Let The River Flow

In this guided, visualization meditation, be transported to a beautiful, flowing river. Notice what thoughts + feelings arise. Can you let them flow with the river? Come back to this meditation any time you feel like you're being dragged downstream by anxiety + depression + fear + guilt.

Transcript

Hi, Welcome! My name is Erin of eMindMove. Today I want to walk you through a visualization meditation. Hopefully it will help you release any thoughts or feelings that maybe you grasp on a little too tightly to. First we're just going to start to ground down. So you can get comfortable however you like. That may mean lying down on a mat or in bed or just on the floor. That may look like being seated in a chair or on the floor. You have the option to keep the eyes open or keep them closed, However you feel most comfortable. We'll start with just a few deep breaths together. So as you're ready, Let's take a deep belly breath in through the nose. Hold at the top. We'll open the mouth, Big sigh out, Let it go. Two more like that. Breathing deep into the low belly, Inhale, Letting the belly expand. Hold at the top. Open mouth, Let it go. Sigh it out. One last time. Big breath in. And release. And I want you to picture your favorite river or really more like a little stream. Maybe it's in your favorite local park or a place you have once visited. Maybe it's a little stream in your own backyard. But I want you to picture yourself there, Coming up to the stream. The water is trickling down, Rushing down. It's a beautiful sunny day. And I want you to get into the water. The water only comes up about shin deep, Knee deep. And as you're standing in the water, You simply observe and notice any thoughts or feelings that come up. And oftentimes we hold on, We grasp onto thoughts or feelings that make us anxious, Worried, Sad, Lost. And rather than holding onto those thoughts, We're just going to picture them in that river that you're standing in. And you're just going to simply let them float by. They come up one side of the body, Float right on by through your center and continue on down the river. And the next thought or feeling that brings anxiety. Again, We just let it float, Let it flow, Let it keep on passing by. And you can imagine if you keep holding onto that thought, You reach down in the water, You grab onto that thought, That feeling. If it's strong enough, It starts to pull you downstream. Maybe as you go further downstream, You get deeper and deeper into the water. And of course it's easier said than done than to simply let go of that thought. Whenever you catch yourself in that cycle, Come back to this visualization. Standing in the river, Knee deep, Shin deep, Just letting that thought, That feeling swim on by. And if you start to feel like you're getting that pull downstream, Release what you can. Come back upstream a little and feel the water on your feet, Against your ankles, The calves, The shins, Maybe just approaching to the knees. And at this level, We can still see those thoughts, We can still feel those feelings, But we don't need to attach to them. We still have enough groundedness in the earth that the flow of the river won't drag us down. We just let those thoughts and feelings flow with the river. And on those days where maybe there are a lot of thoughts swooshing by the ankles, Maybe just take the gaze up. Don't even look in the stream in the river. Look at everything around you. Notice the trees, Are there other people in the park? The blue sky, The bright sun. Listen for birds chirping, Dogs barking, People chatting. It's really easy to get stuck staring down into that river, Holding onto those thoughts, Those feelings of anxiety, Depression, Worry, Fear, Lack. And those feelings are totally normal, Totally okay to have, But can we just detach a little from them? Let's take one cleansing breath together. Big belly breath in through the nose. Hold at the top. Open mouth, Easy sigh out. Let that go. I hope you can come back to this visualization the next time you feel like you're waist deep, Chest deep, Neck deep in the water. And remember just to let the river flow.