Hello and welcome to today's meditation.
My name is Lilla and I will guide you through today's practice.
Leaves on the Stream was designed to help you to let go of your thoughts,
Your worries,
And everything that's bothering you right now,
So you can stay in the present moment and enjoy that.
Let's begin.
Staying in a comfortable position,
Allow your shoulders to drop and relax.
And plant your feet firmly on the ground,
Or if you're sitting cross-legged,
Feel the sense of contact between your feet and the seat and the floor beneath you.
Now gently close your eyes and for the next few breaths bring your full focus of attention to your breathing.
Notice the feeling of the air flowing in through the nostrils,
Down into the lungs,
And down into the belly as you inhale.
And on the exhale,
Feel the release of any tension as you let the air out.
Now imagine that you're sitting by the side of a gently flowing stream.
This might be a stream that you know,
Or it might be something that you create in your mind using your imagination.
There might be a slight breeze.
There might be a light breeze blowing as you sit here.
Light listening on the water and soft green grass beneath you.
Imagine the stream however you like.
It's your imagination.
I imagine that there are leaves floating on the surface of the stream.
These leaves are gently flowing past you,
Down the stream.
For the next few minutes,
See if you can take every thought that pops into your head and place it on leave.
Now your thoughts may show up in your mind in the form of words,
Pictures,
Or something else.
However a thought arises,
Simply place it on leave.
Let it float by.
Do this regardless of whether the thoughts are positive and enjoyable,
Or negative and challenging.
Simply place each on a leaf.
Let it float down the stream.
If you notice that your thoughts stop momentarily,
Just continue to watch the stream.
Sooner or later your thoughts will start up again.
Allow the stream to flow at its own rate.
No need to try and speed it up.
The aim here is not to wash the leaves away.
The aim is to allow them to come and go in their own time.
Just sit and watch.
If your mind says something along the lines of,
Undo it.
Or,
I don't like this.
Place those thoughts on leaves.
Let them float by.
If a leaf gets stuck,
Let it hang around,
There's no need to force it to float away.
Simply sit and watch.
Yes sooner or later,
Another leaf will come along and give it the much it needs.
If a difficult feeling arises,
Such as boredom,
Impatience or anxiety,
Simply acknowledge it.
Say to yourself,
Here is a feeling of boredom,
Here is a feeling of impatience,
Here is a feeling of anxiety.
And place those birds in a league.
Now from time to time,
Your thoughts will hook you and you will lose track of the exercise.
This is normal,
As our attention naturally wanders and it will happen time and time again.
As soon as you realize this has happened,
Simply come back to your stream.
You are going to place each thought that pops into your mind on a leaf and it's slipped by.
Again and again,
Your thoughts will hook you.
And remember,
This is normal,
As soon as you notice this has happened,
Simply come back to your stream.
As the exercise comes to an end,
Begin to let go of your imagined stream and bring your attention back to where you are.
Notice what you can hear or you can feel already.
Open your eyes and notice what you can see.
You might like to take another minute to sit quietly before carrying on with your day,
Holding on to this sense of presence and spaciousness from thinking.
Thank you for practicing with me today and have a beautiful day.
Thank you.
