This is Benjamin,
And in this session,
We're going to use the power of visualization and our own imagination to access a state of mind that is naturally peaceful,
Expansive,
And tranquil.
To get started,
Please make yourself as comfortable as possible,
Maybe lying down on your bed or even on the floor,
On a blanket,
Whatever it takes to get comfortable.
And when you're ready,
Allow your eyes to close and your body to just melt into the floor or the bed,
Taking a few moments to scan your awareness,
Noticing the sensations throughout your body,
And wherever possible,
Softening and releasing any obvious areas of physical tension.
Now allow your attention to gently come fully into the body following the flow of your breath.
Notice the sense of your body as a whole,
Simply lying there,
Extended and breathing,
Being held by the ground,
Being gently pressed down by gravity,
No effort necessary.
When you feel ready,
In your mind's eye,
Picture the image of a lake.
Maybe it's a lake that you already know well,
That you go to from time to time,
Or maybe it's a lake you've seen in a photograph.
It could even be a lake you simply conjure in your imagination.
It's all fine,
But just see if you can bring that image into a vivid focus in your mind's eye.
Notice how this lake is an extended body of water held within the earth's surface.
Maybe it's fed by a spring or a stream,
And if you watch and observe that lake carefully,
You'll notice that it's always changing,
And yet it's always somehow itself.
It changes as the sun moves across the sky,
And the light is reflected off the water in different ways.
It changes depending on the weather.
Sometimes on very calm days,
The surface might be like glass,
Reflecting virtually everything with great precision,
Like a mirror,
Clouds,
Birds,
The trees that might be surrounding the lake,
The sun as it makes its trek across the sky,
And for that matter,
The moon and the stars at night.
So there are times when the lake is extremely reflective,
And it contains in a certain way everything that comes by or over it.
At other times,
Though,
The surface might be choppy,
And sometimes quite pronounced in the waves,
In which the times,
The light might sparkle off the waves in different ways.
And of course,
The lake changes throughout the seasons.
In the winter,
Depending on its location,
It might actually freeze over.
Through day and night and through the seasons and through the years,
The lake is constantly changing,
But always,
Somehow,
Is its own essential nature.
Now,
See if you can invite that lake to exist within your own body,
Lying here,
So that your body becomes the lake itself.
You can imagine feeling held and embraced as you lie here,
Aware of the many ways in which your own mind is like the surface of the lake,
Sometimes highly reflective,
Sometimes choppy.
Get in touch with the sense of the entirety of the lake,
The full body of water,
Not only the surface,
But also down below.
As you lie here,
Experience the fullness of your own being.
So that even at times when your mind is choppy and upset and turbulent or reactive,
Or you're dealing with difficult things,
You can drop down beneath the surface of your own mind's waves and find a stillness and a calmness that's always there,
Always right here,
And always available to you,
With each moment,
With each breath,
And certainly when you come to lie down in this way.
Lying here under the canopy of your own vast awareness,
Experiencing the moment-to-moment changes in your body and sensations,
Thoughts,
Feelings,
Impulses,
Sounds,
And all the while,
Lake-like,
Just simply lying here,
Watching the play of the weather of your mind and body,
Allowing your awareness to hold it all,
Moment by moment,
Breath by breath,
In your own fullness,
In your own completeness,
Moment by moment.
When you practice like this again and again,
It gets easier and easier to find the peace and stillness beneath the surface of your mind,
Even throughout the day as you face challenges.
See if you can commit to doing this practice a few times this week and pay attention to how it affects your mind,
How it affects your reactions to the world,
Even during the day while you're not practicing.
Now stay here in this pose of reflection,
Resting in your fullness,
Your expansive awareness for as long as you like.
I'll leave the music for a couple more minutes and allow you to close this meditation when you're ready.
