Sit in a comfortable position,
Either with your eyes closed or half closed with a soft gaze about 3 or 4 feet in front of you.
When you're ready,
Take 3 full gentle breaths,
Always pausing at the top,
And then breathing out through your softly pursed lips.
Just allow your shoulders to sink with that exhaling breath.
Just taking your time and feeling the flow and the release of your breath.
Just notice where you feel the breath in the body.
Do you notice the breath at the nose or the belly?
Wherever you notice the breath,
Focus on the flow and sensation of the breath in and the breath out.
Just connect with the sensations of the breath.
To help you stay focused in the present moment,
It might help you to attach some soft mental notes to your breath.
Or if you notice the breath at the belly,
Use these soft mental notes.
Belly rising as you breathe in,
And belly falling as you breathe out.
Now,
I'd like you to visualize yourself.
Sitting beside a gently flowing stream,
With leaves floating along the surface of the water.
For the next few minutes,
Take each thought that enters your mind and place it on one of those leaves.
Let it float by you.
Do this with each thought,
Pleasurable,
Painful,
And neutral.
Even if you have a joyful and enthusiastic thought,
Just place them on the leaf and let them float by.
If your thoughts momentarily stop,
Just continue to watch the stream.
Sooner or later,
Your thoughts will start up again.
Allow the stream to flow at its own pace.
Try not to speed it up or rush your thoughts along.
You're not trying to rush the leaves along or to get rid of your thoughts.
Just allowing them to come up and go at their own pace.
If your mind sends you messages like,
This is silly,
Or this is boring,
Or I'm not doing this right,
Place those thoughts on the leaf.
And let them pass by too,
On the stream.
Any thoughts that show up,
Place them on the leaf.
If you find your mind wandering again,
It's okay to come back to your breath to ground yourself again,
Using those soft mental notes,
In and out,
Or belly rising,
Belly falling,
And then going back to the image of the stream,
Placing any single thought that shows up,
Whether they're positive,
Negative,
Or neutral.
Place them on the leaf and let them flow by.
And if a leaf gets stuck,
Allow it to hang around until it's ready to float by.
If a thought comes up again,
Watch it float by another time.
There's no need to struggle with anything or push any thoughts away.
Just let the stream move it past.
If a difficult or painful feeling rises,
Simply acknowledge it.
Say to yourself,
I notice I'm having a feeling of.
.
.
And place those thoughts on the leaf and allow them to float by.
Say,
Notice I'm feeling.
.
.
And place those thoughts on the leaf and allow them to float by a lot.
From time to time,
Your thoughts may hook you or distract you from being fully present in this exercise.
This is very normal.
As soon as you realize that you've become sidetracked,
Gently bring your attention back to the stream as you watch it.
And place any thoughts that show up on the leaf and let it float by.
And again,
Gently bring your attention back to the stream as you watch it.
Should any thoughts show up,
Simply acknowledge them and then place them on a leaf and let the river or the stream just move them along.
Just simply connecting with the flow and sensation of your breath until you wait for the next thought to show up.
And wherever you are,
Take a nice full breath in,
Pausing at the top.
As you breathe out,
Gently opening your eyes,
Moving your feet,
Moving your hands.
May the sense of presence be with you all day long.
May the sense the meditation.
