Waves Of Impermanence

"This is a wave, I am the ocean, I am strong enough to hold wave after wave." Our emotions, our thoughts, bodies, sensations, even our lives are all waves in the vast ocean of experience in the world. Use this chant and meditation to embed this insight. We start out with a simple song that you can use in your life for practicing with impermanence and connecting to the eternal whole. Then we move into a reflection of what the always changing, always arising and passing away looks like in the day to day. Then a meditation practice for individually realizing the insight of impermanence, and closing with a quick recap of the song "This is a wave".

Song written by Sarina Partridge.

Transcript

Thank you for being here,

Showing up to your practice.

Today I want to share a bit about impermanence.

And I want to share that in the form of a song.

This song was written by Serena Partridge.

And it goes like this.

Feel free to sing along.

This is a wave.

This is a wave.

I am the ocean.

I am the ocean.

This is a wave.

This is a wave.

I am the ocean.

I am the ocean.

This is a wave.

This is a wave.

Wave after wave.

This is a wave.

This is a wave.

I am the old wave after wave.

This makes me think about how our experiences,

Be they joyful or full of grief,

And even our lives,

Are all just waves.

How they arise and how they pass away.

That we don't own anything.

We don't even own our thoughts,

Our feelings,

Even these bodies.

We certainly don't own our homes or our possessions or our children.

They're all just waves in the vast ocean of life.

But that doesn't bring me to despair.

That is a beautiful reminder to love and to cherish this precious present moment.

Let's practice.

Settle into your seat.

Get comfortable.

Let's take a long,

Slow,

Deep breath in.

And gently release that breath back to the ocean.

Breathe in.

And breathe out.

Like waves upon the shore.

Always there,

But always changing.

Not even the breath is permanent.

Now following the breath at your own pace.

Internally,

Say to yourself on the inhale,

This is a wave.

And on the exhale,

I am the ocean.

This is a wave.

Exhale,

I am the ocean.

Naturally,

Thoughts will occur.

You may hear sounds in your general vicinity.

You may experience physical sensations.

Whenever you notice that you're paying attention to those thoughts,

Sounds,

Or physical sensations,

Just gently say to yourself,

This is a wave.

I am the ocean.

And continue to breathe in.

And we'll practice like this for a while.

And I'll watch the time,

So you don't need to worry.

When you hear my voice,

Just sit with your eyes closed.

I am strong enough to hold wave after wave.

You can let go of the mantra now.

Maybe we'll sing a little more.

This is a wave.

I am the ocean.

This is a wave.

I am the ocean.

This fear is a wave.

I am the ocean.

This grief is a wave.

This change is a wave.

I am strong enough to hold wave after wave.