The Hermit in the Tower As you close your physical eyes, begin to surrender your body fully to gravity. Release all the tension from your forehead and from between your brows. Loosen your jaw and tongue. Relax your shoulders away from your ears. Your chest and core are soft. Hips are grounded and at ease. Your arms and legs are heavy completely relaxed. Observe your mind. Begin to release your attachment to whatever is running through it. Allow it to fade to black. Now as you open your mind's eye, you find yourself sitting at a bay window, looking out over an endless ocean. You're very high up in a tower located on a small, elevated island. This side is flushed right up against the precipice of a sheer cliff. One of the bay windows is open and you poke your head out. Hundreds of feet below you see violent waves crashing against the cliff side. The wind is strong, but instead of pushing you back in, it feels as though it is working to suck you out. You retract your head quickly in response, sitting back, and look up at the sky. There's been an immense storm system drawing closer all day, and it is almost upon you now. The dark sky is dense with angry looking cumulonimbus clouds. Suddenly, the sky flashes white. A few moments later, you hear the loud crack. The tower rumbles disconcertingly. You've been locked away for a long time in isolation. This tower contains no mirrors, only windows, and you have not even seen yourself clearly in a long time. The books in the library have saved your sanity thankfully, the characters contained in their pages have been your only company for years. You keep your favorites precariously stacked close by on a little table in your room. Their pages and spines are so worn and weathered from use that many have fallen apart. You're delicate with them now, keeping them, and yourself, together as best you can. Today's meal sits on a small plate on the top of your books barely touched. Your food mysteriously appears in the kitchen every day, but you gave up trying to intercept whoever delivers it many years ago. One time, you even camped out in the large kitchen pantry for days, attempting to catch the deliverer. However, you only ended up starving. You learn the hard way that your food will only show up once you've left the kitchen quarters. The rain reaches the tower now. At first it's just a gentle pitter-patter, but within a few moments it picks up an intensity. You sit up and hastily close the open window. Another lightning bolt strikes down on the turbulent ocean. The booming thunder reaches you almost with no delay. More lightning sets the clouds a glow high above. Every bolt reverberates through you in the tower, striking fear in your heart. This is the strongest storm system you have ever witnessed, and you are trapped. You begin to focus on your breathing. Slowly, you take a deep inhalation through your nose, filling from the bottom of your diaphragm all the way to the top of your collarbones. And slowly, you let it out through your mouth. You take several more breaths just like that until a sense of calm floods you once again. Your fingers find the small, clear prism that's resting on your chest. It's attached to a necklace that you've had on since you awoke alone in this tower. You don't know why you have it or where it came from. You play with it often, admiring its smooth sides and the way it refracts and disperses white light, revealing the rainbow. It has always brought you a sense of peace. The ocean outside is rising. The waves have become more aggressive. With your head pressed up against the window, you look down once again. And with a startle, you notice that the water is much higher up the cliff face. If it continues to rise, the waves will be crashing against the base of this old tower in no time. In all the years you've been here, the ocean has never searched this high up before. Visibility becomes easier as the rain continues to increase in intensity. The wind howls outside and wails and whistles eerily on the inside as it sneaks through the cracks in the grout and mortar keeping the brick walls together. Suddenly, the rain turns to hail and it is pounding against the bay windows. You back away apprehensively and just in time. A giant hailstone comes smashing through and all the windows shatter. You lift your arms up to shield your face as you're pelted with flying glass, hail and wind. You retreat all the way to the bedroom door, bracing yourself against its frame. Moments later, there's a deafening crack from above and the entire structure shakes. Lightning has struck the tower. You remember your breathing, taking several rounds of deep, even inhalations and exhalations. The smell of smoke reaches you first and you know that the tower is now on fire. With rising water below and flames above you, you look back to the broken bay windows. The tower begins to rock violently and doesn't stop and you know it's beginning to come down. You feel heat on your chest and your hand grabs the prism once again. It's hot to the touch. As your intuition whispers to you to escape through the broken windows, a small opening in the clouds shoots a ray of light in. Though everything is still chaotic around you, inside the sunbeam, motion seems to cease. Freezing time. Before you can think too hard about it you're running. You jump out of the window, arms and legs outstretched in a belly flop formation. And then, something incredible happens. Your prism catches the sunlight, but instead of dispersing it, a gorgeous rainbow portal appears below you. You fall straight through it before you can reach the water. All is black. And you realize your eyes are closed. You're laying down. You reach for the prism, but it's gone. Before you open your eyes, you hear a beautiful voice coming from the foot of your bed. It's a mantra you realize. And it is being sung to you in a loop. Oh, back and say, back and say, Maha back and say, back and say, Ranza, San Mungate, Soha. Your eyes flutter open, and you see him at the foot of your bed. He's stunning, dark blue and adorned in golden robes. His black hair is kept in a neat bun at the top of his head. With his left hand, he holds a bowl of healing nectar and with his right a medicine plant. He looks back at you with overwhelming love. A light blue glow is pouring out of him and you realize that you are a light with it too. A sense of wonder and strength fills you completely. And then, the light slowly begins to fade, as does the beautiful lapis lazuli man. Suddenly, someone gasp beside you, snapping you back to the present. The next moment, there are hands on you and several heads hovering above you. As the smiling, crying faces come into focus, you start to remember the accident. You must have been in a coma for a long time. And yet, your body doesn't feel weak at all. He healed you fully. As multiple sets of arms wrap around you, you feel stronger and lighter than you ever have, as if a great weight has been lifted. Finally, you're awake, complete, and filled with peace and joy. Slowly, begin to tune into your physical body. Draw a little more awareness to your breath as you begin to wiggle your fingers and toes. Start rolling out your wrists and ankles. On your next inhalation, extend your arms up overhead, maybe hooking a wrist. Take a full body stretch like you're just waking up. Alternate between flexing the heels and pointing the toes. On your next exhalation, curl into a ball, give yourself a little hug, maybe rocking side to side. Slowly, drop to whichever side is calling to you. Using your arm as a cushion, bring your knees in as closest feels good, flexing into your back. Take several deep and even mindful breaths right here. From here, it's your choice. Stay down resting or come up to seated. Thank you for your time and participation. Peace and love.