Then making yourself really nice and comfortable,
Making sure your phone is on silent and there's nothing to disturb you for the next 30 minutes.
And then closing down your eyes when you're ready.
Just taking a nice big sigh out.
Once again if that felt nice,
A big breath in and a deep breath out.
And then just noticing what you've landed with today.
What's true for you in this moment?
The quality of your breath,
The quality of your body,
The state of your heart,
The state of your mind.
And just allowing whatever is there to be there.
Giving up any resistance you might have,
Any thoughts about how something should be another way.
Just really giving it all the space to be exactly as it is.
And that is perfect and right because that is what is happening in this moment.
That is how it is.
Now I'm going to take you on a journey through your mind's eye.
Imagining that you are on a sailing catamaran,
Sailing through the Andaman Sea just off the shore of the islands of Thailand.
It's a beautiful day,
The sky is blue with only a few clouds,
Perfectly shaped,
White,
Fluorescent.
They look so cozy,
So fluffy,
As if you could lie down and rest in one of them like a giant bean bag.
The sun is shining bright,
It's warming your entire body.
You're floating off the side of your boat,
The water is so clear,
You can see the bottom of the ocean.
You're nice and shallow.
You can see the contours of the sand beneath you.
You can even see some fish,
An entire school of fish in fact,
Jumping out of the water,
Perhaps being chased by a predator,
A larger fish in the ocean.
Just a gentle locking,
Just making you nice and relaxed.
You decide to go towards the front of the boat,
Sitting down on the net,
So that you can see the water beneath you and hear the sound of the water as it splashes against the side of the boat.
Then it's here that you decide to tune into your breath,
Noticing the breath coming in through your nose,
Traveling down your throat,
Into your lungs,
Down into your belly,
And back out again.
Lowering the awareness of your breath down into the belly,
Just resting your awareness there,
Feeling your diaphragm pushing down on your belly,
Which forces it out.
Perhaps placing a hand on your belly,
Feeling your belly rising with your inhale and falling with your exhale,
Feeling your whole nervous system de-exciting with this simple act of tuning into our belly breath.
Feeling the belly rising on your inhale and falling on your exhale,
While the chest remains relatively still.
Remembering that the aim of our meditation practice is not to think of nothing,
Not to have a still mind,
It's not to stop the thoughts from arising.
Just to allow the mind to debug itself in a way that it knows how.
We do this by resting our awareness so gently on our anchor.
The anchor right now is this belly breath,
Before it was the images of the boat and the ocean.
And then you allow your awareness to drift away from your anchor,
Onto thoughts,
Onto feelings,
Onto noises,
Whatever it might be.
And then at some point you'll happen to remember where you are and what you're doing,
And that's the exact right moment to come back to your anchor.
So there's nowhere we're trying to get to and there's no state we're trying to achieve.
Just following this simple process in its own time,
At its own pace.
I invite you now to return your breath back to its natural rhythm,
So letting go of that belly breath.
Imagining yourself opening your eyes again and seeing the shore close by as we sail closer and closer into a beautiful bay.
You can see a large stretch of sand,
So white,
So inviting.
And this beach is lined with palm trees,
All filled with coconuts.
So much have fallen down,
Lining the shore.
You can see people walking up and down,
Children playing,
Making sand castles,
Building towers,
All the games you used to play.
And now the boat has been anchored by the captain and you decide it's time for a swim,
Maybe even a snorkel.
So you gather your snorkel,
Your fins,
And then when you're ready,
Jumping off the boat into the shallow turquoise water.
And as you dip your head into the ocean,
Your eyes are met with a school of yellow fish.
Hundreds of fish surround you,
The most you have ever seen at one time.
Mesmerized,
Just bathed in the brilliance and magnificence of nature.
Now that being of fish have passed you,
You carry on swimming and enter into a coral reef with beautiful,
Brightly colored coral.
All different textures,
Some hard and rough,
Others soft,
Slimy looking.
And you observe as some small fish swim in to the coral,
Almost as if they are cleaning themselves.
On the bottom of the ocean's floor,
You see starfish.
You see slug looking fish stuck to the bottom,
Moving with the currents.
And you see squid swimming past,
Jellyfish looking,
Moving forward,
Backwards,
Changing color Based on what it's near,
So intelligent how it camouflages itself into the coral.
Without even realizing,
You find yourself at the shore.
And so,
You walk out of the ocean,
Remove your fins and snorkel,
And feel your feet sinking into the sand.
The sand is soft,
You can feel the grain seeping between your toes.
And looking behind,
You see what your footprints dissolving with each step.
And then deciding to sit down,
And feel the ocean,
The waves,
Coming in and washing back out.
Washing in,
Washing out.
And here you decide to tune in to your breath once more.
This time,
Just feeling your body breathing itself.
There's nothing you have to do.
Just feeling your breath entering and leaving your body,
In its own time,
At its own pace.
You might feel your breath at your nose or your throat,
You might feel it at your chest,
Or back down in your belly.
Wherever it lands for you.
You are not your thoughts,
Your thoughts are passing through you.
And you are not your emotions,
Your emotions too are passing through you.
You simply are.
And I invite you now to let go of your breath.
Imagining yourself opening your eyes once again.
Walking back into the ocean.
Swimming past all of those fish once again.
Before arriving at your boat.
Walking up the steps.
Starting to notice your body once again.
As you let go of this beautiful visual.
And come back into the room that you're in.
Wiggling your fingers,
Wiggling your toes.
Stretching out.
Twisting your spine and your neck.
Just noticing how you're feeling,
A little more calm,
A little more centered.
Setting your intention to carry these feelings with you throughout the rest of your entire day.
Really acknowledging yourself for taking this time to meditate,
To rest,
To rejuvenate.
And promising that you'll be back again soon to connect with yourself so deeply.
Thank you for joining me this evening.
Have a lovely rest of your night.
