This meditation is done in a lying or reclining position and begins by paying attention to sensations of support as you lie here,
Noticing where your body is making contact,
How your weight is distributed on the floor,
Bed,
Or recliner,
Actually sensing into your body,
Feeling your feet,
Your legs,
Hips,
Lower and upper body,
Arms,
Your shoulders,
And your head.
And when you feel ready,
Bringing awareness to the breath,
The actual physical sensations,
Feeling each breath as it comes in and goes out,
Letting the breath be just as it is without trying to change or regulate it in any way,
Allowing it to flow easily and naturally with its own rhythm and pace,
Knowing that you're breathing perfectly well right now,
So there's nothing for you to do,
Allowing a sense of being complete,
Whole,
In this very moment,
Just letting your breath be as it is.
And as you rest here,
Letting an image form in your mind's eye of a body of water.
It could be a lake or an ocean,
A river,
Or even a pool,
And this body of water is cradled by the earth below its waterbed,
Held,
As you can be,
By the earth itself.
Letting this image gradually come into greater focus,
Even if it doesn't come as a visual image,
Allowing the sense of this lake and feeling its presence,
The calm movement of the water.
The lake may be deep or shallow,
Blue or green,
Or whatever color you choose.
When the weather is calm,
The surface is flat like a mirror.
It reflects nature around it,
Clouds moving slowly across the blue sky,
The movement of the trees as they rock and sway in the gentle breeze.
Perhaps a bird flies across the glassy surface,
Its image majestic and beautiful.
The body of water holds everything in itself in these calm moments.
When night comes,
It's the moon's turn to dance on the lake,
Or when the surface is still to be reflected in it along with the outline of trees and shadows.
In winter,
The lake may freeze over,
Yet still teeming with the movement and life below.
As you rest here breathing,
As you establish this image of a lake in your mind's eye,
Allowing yourself,
When you feel 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 awareness with openness and compassion for yourself,
In the same way as the lake's waters are held by the receptive and accepting basin of the earth itself.
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 to be clear all the way to the bottom.
Breathing moments of complete stillness,
When reflection and water are completely clear.
Yet this calmness,
This orderliness,
Can change at any time,
Either gradually or suddenly,
Just as you can change with the weather of your life.
And then watching as the weather does change,
The wind gusting,
The sky darkening as an oncoming storm gathers momentum,
The waves are stirred up causing the reflections to distort and disappear.
The water becomes muddy and opaque as wet earth stirs from the deeper reaches of the lake and disturbs the once clear reflection.
The surface of the lake becomes choppy and unpredictable.
Yet near the water bed,
The deeper waters simply undulate despite the intense motion closer to the surface,
Almost as if the deep water is gently rocking the shallows,
Reassuring that everything will return to being calm once the storm has passed.
Wondering what is ahead for the water,
Beaners 갑자기 reaching out and across the Indian Ocean.
Bound to background.
Death films?
Or a vessel?
Or an stray ocean,
From the Creator,
To Geronimo?
That play on the lake?
The wind,
The waves,
The light,
The shadows and reflections,
The colors and smells.
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 a part of being a lake?
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 and ragged?
And in the same way,
In your meditation practice and in your daily life,
You can be 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,
Remind us of the lake within ourselves.
If you find this image to be of value,
You may want to use it from time to time to deepen and enrich your meditation practice.
You might also invite this lake image to empower you and guide your actions in the world as you move through the unfolding of each day,
Carrying this vast reservoir of mindfulness within your heart.
You can practice living in harmony with the weather of your environment,
Even when it's fierce and challenging.
The weather of our lives will always be changing,
And from the wilder weather we can practice resilience and boundaries.
Living here in the stillness of this moment,
We can be the lake in silence now,
Affirming our ability to hold an awareness and an acceptance right now,
All our qualities of mind and body.
Just as the lake sits held,
Cradled,
Contained by the earth,
Reflecting sun,
Moon,
Stars,
Trees,
Clouds,
And sky,
Birds,
And light,
Caressed by the air and the wind,
Which bring out and highlight its sparkle,
Its vitality,
Its potential,
Moment by moment.
So,
In the time that remains before the bells which will mark the end of this meditation,
Continuing to sustain the lake practice on your own,
In silence,
Moment by moment,
Being the lake with its own storms and moments of peace.
