The author George Bernard Shaw famously said,
We do not stop playing because we grow old.
We grow old because we stop playing.
In this meditation,
You will explore playfulness that will appeal to the inner child that still lives inside of you.
To begin,
Please make yourself comfortable in a sitting or lying position.
And make any adjustments you need so you can feel supported,
At ease,
And at rest,
Ready to allow your imagination to wander.
Begin by just noticing your breath.
You don't have to do anything about it or change it.
Simply notice the rise and fall of your shoulders,
Your chest,
Your side ribs,
And your belly.
Let your breath be effortless.
It can be as fast or as slow as slow as you'd like.
And let it just be as shallow or as deep as it is.
Avoid resisting your breath,
But allow it to come and go at its own pace and its own depth.
Begin to flood awareness into your back body.
First,
To notice any surfaces of your back body that touch the ground.
Your heels or feet,
The back of your legs and hips,
Your back if you're lying on the ground,
The back of your shoulders,
Back of your head.
Now feel the front surface of your body,
The sensation of air above and around you.
Notice your face,
Your chest,
Your abdomen,
The top of your legs,
Your feet,
And toes.
Feel your entire front body all together.
The entire front surface of your body unobstructed with room to breathe and expand.
Shift again to the back surface of your body.
This back surface of your body grounded and supported,
Heavy and relaxed.
And now alternate between the two sensations.
The heaviness of your back side body,
The light airiness of your front side body.
Coordinate these sensations with your breath.
As you exhale,
Feel the heaviness of your back body.
Inhale the lightness of your front body.
And now marry the front and the back surfaces of your body until you feel your whole body all together.
Your whole body both heavy,
Relaxed,
Light and free at the same time.
Picture in your mind that you are standing outside in a forest.
Underneath your feet,
You are standing on a surface of soft grass under the shade of a large tree.
The air around you is exactly the temperature of your skin so that you feel neither hot nor cold.
A gentle breeze brings the delicious smell of fresh air to your nose.
It feels like the perfect carefree day.
Take a moment to look around in each direction to explore your surroundings.
Let your imagination run wild here as you create a beautiful scene of your choosing.
In this environment,
You feel so carefree,
So curious and playful that you decide to climb the large tree you've been standing under.
Surprisingly,
It feels effortless to climb up and up through the strong,
Steady branches that seem to be made for exactly this purpose.
Soon you are high enough to see what's out there beyond the border of the woodland.
You realize with a jolt of pleasure that you can see the ocean.
Now that you know it's there,
Your senses seem to be heightened.
You realize that if you listen carefully,
You can hear the sound of the waves crashing on the beach.
Now you can smell the salt in the air and you can almost feel a lovely ocean breeze on your skin.
You enjoy this divine moment of exploration and the treasure that you found by climbing the tree.
You decide to climb back down the branches one by one until you drop onto the soft surface of the grass beneath you.
You begin to head in the direction of the beach.
As you leave the shade of the large tree,
You notice the trees become smaller and scrubbier and the ground begin to change from grassy to sandy.
You slip off any shoes you're wearing as you reach the broad expanse of warm,
Soft sand.
You enjoy the sensation of dry,
Yielding sand under your feet and dig your toes down so that your entire foot is enveloped in this lovely,
Heavy warmth.
Now you continue to walk toward the water and as the sand becomes wet,
You feel it squish between your toes.
You play around with stomping holes into the wet sand and then watching the waves slide onto the shore,
Fill the holes you created,
And then smooth out the surface on its way back out to sea.
You notice a lovely white shell and stoop to pick it up.
It is smooth and perfectly intact and you feel a flood of joy and surprise at your luck.
You decide to look for more shells.
The surf seems to bring a fresh batch of shells with every wave and you start to run through the wet sand in excitement,
Grabbing each shell before the water can carry it back out.
When your hands are full,
You delight in observing each shell,
Thanking it for the joy it brought you,
And then tossing it one at a time back into the ocean,
A treasure to find again on another day.
The feeling of the water on your ankles is so nice that you can't help but wade in up to your calves.
As the waves come crashing toward you now,
You start to jump over the white caps.
You laugh at the unpredictability of the water.
You wade even deeper now until the water comes to your knees and then to your waist.
Here you turn to face the beach and with the ocean behind you,
You fall gently onto your back and let the water lift you up.
Floating on your back,
You feel effortlessly buoyant,
So light and free,
Like you can really let go.
You feel the waves underneath you gently lift you up and drift you closer to shore,
Each wave lifting and carrying you.
You begin to feel solid ground underneath your heels and your legs and you realize that you are back ashore.
You notice the texture of the sand on your skin.
You smile to yourself and silently thank the ocean for the ride.
Back on the beach,
You start to imagine what you might want to do next on this carefree day.
Should you go back out for a swim or walk along the beach?
With the beach and the water as your playground,
You are completely free to do whatever entices you now.
Let yourself be unharnessed,
Unafraid,
Unashamed.
Wherever you are,
You pause now to revel in the joy that you feel and take a mental picture of this place,
This experience,
This carefree day you had.
You commit to coming back here again to nurture your inner child,
But for now it's time to go.
Let the image,
The sounds,
The smells of the beach begin to fade.
Let your awareness drop back in to your body,
To your front body that contacts the air above it,
And to your back body that contacts the ground below you.
Notice again the waves of your own breath,
The rise and fall of your belly and chest.
If it is time for you to drift off to sleep,
Rest here in this feeling of heaviness and comfort.
If you would like to wake yourself back up again to continue on with your day,
Wiggle your toes and fingers,
Yawn and stretch,
Open your eyes,
And enjoy the rest of your day.
