Leaves On A Stream

Thoughts have a powerful effect on how we feel and how we behave. In this practice, you will learn how to observe your thoughts. You will watch, label, and let go of cognitions. By defusing from our thoughts, we are able to move into the present moment and back into our lives.

Transcript

This exercise is called Leaves on a Stream and it's one of the ways we learn to observe our thoughts.

Go ahead and sit in a comfortable position.

Either close your eyes or rest them gently on a fixed spot in the room.

Surprised yourself sitting beside a gently flowing stream with leaves floating along the surface of the water.

For the next few minutes,

Take each thought that enters your mind and place it on a leaf.

Let it float by.

Do this with each thought,

Pleasurable,

Painful or neutral.

Even if you have joyous or enthusiastic thoughts,

Place them on a leaf and let them float by.

If your thoughts momentarily stop,

Continue to watch the stream.

Sooner or later,

Your thoughts will start up again.

Allow the stream to flow at its own pace.

Don't try to speed it up and rush your thoughts along.

You're not trying to rush the leaves along or get rid of your thoughts.

Rather you are allowing them to come and go at their own pace.

If your mind says,

This is dumb,

I'm bored or I'm not doing this right,

Place those thoughts on leaves too and let them pass.

If a leaf gets stuck,

Allow it to hang around until it's ready to float by.

If the thought comes up again,

Watch it float by another time.

If a difficult or painful feeling arises,

Simply acknowledge it.

Say to yourself,

I notice myself having a feeling of boredom,

Impatience,

Frustration.

Place those thoughts on leaves and allow them to float along.

From time to time,

Your thoughts may hook you and distract you from being fully present in this exercise.

This is normal.

As soon as you realize that you have become sidetracked,

Gently bring your attention back to the visualization exercise.

Now,

Allow your body's sensations to come back into the room,

Noticing your feet on the floor.

Take a deep breath.

Gently open your eyes.

Reviews

Interesting. Will try more often

Good practice, helps you settle down and filter your thoughts. Thank you.

Great for a really fast chill out of frustrated and you have tots. This is fast and effective and kids about 10 and up could do too or younger even! Really simple! Thanks 🙏🏽

Your words are perfection made reverberation thank you so much.

Perfect for me this morning, I’ll do this again later. Thank you. ❤️

Really useful and unexpectedly easy to do thank you

Brief, but VERY EFFECTIVE❣️🙏🏻💕

Thank you ...Namaste

Forget about clouds, it’s about leaves on a stream! Super smart, this one will stick with me. I need to throw in some empty row boats for when I had to send off a load of thoughts🚣🏽‍♀️☺️

Belinda has a very soothing voice! This exercise is wonderful for being aware of your thoughts and to calm the mind. Thanks Belinda!

Very well done! Quite simple, but so effective! It’s been a while since I’ve been able to focus like this and not have my mind wander! Thank you!

Lovely voice and message. I hope you record more. Breathing and sleep mediations would be great too.

I’ll look forward to hearing it. Please let me know when you record it if you can. Thanks!

Thank you for sharing Belinda, that was a great technique to bring myself to the present moment 👍👏😀

Really liked the imagery. Found it quite helpful. Very calming voice (End seemed abrupt though) 😌

Short and effective. At first my stream was dark and I couldn’t see the leaves. I tried recalling several streams I’ve seen and the water lightened up a little with a few images of sunlight shining on the leaves. The intermittent reminders/advice helped with staying focused on my thoughts and the process. I will try it again!
Thank you, Namaste 🙏

Nice visual and very calming. Thank you.

I love how you really made us focus! No music made me have lots of thoughts come up for me and I kept putting them on the leaves and letting them go. It was really great because I could actually feel myself being present and not multitasking like I usually am!!!!! Thank you so so so much!! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️ your voice is very soothing as well.

Simple and effective 💜

I loved doing this exercice ! Simple, short and very effective. Thank you 🙏🏻