Welcome to this guided visualization meditation You don't have to stop the thoughts My name is Dali and I'm going to take you through an exercise that is hopefully going to give you some breathing space Quite often when we have incessant thoughts We imagine them to be really close to our heads And this exercise should give you some breathing space Amongst where you perceive your thoughts to be Our thoughts can often appear quite loudly to us And hopefully this will also give you some quiet Turn down the volume of those thoughts So if you're not already in a comfortable position Please get yourself comfortable now There's no required posture for this meditation You can be sitting in a chair On a cushion,
Kneeling on a cushion Or even lying down All I would say if you're going to lie down Just make sure that you're nice and alert So you can follow the exercise And when you're ready Just let your eyes softly close And let your attention rest gently on your breath We're not going to change anything with the breath We're not going to force anything different We're just going to rest our attention there And notice what the breath is doing Just pay close attention to what your breath is doing right now And we're going to take a little trip to the cinema or the movies I want you to imagine your favourite cinema or movie theatre It could be one from your childhood It could be one that you visit now Just bring to mind the building itself As you stand outside of it You notice the features of the building The colours of the brickwork Or whatever material it's made out of Just pay attention to all those details As you stand outside Now we're going to walk in And immediately as the door opens That smell of popcorn hits your nostrils Look around you What do you see that you recognise?
The carpet or the tiled floor Pictures of old movies on the walls Whatever it is,
Bring that movie theatre to mind And we're going to head straight into the screen There's no one else there It's just you And even if you don't usually choose this seat I want you to go right down to the front row Find yourself a seat somewhere in the middle And get comfortable Put your feet up if it's a recliner Feel the material of the chair What does it feel like?
What does it smell like?
From behind you You hear the projector click into action And a single beam of light Hits the screen in front of you It's only then that you notice the screen It's much bigger than usual As you look around you see it's From the right hand side Right across to the left But not just that It's up above you as well Like a dome The whole screen covers the ceiling As you look back straight ahead You notice that the movie you're watching Is all of your thoughts Everything that's been going through your head today Or right now Is projected onto the screen in front of you It's in words It's in images And videos Playing all across the screen From left to right Up above you Vivid colours High density video All of your thoughts playing out at the same time Your eyes are moving between the words Between the pictures Between the videos It's impossible to focus on just one Even if you tried to follow One of the stories that's playing out in front of you You can't There's too much going on around it So just watch Watch the whole screen Look at the colours Look at the pictures There's hundreds of them Now I want you to get up from your seat And move just a few rows back Take a seat again in the middle of the row Get comfortable And watch your thoughts on the screen Now you notice the screen Is actually moving backwards The whole theatre is feeling bigger There's more space Between you and the screen Can you make out the words The pictures The videos You probably still can But there's too many of them to follow So I want you to rise to your feet again One more time And move to the very back row of the theatre Take a seat in the middle And get comfortable And now you'll see the screen Is moving back At a slightly quicker pace To the extent where you can't make out the words anymore You recognise faces and images But they're getting a little bit too far away The left and right sides of the screen are moving Further and further away The dome-like ceiling is also moving Away from you,
Upwards The whole theatre is becoming a much bigger space You're almost having to squint now The screen is that far away And then without warning The screen disappears completely And the light from the projector Travels into the distance But there's no screen And there's no wall for it to stop So there's no pictures There's no videos or words All you see is the flickering dust In that single beam of light above you You know it contains your thoughts But the screen is gone And all you're left with is space So much space between you And your thoughts It's like looking at the night sky And seeing a star We know that the light from that star has travelled Hundreds of thousands,
Millions of miles Over hundreds and thousands of years Just to reach us So what we're looking at is in the past It's impossible to look at a star And it to be in the present Just like it's impossible to look at your thoughts From the past And for them to be in the present In the present There can't be any worries Or anxieties They live in the past Or the future But they're not here with you now in the present Just spend a moment or two Enjoying that space around you Now it's time to leave the movie theatre So if you can just get to your feet Nice and easily,
Nice and gently Take a walk back into the foyer Smell that popcorn again This time the smell is so much stronger Because you're not distracted You can pay attention to it You're aware of it here in this moment And as you head for the door You can gently open your eyes To take in everything that you see The colours,
The textures The sights and sounds I hope you've enjoyed your trip to the movies I hope you can call upon that technique again When you feel like your thoughts are really loud Or too close to your head for you to have any breathing space And just remember how much space you had in that theatre I hope to see you again soon Take care
