The purpose of this meditation is to help you see yourself as calm,
Resilient,
And strong so that you can accept and respect yourself as you are,
And then be of use to others who you love and who love you.
So to begin,
Establish for yourself a comfortable and stable sitting position with your back straight and with your face,
Mouth,
And eyes relaxed and closed.
Focus your attention on the sensations of your breath at and below your nose or at your belly as it moves forward and back again.
Also establish a sense of balance in your position,
Front to back,
Left to right,
And if your mind wanders,
Just forgive it,
Smile,
And return to a focus on the sensations of your breath and on a sense of balance in your sitting position.
Feel yourself both upright and balanced.
So now I would like you to imagine that you are a small boat.
You are sailing alone at night.
You are in an unfamiliar place.
You are in the dark,
And you are on the ocean.
Your spine is the mast.
Your breath is the wind.
Your breath is the wind that moves you forward,
And your body is the sail.
Your body is the sail you breathe into,
And your heart is the ocean.
This ocean of your heart is immense and continually mysterious.
You need a compass to know where to go.
You need a wheel to stay on course.
So your mind is both this compass and that wheel.
So your spine is the mast,
Your breath is the wind,
Your body is the sail,
Your heart is the ocean,
And your mind is the compass and the wheel.
You notice you are alone.
You notice you are in an unfamiliar place.
You notice you are surrounded by darkness.
The night above you is clear,
And the air around you is cool.
You look up again,
And you see that there are more stars above you than you can count in the sky.
You are sailing on the ocean of your heart.
So again,
Your spine is the mast,
Your breath is the wind,
Your body is the sail,
Your heart is the ocean,
And your mind is the compass and the wheel.
Because your spine is the mast,
Because your breath is the wind,
Because your body is the sail,
You are moving forward.
Your spine,
Your mast,
Is flexible and strong.
It bends forward underneath your breath.
Your body,
Your sail fills with each breath and moves forward.
You cannot help but move forward,
But you are also alone,
And the ocean is your heart.
It is immense,
And it is dark,
And it is mysterious,
And you realize that you are afraid.
But your spine is the mast,
Your breath is the wind,
Your body is the sail,
Your heart is the ocean,
And your mind is the compass and the wheel.
But you are too focused on yourself,
On your own boat,
On your own mast,
On your own sail,
On your own heart,
The ocean.
You are not aware of the other boats around you,
Each with a mast,
A sail,
And a breath,
Also on the mysterious ocean which is no longer just your heart,
But their hearts too.
No,
Not just your heart,
And not just their hearts,
But one shared heart,
The rising and the falling,
The immense and mysterious ocean.
The spine is the mast,
And the breath is the wind,
And the body is the sail,
And the heart is the ocean,
And the mind is the compass and the wheel.
So we see we're not alone.
We smile,
We know we're not alone.
We laugh and we are happy,
But we also know that we're alone on the ocean of our hearts,
Always immense and mysterious,
And the sailing onward together and alone,
Exactly the same on our individual voyages,
On the ocean we share.
The spine is the mast,
The breath is the wind,
The body is the sail,
The heart is this ocean,
Our mind is the compass and the wheel.
Calm,
We're calm in this understanding.
We do not follow the other boats,
And they are not following us,
And we make up our mind.
We make up our mind to see how our compass works,
To see how our wheel turns.
We choose our destination,
Looking to keep our boat upright and balanced and moving forward.
Our spine is the mast,
Our breath is the wind,
Our body is the sail,
Our heart is the ocean,
Our mind is the compass and the wheel.
We are all alone,
And we are not alone at all.
On a small boat,
On an ocean,
We all share.
Imagine you are a small boat,
Minding the compass,
Minding the wheel.
On the ocean,
We have always shared this ocean.
Now notice your breath,
Balance in your seat,
Straighten your mast,
Spread your sail,
Mind your compass and your wheel.
You are a small boat,
Minding the compass,
Minding the wheel.
Thank you.
