Begin by bringing awareness to the posture,
Noticing the position that your body is in,
Noticing the points of contact between your body and the chair,
The cushion,
Or the floor.
Taking a few deep breaths in and out and bringing attention to the sensation of breathing as a way of anchoring or centering the mind in this moment.
And now bringing to mind the image of a stream,
Filling in the details of the stream,
Noticing the setting of the stream,
What's on the banks around it,
How quickly the water is moving,
Any trees or shrubbery that may be nearby,
And placing your attention on the moving water of the stream as if you're standing on the bank looking directly down into it.
And now bringing attention to the sensation of thinking,
To noticing thoughts as they arise,
Stay for a moment,
And pass away in the mind,
Noticing the phenomenon of the thought arising in the mind,
And then imagining that you could place the thought on a leaf on this stream,
Watching it pass through the mind and then out of view as it floats along the water.
Each thought that arises,
Noticed or observed,
And then removed,
Placed onto a leaf on the stream to pass through the water and out of view.
Bringing attention to the thoughts as they arise,
And with each thought that comes into attention,
Placing that thought onto a leaf.
There may be many thoughts coming all at once,
They may be few and far between.
Allowing the thoughts to come just as they are,
And taking each thought and placing it onto a leaf on the stream in your mind,
Noticing its presence without getting caught up,
Without getting lost in the story.
It may be helpful to label each thought,
Noticing the content,
Without getting lost in it.
Noticing a thought that is planning,
And placing planning on the leaf.
Memory,
And placing the memory on a leaf.
Noticing the judgment,
And placing judgment on a leaf.
As we watch the stream,
And notice the thoughts that arise in the mind,
Placing them on the leaves in the stream,
We gain space,
We gain the ability to observe the mind,
To observe the thoughts that arise and pass away with some distance.
You may choose to continue practicing this for as long as you wish,
Or to bring attention back into the body,
Into the room around you,
Opening your eyes when you're ready.
