahead…

 

Now imagine that you can float up above that city.

The noise dies away as you leave it behind.

You look down over farms, small towns and villages.

The land is very green… rivers of all sizes bring water to the fields,

You are traveling north now. The weather is just a tiny bit cooler.

You feel the soft breeze against your face..

The land is getting just a little bit higher…

Here where there are fewer people you see a family of elephants walking through the tall grass…

now in the thick jungle you see the orange and black

stripes of a tiger….. prowling for food.

 

As you drift farther north you see bushes thick with big pink and white flowers …they are rhododendrons and they show you are coming into cooler country….

The land is higher now, rising steadily. Now we see the beautiful, misty foothills that lead to the highest mountains in the world.

 

You look down and see a river looping and shining through the valley between lush green hills …. There are green terraces like huge steps up the hillsides. Villages are small and scattered. If you look closely you can see someone leading a water buffalo out to the field.. The air is cool…

 

Look up ahead ..the valley is getting squeezed, the hills are steeper…

There are goats grazing down below, and in the distance you see the white peaks of really high mountains

 

You are going deeper and deeper into those mountains.. The valleys are very steep now., Where there are rivers they run fast and hard and the water is very cold. In fact you are beginning to feel the cold..

We are still quite close to the equator (closer than Atlanta is) but we are going higher up and the air is chilly…

 

The villages we see are smaller and smaller, you look down and see a child leading a yak, and then a little line of brown furry yaks carrying bags and bundles up a narrow trail that looks like it’s been drawn on the rocky side of the mountain… far below the stream is racing in the valley, but you are going up higher and higher with the yaks …you come to patches of snow..

Far ahead you see where the mountain top is white with glaciers…

 

You go on, following the thin, winding trail,

There beside the path you see piles of stones with symbols painted on them.

They are mani stones – holding prayers for your safe journey,

Soon the trees you see are smaller and smaller, torn and faded flags fly from them – they are prayer flags sending prayers to heaven with every flap…

 

Now it is too cold for trees, there are only tiny flowers and mosses in the cracks between rocks….you are coming to the tallest mountains of all…

The peaks of the high Himalayas…the home of the snow… where there are only glaciers and wind and the old, old gods of the mountains…

 

It is very very cold now, and you are so high that it is hard to breathe….

Ahead of you there are more and more mountains. Each one seems taller than the one before….

 

The sun is beginning to set and it turns the snow almost pink, almost gold.

The wind comes up and blows snow off the very top of the tallest mountain you can see … it looks like the mountain is wearing a scarf…

 

You are magically protected just long enough to float above that mountain for a moment. You turn and look. There are mountains as far as you can see and everyone is below you. You are on top of the world!

 

You reach down and pick something up – a gift of the mountain. It is a rock,

But when you look closely you see that it is a fossil of a seashell. What is a seashell doing all the way up here? Tuck it into your hand, take one last look around and begin the journey back.

 

 

Now slowly float back past the little mountain villages…

 

The cool green foothills…

 

the warm green fields ….

 

Past the hot, hot cities…

 

Float back to right now to this classroom.

 

And open your eyes.