Hello and welcome back to another guided meditation.
The goal of this session is to help separate you from your thoughts and to let your thoughts come and go instead of getting caught up in them or allowing them to dictate what you do.
So when you are ready to find a quiet place where you can sit,
Allow yourself to find a comfortable position.
You can close your eyes or you can keep them open.
And if you choose to keep your eyes open,
Perhaps you can look downward in a light gaze,
Not really focused on anything particular.
And just allow yourself to be here in this moment.
There's nothing else to do.
There's nowhere else to be right here,
Right now is where you are supposed to be.
Now just allow yourself to take a nice,
Deep,
Refreshing breath in and let it out.
Allowing your shoulders to drop and relax on the out breath.
Just taking another deep breath in,
Just holding it for a moment and release.
Really just grounding yourself to the here and now on every out breath.
Now another deep breath in and let it go.
Finding your center.
Finding your calm.
Relaxing.
Feeling your feet firmly on the ground.
Or if you're sitting cross-legged,
Just feeling the sense of contact between your feet and the seat on the floor beneath you.
And now just continuing on to breathe in and out.
Try to focus fully on your breathing.
Notice the feeling of the air flowing in through your nostrils,
Down into your 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 slowly.
Now imagine that you are sitting by the side of a gently flowing river stream.
This might be a stream that you know or it might be something you simply create in your mind using your imagination.
There might be a light breeze blowing as you sit here.
The sun's reflection glistening on the water and soft green grass beneath you.
Imagine the river stream however you like.
It is your imagination.
This is your meditation.
Now imagine that leaves are floating on the surface of the river stream.
And imagine that 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 imagine that you're placing it on a leaf.
Now your thoughts may show up in your mind in the form of words,
Pictures or something else.
Whatever way a thought arises,
Simply place it on a leaf and let it float by.
Do this regardless of whether the thoughts are positive and enjoyable or if the thoughts are negative and challenging.
Simply place every thought on a leaf and let it flow down the stream.
If you notice that your thoughts stop for a moment,
Then just continue to watch the river stream.
Sooner or later,
Your thoughts will start up again because thoughts are constant.
Thoughts come and thoughts go.
Allow the river stream to flow at its own rate.
There is no need to try and speed it up because the goal here is not to wash the leaves away.
The goal here is to allow them to come and go in their own time.
We are here to just sit and watch.
If your mind says something along the lines like I can't do it or this is stupid,
Place those thoughts on leaves and let them float by.
If a leaf gets stuck,
Let it hang around.
There is no need to force it to float away.
Simply sit and watch as sooner or later another leaf will come along and give it the nudge it needs.
If a difficult feeling arises such as boredom,
Impatience,
Or anxiety,
Simply acknowledge it and silently say to yourself,
Here is a feeling of boredom.
Or here is a feeling of impatience.
Or here is a feeling of anxiety.
And then place those words on a leaf.
Now from time to time,
Your thoughts will hook you and you will lose track of this meditation.
This is normal.
Your attention naturally wanders and it will happen time and time again.
And so as soon as you realize this has happened,
Simply come back to your imagined river stream.
Continue to place each thought that pops up into your mind on a leaf,
Watching it slip by.
Again and again,
Your thoughts will hook you.
Just remember,
This is normal.
As soon as you notice this has happened,
Simply come right back to your stream.
And now,
As the meditation comes to an end,
Begin to let go of your imagined river stream and bring your attention back to where you are in the present moment.
Start to notice what you can hear,
What you can feel.
And when you are ready,
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 calm from thinking.
Thank you.
Namaste.
