Everybody loves Savasana so why does no one lie down to meditate?

Lying on my back, my body pools at glacier speeds into the floor. I’m met with the unwavering presence of the Earth beneath me—solid, constant, unmoving.

Traditionally, meditation is done sitting upright, and that’s as it should be. But with chronic health conditions, I spent a long time meditating lying down on the ground.

During this period, I realised the importance of the Earth—not just in my meditation, but as a presence in my life.

Co-regulation

In therapy circles, you’ll hear people talk about ‘co-regulation.’ When you’re dysregulated, being supported by someone well-regulated helps you come back to yourself. That’s essentially what a therapist is -an emotionally regulated human amidst a tumultuous backdrop.

I’m here to tell you that the Earth makes an amazing co-regulator. It’s simply a matter of adjusting to scale.

A Different Pace of Life

Relative to the earth, human timescales go past in the blink of an eye. We go from child, to parent of a child, and then grandparent, in the time it takes a mountain to yawn.

This is what makes the earth such a stable force, but it’s also why we have trouble seeing her as ‘alive’ in the same way we see ourselves as alive.

This pace of ours can make it hard to translate into ‘presence,’ but the Earth is more present to you than you are to yourself.

If only we make more space in our day to be with the earth. Not in your head standing on top of the earth. But sharing the present moment together.

A Great Stillness

And the more we become present to the Earth, the more we move from agitation to stillness. The Earth is much, much stiller than our racing minds.

The list of things that have left me is long. But the Earth has always remained. And for most of my life, I hadn’t even noticed Her.

The ground was simply that place outside my front door that I moved over to get from A to B.

Earth Meditation

Returning to the Earth is simple.

Feel your feet on the ground.

If you’re lying down, bend your knees, plant your feet, and let the weight lift off your lower back.

Notice the gentle pressure on the back of your head—whether on a pillow or even a book.

Feel your back ribs spreading into the floor.

Distraction is meditation. You’re not doing it wrong. It’s part of the process. Just keep coming back to your feet on the floor.

Imagine you’re settling into 50 years of this.

There’s no rush.

You have a lifetime to get to know each other.