Like Rain On A Lake: Letting Life Come To You

What if it is enough - just being here as you are? What if life welcomes you, just as you are? Where would you land in your body - just to receive the sensations for a while? Sensations coming and going, like raindrops on a lake. Resting into the body, and into the ground. Letting thoughts and stories go on, as if they are far away. Sometimes we may find a smile rising up - a happiness for no reason. And sometimes we can just enjoy resting into the heart of life.

Transcript

Letting yourself feel welcome as you are,

If possible.

Knowing that whatever is going on,

You're not the only one.

Not the only one with fear or with peace.

Feeling heavy in the body or feeling low,

Whatever.

Won't be the first time or the last time on the earth.

And maybe enjoying this letting yourself be here as you are.

Knowing that whatever is going on in thinking,

In emotions,

In body,

In life situations and relationships,

Whatever is going on,

It is all welcome and that you're not alone in it.

You're not the only one with that difficulty or peace,

Ease or struggle.

And often we all have all of it.

And with all of it,

Welcome.

Maybe some moments of just enjoying a chance to be here on the earth.

The hardest meditation instructions are the easiest,

Simplest.

Just sitting or just lying down.

Wave after wave of breath.

The privilege of just being for a while with a few other human beings,

Quiet on the earth.

With others who are willing to do nothing for a while.

To start to be in touch with what's going on if I stop doing.

And of course one of the first things we might notice is that in trying to be quiet,

In wishing for some quiet,

We become more aware of the noise going on in our own heads and hearts.

So if that's the case for you today,

Feeling how that feels in your body to have a lot of thinking or emotion going on briefly.

Are they thoughts that lean forward with excitement or try to kind of push away or draw towards you?

Rise up,

Oppress,

Push you down,

Scatter you in many directions.

And then feeling what else?

What else is here?

And sometimes allowing a few out breaths to be a bit longer,

Comfortably longer.

Maybe even hanging out after the out breath for a while before the in breath comes in.

Sometimes that can be a lovely way of starting to arrive in,

In your life.

In your presence or your present moment.

Sorry for thelings,

Sorry for our And if there is something bothering you,

Feeling what's bothering you more and where you feel it in your body,

Just briefly and kind of really gently,

Like caressing a small rabbit or bird or some creature that you would be happy to cuddle.

And if there is not something bothering you so much,

Feeling where would you land in your body,

Where would you like to feel for a while?

Maybe what feels like home or what feels simple,

Grounded or open,

Or just what feels more possible to stay with.

And instead of rushing there and trying to get on with something,

If we could allow a gentle arriving,

Like a feather falling,

Letting it happen,

If possible,

That your sense of interest and attention and presence lands like a feather or gathers drop by drop or green by green.

And that might be in the lower belly or the back or feet or somewhere else specific.

Or you might feel like today being with the whole body and the whole breath.

Or even giving yourself some kind of generous sense of the space around the body in which body happens,

In which body sensations come and go.

Feels as if we could let ourselves feel that electromagnetic field around that's actually there around us,

Around the body.

But just a sense of generous space where sensations are coming and going and being felt like rain on a lake.

And just how relaxed can we be today?

What's possible?

Can the heart be a little bit more relaxed?

Can we let any little or big sense,

Senses of pressure around the heart or chest of worry or hurry or hiding or pushing just to be felt and then maybe something like dead leaves that are falling towards the bottom of a lake,

Letting it fall away?

Or if it doesn't fall away,

Then just felt really simply.

Just kind of straight feeling just the sensation,

Not letting your mind go to the ideas from there.

Oh no,

Tension in my heart.

Or I've got to get rid of this.

Just letting those thoughts,

If they come,

Be cartoons.

Just a little bit humorous,

Letting it go.

Very heavy in the earth like a lake sinking in,

Spreading out.

Receiving the sensations like raindrops on the surface.

And maybe even a sense of all the thinking that could be going on could just be like the sky reflected in the lake.

It's something,

But not much.

And a sense of relaxing,

Falling into your body,

Falling into the ground,

Feeling gravity,

Pulling on your fluid body,

Streaming body.

And sensations come to you,

Letting the upper front body relax,

Give up.

The face can just give up.

We don't need to try to be anyone different.

We don't need to even try to be anyone.

We can fall into finding out what is it to be someone who doesn't need to try to be someone special.

What is someone?

What is it to be someone?

Someone special,

But just someone.

