Lake Meditation (MBSR All-Day)

Dr. Julien Lacaille gently guides you through Jon Kabat Zinn's lake visualization meditation that can support your mindfulness practice, as part of an Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program all-day silent retreat.

Transcript

So settling into your lying posture,

Making sure you're very comfortable and at the same time able to keep alert and awake.

And just checking in with your body,

With your breath that's still there,

With the other body sensations that are showing up.

If it's helpful perhaps putting a hand on the belly or on the chest or simply just putting your attention there,

Kind of riding the waves of your own breathing.

And as you rest here,

Seeing if you can let an image in your mind's eye form of a lake,

Body of water large or small,

Just held in a receptive basin by the earth itself.

Noting that water likes to pool in low places,

It seeks its own level,

It asks to be held,

To be contained.

So letting this image gradually come into greater focus in your mind's eye,

This may be a lake you know,

You've visited before,

You visited when you were young or recently,

Or this could just be an imaginary lake.

So the lake that you're invoking may be deep or shallow,

Blue or green,

Muddy or clear.

With no wind,

The surface will be flat,

Mirror-like,

Reflecting trees,

Rocks,

Sky,

Clouds,

Just holding everything in itself momentarily.

And then wind may come and stir up waves on the surface,

Causing the reflections to distort and disappear.

And the sunlight may kind of sparkle in the ripples.

And then when the night comes,

It's the moon's turn to kind of reflect on the lake,

Along with the outline of trees and shadows.

And in the winter,

The lake may freeze over,

Yet be teeming with movement and life below.

So as you're resting here,

Breathing,

As you establish this image of a lake in your mind's eye,

Allowing yourself when you're ready to bring it inside yourself completely,

So that your being merges with the lake,

Becoming one with it.

So that all your energies in this moment are held in the awareness,

With openness,

With compassion for yourself,

In the same way as the lake's waters are held by the receptive and accepting basin of the earth itself.

So breathing as the lake,

Feeling its body as your body,

Allowing your mind and your heart to be open and receptive moment by moment,

To reflect whatever comes near,

Or even to be clear all the way to the bottom.

So you might be experiencing moments of complete stillness,

When both reflection and water are completely clear.

And then probably other moments when the surface is disturbed,

Choppy,

Stirred up,

Reflections and the depth are lost for the moment.

And through it all,

As you lie here,

Just simply observing the play of the various energies of your own mind,

Your own heart,

Your own body,

The fleeting thoughts and feelings,

Impulses and reactions,

Which come and go as ripples and waves,

Just noting their effects.

Noticing the effect of your thoughts and feelings?

Do they disturb the surface and clarity of the mind's lake?

Do they muddy the waters?

Is that okay with you?

Isn't having a rippling or a wavy surface part of being a lake?

And might it be possible to identify not only with the surface of your lake,

But with the entire body of water,

So that you become the stillness below the surface as well,

Which at most experiences only gentle undulations,

Even when the surface is choppy or ragged.

In the same way in your meditation practice and also in your daily life,

Can you get in touch not only with the changing content and intensity of your thoughts and feelings,

But also with the vast unwavering reservoir of awareness itself residing below the surface of your mind.

The lake can teach this,

Can remind us of the lake within ourselves.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

So for the rest of the meditation,

Just continuing to sustain the lake meditation on your own,

In silence,

Moment by moment,

As being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.

Hey now!

Reviews

Excellent, as always.

Perfect. Like a breath of fresh air. Just what I needed. Thank you 🙏🏻