The Ultimate Guide to Crystals & Stones: A Practical Path to Personal Power, Self-Development, and Healing - Uma Silbey 2016

Meditation: Deepening Our Experience of Rock
Introduction

This meditation is very important to do when new to stone and crystal work. For those of you who are new, it will help you to get acquainted with the stones, and for those of us who are more experienced, it will deepen our acquaintanceship. This isn’t a meditation to be done once or twice, but rather a practice that can be done with any stone at any time when we want to harmonize ourselves with them, to hear their “voices,” or to learn about how a stone can assist us. This practice can be done with a single stone or a group of stones.

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Find a surface of rock that is tall enough to lean your entire back and head against. If preferable, find a natural rock cliff face or hill, but if not, find a rock wall (natural stone) or even a rock building. Sit upon the earth with your back against the stone wall or cliff, preferably in a cross-legged, lotus, or half-lotus position.

2. Place two clear, single-terminated quartz crystals in front of you, then cover them with a natural fiber cloth. Next, pick up two ordinary rocks and place one in each hand. Use any two similarly sized rocks that attract you. Focus your attention on the feeling of the two rocks in your hands. Feel their weight, their temperature, their size and texture.

3. Next, sitting upright with your back straight, place your spine and the back of your head upon the rock. If you have to lean slightly backward to do this, that is okay. If you cannot sit upon the earth, sit upright on a stool with your back toward the rock wall, then touch your spine and head to the rock. Rest your hands in your lap, palms upward, and close your eyes.

4. If possible, breathe through your nose. Breathe naturally rather than trying to change the way you are breathing. Focus your attention on your breath, and imagine it moving in and out through your heart chakra in the center of your chest. Relax your body with each exhale. Consciously relax your jaw, shoulders, small of your back, your belly, and the back of your knees.

5. Now, imagine that your breathing shifts downward to flow in and out of a spot about two inches below your belly button. This is your navel center, the energy center associated with, among other things, well-being and vitality.

6. After a few moments, imagine your breathing flowing in through your heart center, then out through your navel center. Then do the opposite, breathing in through your navel center and out through your heart center. Continue to relax as you repeat this back and forth rhythm.

7. Next, shift your awareness, and feel the rock wall against your head and spine. Empty your mind of all other thoughts, just feel the rock. If you find your attention drifting, gently bring your focus back to the feeling of your back and head against the rock.

8. Continue to let your awareness widen as you let go even more, feeling more of the rock against you. Continue to breathe easily. After a time, you may lose all sense of separation between you and the rock. Don’t try to analyze or think about this, just relax into it. You may have realizations and visions come within, but don’t try to hang on to them. Instead, trust that they are now integrated within you to be accessed later.

9. Now, become aware of the regular rocks in your hands, place them in your lap so you will still feel their contact. Then remove the cloth that is covering the clear quartz crystals in front of you. Pick up one crystal in each hand and place them in your palms with the crystals’ tips pointing towards your arms.

10. Shift your attention to the crystals and imagine their energy flowing up your arms, into your head, and down your neck through your heart center, eventually flooding your entire body until you feel like you are crystal itself. If you cannot feel this, imagine feeling it.

11. Now, widen your focus to feel the quartz crystal, the cliff or rock wall, and yourself at the same time, so that you are no longer separate from each other. Don’t think about it. Just relax and let your awareness expand.

12. If after some time you fail to sense this essential unity, shift your awareness to the rock wall against your spine, relaxing until you feel a sense of harmony with it. After a minute or two in this state, change your focus to become aware of the quartz crystals again. Let yourself relax so that you feel a sense of harmony with it. As soon as you feel the connection, shift your attention again to the rock wall and harmonize with that. Continue shifting your attention back and forth more and more rapidly between the stone wall and the crystals, harmonizing yourself with each of them every time. Eventually there won’t seem to be any differences. Your thinking mind will be quiet, your body relaxed, and you will feel entirely merged with the stones. Then, as shamans have expressed through the ages, they will “speak” to you and you will be able to hear their voices. Remain in this state for at least three minutes, although the longer you remain emerged, the more fully integrated it will become into your consciousness.

13. When it seems to be an appropriate amount of time, if you begin to tire, shift your attention back to your breathing, and for a few moments imagine it flowing back and forth between your heart and your belly as before.

14. Next, imagine your breathing moving in and out of your heart center for another few moments. As you do this, begin to feel the earth or the stool beneath you and recall the environment that was around you. When you feel ready, open your eyes. Place the crystals in front of you and cover them with the cloth. (They are now “programmed” with this experience, which if used again, will help recall it to you.)

Variation

Another variation of this meditation is to stand and face forward, resting the front of your body against the stone cliff or wall, spreading your arms to rest palms forward on the rock, hugging the rock. As you do this, with every breath feel as if you are alternately breathing in from the rock and then breathing out into the rock. When you pick up your stones or crystals, hold one in each hand, resting palm and stone against the rock in front of you. Use the same breathing and relaxation pattern.

These meditations are good to use to start your journey with the stones. They have many benefits. Primary among them is that they will help us experience the balance between the crystal or gem, matrix and rock, between earth and sky, and between our own physical and subtle bodies, so that our sense of separation disappears. No matter how long we have worked with crystals and stones, this will increase our understanding and help us to become aware of new fields of energy, empower our stone work, and align us even more completely with the voices of the stones that are calling us to a deeper awakening.

DO THE WORK … AND THEN LET GO.