Something can't be unsqueezing without a friend,

Whether it's someone closer Quietly feeling body wherever you're feeling body,

The whole body or a particular place.

Re-acknowledging the waves that come through of breath,

Like a gentle massage,

Almost as if life is sort of stroking you like a cat with that breath.

The breath doesn't need to be the main thing,

It can be.

But maybe just for a while or maybe continuing with feeling your place and acknowledging the waves of breath.

And perhaps allowing the body to let it be a bit pleasurable.

The way maybe a cat who's half asleep might enjoy being stroked but also not pay total attention to it.

Not to worry when you find out that you've been distracted for a while and you're thinking about another place or time or caught in judgment or planning or whatever.

It happens.

Especially because most of us have trained our minds that way,

To go in many directions at once,

To be busy,

To be worried,

To be on,

To be on alert.

And meanwhile we can have a little sense of wonder or even cultivate a sense of wonder about how is it and who is it that catches me when I'm distracted.

If I'm distracted,

What is it that says,

Oh,

I'm distracted?

We can kind of nestle into a little bit bigger or wider sense of ourselves.

Or something in our mind that can be aware when the eye is busy thinking or when the eye comes back to our home place.

Resting a little further in to the lake of now or the lake of life or the lake of your body.

Letting your body really be heavy and give in to the ground.

Sometimes when that happens you might feel a sense of a kind of smile traveling from lower down in the body coming up.

That's not really a smile for any particular reason.

And that's really a valid practice to actually travel with the smile,

Feeling it in the lower body rising up from the belly through the chest up into the face taking its time.

So there's no need to kind of fake that,

But if you feel a kind of smile feeling in your lower body,

You're welcome to stay with that,

Receive that,

Get to know,

Get familiar with what it feels like.

Sort of giving in to the ground with an uplift on the sides,

Gravity and lift.

A happiness for no reason is allowed,

Doesn't need to have content,

Doesn't need to be suppressed,

Doesn't need to be exaggerated.

Or just coming back to your home place with a loose sense of the waves of breath massaging through your system.

Letting your eyes rest if possible,

The skin of your face can come to rest,

Your hands can come to rest.

And letting everything between your face and your hands feel that it can come to rest.

It doesn't mean forcing it,

Doesn't mean that it's wrong where there's tension that doesn't undo coming to rest as it is.

And sometimes it might be nice to feel a sense of the place that you're gathering and receiving feeling in your body is down at the bottom of the lake.

Other times it could be lovely to feel as if the sensations are there on the surface of the lake.

They're happening by themselves,

Coming and going,

Being felt and then melting away.

And you can kind of nestle a bit further into the belly of the lake,

Letting the sensations happen but not needing to attend to them one by one,

Make sure you keep track of them,

Etc.

,

Like letting them come and go in their own freedom while you maybe have a feeling of staying a little further back or in yourself.

So either way it could be like really being in the quiet intimacy just in that area that you're feeling just now,

Knowing the difference between the images in your mind or the words in your mind that would describe the place and the place itself.

And gradually again and again giving less interest to the commentary that might go on about the place,

About how you're doing,

Etc.

,

And falling back in to just feeling smoothness,

Density,

Fluffiness,

Movement,

Etc.

So there could be such an intimacy sometimes that you disappear and there are just the sensations down at the bottom of the lake.

Or another way could be that the sensations are going on and you're letting them come and go,

Letting them be felt really gently and precisely,

No agenda,

But you're not involved.

The sensations on the surface of the lake and you're kind of more the lake that's receiving,

You're the receiving awareness.

Feelings are more freeing for you or more playful.

It just changes the environment.

Desire cloud.

May all beings be peaceful,

Living fulfilled lives,

Open to what is,

And giving our all towards the common good.

Reviews

This is one of my favorite meditations. I love the metaphor of the lake and can do and redo this one and always finding something new and profound. Thanks

Thank you very much. A peaceful and wonderful meditation 🙏

Beautiful 🙏🏾💫

Loved it. So fresh, authenticity forward, beautifully worded and paced, soothing for the mind, body and spirit. Bookmarking this. Thank you

Very calming and soothing. Love the imagery of the lake. Many thanks 🙏

Blissful. Many thanks

Beautiful... so gentle and effortless. Thank you 🙏

So calming, I love it!

Loved it. Thank you🙏💛💛

thank you Jayaji. Very calm, allowing, soothing. I loved 'not trying to be someone', it really hit a chord and aided release.