The Jaguar

This meditation story takes approximately five minutes to slowly read aloud.

Relaxation Exercise

You are going to take a meditation journey into the world of a jaguar, the powerful predator of the South American rainforest.

Before you start your journey, make sure you are nice and comfy, and close your eyes.

Take a deep slow breath in through the nose and down to your tummy. Feel if you can inflate your tummy like a balloon but don’t push, now breathe out through the mouth slowly.

Do this three times nice and slowly. Now be very still and see if you can feel or hear your heart beat.

Stretch your arms down by your sides and your fingers out as far as you can, hold then let them go. Feel them relax and go floppy.

Take another deep slow breath in through the nose and into your tummy, hold for one two three and release it out through your mouth.

Now stretch your legs, hold them and feel the muscles lengthen, then relax.

Slowly move your head from side to side, up and down, and then take a deep breath down to your tummy, hold for one, two, three then breathe out for one, two, three, four.

Now your body is relaxed and comfortable.

Imagine you are walking through a leafy forest on a hot day.

There is no clear path so you are pushing branches out of your way and stepping over undergrowth.

The branches are thicker and thicker and you push through and then it seems that the trees and plants look completely different.

You find yourself standing in a deep green rainforest surrounded by enormous trees and plants, so thick you can’t see the sky.

The air is thick and humid, like breathing through a hot wet towel. The rainforest is teeming with life, millions of different plants and animals live here, but you are its most powerful predator, the jaguar.

Your body is now that of a big cat, a powerful jaguar. You are muscular and strong, with a long tail and a sleek spotted coat that allows you to stalk through the vegetation unseen.

It is breaking dawn, which is your favourite time to hunt before it is too hot.

Your powerful bite can pierce the skin or shell of most animals, but recently you have feasted on capybara and are not hungry right now.

You have been hunting quite far from your favourite spot to rest, so you are travelling back there now.

You meander through the lush green vegetation, close to the ground, enjoying the powerful movements of your low slung body.

Creatures scurry away through the greenery as you make your way through the rainforest.

Birds call loudly high above, and huge flowers hum with life – insects and hummingbirds, bright blue morphos butterflies and tiny jewel coloured frogs.

You walk slowly down the forest path towards the river and pause at the edge of the clearing to watch the river bank.

You see a bright orange poison dart frog hop along a branch in front of you, and a large black caiman lurk silently half submerged in the water.

Large swallow-tailed butterflies dance past you as they flutter between fragrant orchids and pasion-flowers. Tiny bright hummingbirds hover over flowers to dip their long beaks and drink the nectar.

You pad stealthily along the river bank, startling a capybara who freezes then runs. Your urge to chase the prey is quietened by your recent meal.

Above you, golden lion tamarin monkeys jump from branch to branch of the wimba trees, emerging from their tree holes and scampering through the canopy. They call a loud warning to each other as they notice you weaving through the trees below.

The river is slow moving, wide and inviting. You see a huge green iguana jump into the water from a high branch to escape a predator in the canopy. It swims steadily away to a shady bank.

You take a drink, lapping the cool water with your tongue. Then you leap into the cool water of the Amazon river, your powerful muscles propel you smoothly across to the other side.

You are an expert swimmer and spend many of your active hours here, hunting and gliding through the water. An enormous green anaconda slithers through the long grasses at the river edge.

A flock of macaws fly overhead, screeching as they land on a tree laden with brazil nuts. Their red and blue plumage is bright against the sky.

You head towards the trees where you climb high until you have found the perfect shady branch on which to lie.

You stretch your long lithe body, hanging your legs over the side, and rest your head to take a long nap as the sun rises higher and the rainforest becomes hotter.

You will rest here safely and contentedly until the sun has passed it’s peak and starts to sink lower again. Then you will begin your hunt.