Leaves On A Stream

In this exercise, gentle music soothes you as it nurtures your ability to notice thoughts, then let go of them. The image of a stream in a forest helps you practice noticing thoughts and feelings, placing them on leaves in the stream, and then letting the leaves and your thoughts float away. This practice encourages you to give space from those thoughts and observe them from afar.

Transcript

Welcome to the Leaves on a Stream meditation Find a comfortable position You can close your eyes if that's comfortable and if you prefer,

You can just gaze down gently letting your body relax as you breathe in and breathe out and I'd like you to visualize yourself in a beautiful forest hearing the birds singing,

The wind rustling the leaves and hearing the gentle sounds of a stream up ahead moving yourself towards that stream you find a comfortable spot in the sun beside the stream watching the leaves float along the surface of the water for the next few minutes,

Take each thought that enters your mind and place it on a leaf and let it float away the thought might be pleasurable or painful or just neutral no matter what kind of thought it is,

Just place it on a leaf and let them float on if your thoughts momentarily stop,

You can continue to watch the stream sooner or later your thoughts will start up again you'll notice that the stream flows at its own pace you can't rush it or speed it up we're not trying to get rid of your thoughts we're just allowing them to come and go at their own pace you might think this is dumb or I'm bored or I'm not doing this right place those thoughts on leaves too and just let them float away if a leaf gets stuck,

You can allow it to hang around until it's ready to float on but if that thought comes up again,

Watch it float by another time that thought might be attached to a difficult or painful feeling and you can acknowledge it,

Just saying to yourself,

I notice myself having that feeling place those thoughts on leaves and allow them to float along from time to time your thoughts may distract you from being fully present in this exercise and it's normal,

As soon as you realize you have become sidetracked you just gently bring your attention back to this exercise each time a thought arises,

You place it on a leaf and you let that leaf float away continuing on its path and when you're ready,

You can open your eyes gaze about the room and center yourself to return to your day thank you for your practice

Reviews

Great cues would like a version with a little more silence in between the directions