Find a relaxed,
Comfortable position.
You can sit on the ground with your legs crossed,
Or in a chair,
And you can even lie down.
Let yourself be in a safe,
Grounded position that will allow you to stay conscious and yet relaxed.
Close your eyes and let yourself arrive,
Where you can let your mind and body relax into being.
Water is the element of flow and reflection that gives way to inner and outer balance.
So let yourself be balanced in your posture,
Making it easier for you to drop anchor into the deep,
Safe waters of your being.
As you notice the sensations of the space around you,
Let what you hear,
What you notice on your skin,
What you feel beneath your body,
Let these sensations help you to lean inward into this moment and this moment,
Stringing them together in sustained presence.
We'll draw upon a balancing breathing pattern now,
Alternating nostrils in a practice called Nadi Shodhana.
Raise your right hand with your palm facing you.
Fold your first finger and middle finger down so that your thumb and ring finger remain extended.
Now gently plug your right nostril with your thumb and take a long,
Slow breath in through your left nostril.
Now release your thumb and gently plug your left nostril with your ring finger,
Slowly exhaling now through your right nostril.
Leave your right nostril open and breathe in through it again now.
Now switch fingers,
Opening the left nostril to exhale once again,
Completing the breath.
Now repeat,
Inhaling through your left.
Switch fingers and nostrils,
Exhale through your right.
Now breathe in again through your right.
Switch and breathe out through your left.
Continue this breathing pattern on your own now.
In through the left,
Out through the right,
Then in through the right and back out through the left.
Now release your left nostril,
Exhale through your right.
Breathing like this,
You balance the hemispheres of your brain.
You balance your nervous system and you balance the moon and sun energies of your subtle body.
Now release your left nostril,
Exhale through your right.
Breathing out through your left nostril,
Exhale through your right.
After you complete your current breathing cycle,
Exhaling completely out of your left nostril,
Let your breathing return to normal and let your hands relax into your lap one inside the other.
You can let your left hand receive your right or your right hand receive your left.
Let both palms face up and let the tips of your thumbs gently touch,
Coming together in dhyana mudra.
The mudra of balance.
Now let your breathing be normal and relaxed and allow the intelligence of your body to resume control so that your awareness and attention are free in the present.
As your subtle body relaxes into this new equilibrium,
You can begin to let your mind drift.
You can let yourself drift into the safe,
Nurturing space before you know,
Where the image of a lake slowly begins to come into focus.
As the lake before you begins to take form,
Notice the details,
Notice its beauty.
Notice the clarity and the color of the water,
The still reflective clarity of the water surface and the colors that line the bottom.
Let the basin of the lake itself come into your awareness and the way the earth cradles and holds the water,
The way that the water fills the form beneath it.
Notice the way the land slopes up out of the water into hills or mountains and the way plants and trees grow nearby.
Listen to the sounds and smell and taste the nature of life around you as you sink into this image of elemental water before you.
Now slowly begin to move toward the water.
The temperature is perfectly welcoming,
Not too warm,
Not too cool as you place one foot into the water and then the other.
There's almost no change for the water matches the temperature of your body,
Allowing you to ease into this image of the lake.
And now with every step you take into the water,
Letting it gently rise up your ankles,
Up to your calves.
One step after slow inching step,
Begin to feel yourself merge with the lake and with the scene itself.
Let yourself begin to dissolve into the element of water,
Allowing the essence of flow and reflection and balance to permeate your mind and body.
As you become the lake before you,
Let yourself feel the safe,
Sturdy embrace of the earth around you.
Perhaps the water begins to ripple as the winds of your thoughts blow by.
And this is OK,
Because your thoughts are as fleeting as the wind.
Yet you,
The water,
With deep anchor and patient waiting,
You let your ripples return to the still,
Steady,
Glass-like reflection.
In those moments where your surface is smooth and undisturbed,
You reflect the light of the sun and the sky overhead.
The blue of the sky,
The green of the life around you,
Is reflected in your core.
Merely by being,
You nurture and reflect life.
Let your awareness expand to the vast perimeter of your shores,
Feeling the way your waters lap at the beaches and cliffs that surround you.
Begin to perceive the ways that rivers and rain and water flow into your basin,
Just as the river of your life brings a flow of experience into your awareness.
As you take stock of the waters that flow into your lake,
Perhaps you notice some that are damned and clogged.
Perhaps some flow quickly,
As some have dried up entirely.
Is this for good reason?
Is it time to open the flow?
Is it time to just let things be?
Perhaps you can also begin to see the ways that your water flows out,
Becoming rain or rivers again,
Eventually bringing you to the vast connection of the ocean.
Here,
Too,
You can perceive the outlets of giving,
The flow of expression and emotion in your life.
Are there dry riverbeds or retention walls that hold?
Is there a flow that spills outward into flood?
Does your water run clear?
By becoming the lake,
You become the connected essence of water everywhere.
The rivers flowing into your being bring you a constant supply of refreshing new energy that becomes the dynamic cycle of life within and around you.
Like an exhale,
Water flows out of you in turn,
Connecting you with even greater cycles of life and connection and love.
Perhaps you even feel this connection within your body,
Within this water.
Allow what moves through,
Breathing it in.
And breathing it out,
Letting it flow.
As night becomes day and day becomes night,
The cycles of life around you continue.
And as your surface ebbs and flows between ripples and calm,
You flow with it all,
Reflecting and connecting like water.
So let yourself float for a while now,
Letting go of striving,
Letting go of judgment.
Just allow yourself to drift into the calm,
Reflective balance of the water.
As you push through,
Others follow you.
Slowly bring your awareness back to your breath.
Slowly breathing in,
You bring awareness to your core.
Breathing out,
You regain your foundation.
Now see and feel yourself emerging from the water,
Feeling your feet upon dry ground once again.
And now turning to face the lake and sitting before it once more,
Just as you started.
As you begin to wiggle fingers and toes,
Returning attention to your body,
Take just a moment for gratitude.
Gratitude for the blessing and healing of elemental water.
Gratitude for the still,
Reflective beauty of the lake.
Gratitude for the life that fills your physical form.
Stay with elemental water as you awaken your body fully,
And when you feel centered and ready,
Breathe in,
Blinking your eyes open.
May you flow like water in balance and peace.
Thank you.
Gratitude.
