Hello and welcome to this space.
My name is Maya and I'm going to be guiding you through this meditation today.
So to begin I'll just invite you to settle into your seat wherever you are right now.
Hopefully you're in a space where you won't be disturbed for a few minutes and you can just be with yourself.
When you feel ready to do so you can let your eyes gently close or if you don't feel safe to do so you can just let them stay open a little bit but focus on something in the distance.
We're just gonna begin by settling into the body here.
So if there's any movement that wants to move through you just give it space to do so.
Maybe you want to sway your torso back and forth a little bit.
Feel the weight of the body settling into the sit bones.
You can feel how the spine and the diaphragm,
The ribcage settles above the hip bones,
Above the pelvis,
The sacrum,
And above that we have the neck and the head.
So you're just allowing your body to gently align itself like a column of light.
In this space here you're just going to begin to gently follow your breath.
We're not forcing the breath to follow a certain pattern or rhythm at this point.
We're just letting the breath flow in and flow back out.
You can see where your attention is drawn in your body most.
Sometimes we feel the rise and fall of the chest or the belly.
Just allow your focus to gently rest there.
Allow your stomach to expand and contract with the breath.
There's no need to brace yourself for anything in this moment.
You are safe.
It is safe for you to relax.
We're just gonna stay here for a few moments.
Continue to follow the breath.
As you follow your breath,
Allow your attention to drift to the center of your chest.
Imagine there is a space there that's opening up.
It's this gentle warm white light.
You allow your gaze to be drawn into this white light.
The further you go,
The more you begin to see a landscape opening up before you.
You're walking down a path and there are stones under your feet just gently crunching as you walk with each step.
As you walk down this path you see there's trees on either side of you.
Tall evergreens,
Some aspens,
Some oaks.
And then before you there opens up a space and in this space there is a lake.
You continue to walk towards the lakeshore and the waves against the shore mimic your breath so you continue to breathe in and out in a steady gentle pattern.
You just arrive on this lakeshore with the water gently lapping at your feet and there's trees surrounding you on all sides.
You can see on the distant shores of the lake there is an expanse of forest and it's a warm day but there's this gentle cool breeze just touching the tops of the trees.
They're swaying gently in the breeze.
So allow yourself to come to this lakeshore.
As you arrive here you are steeped in this knowing that there's nowhere else for you to be.
There's nothing else for you to do right now.
Your only task is to be present.
If you're wearing shoes or sandals you just gently shuck them off to the side and the stones are cool underneath your feet.
You begin to walk into the water.
So first the water is just gently lapping at your ankles.
Feel the coolness,
Cool soothing textures just washing away any heaviness that you're carrying around your ankles.
Anything that you feel has been weighing you down.
You continue a little deeper and that same water begins to cradle your shins,
Your calves,
Your knees.
Just continuing to take those nice deep steady breaths as you let the water hold you.
As the water comes up over your hips just gently graze your fingers along the surface of the water.
Open your fingers.
Let that water drift through.
If you've been holding any tension in your hands or in your jaw just gently clench your hands stronger.
Make strong fists and then you're gonna let them go.
Just lean all the way into that tension and when you feel like you reach a breaking point you're just gonna let it go.
Let it go.
Let it go.
As you let go you just imagine whatever has been on your mind lately,
Whatever has been bothering you,
Weighing you down,
Heavy in your chest,
In your heart space.
I'm just gonna imagine that slowly seeping out through your arms,
Out through your hands and down into the water.
Let the water carry whatever has been heavy for you.
You don't have to hold it any longer.
The water continues to move against your hips,
Against your stomach.
Just gently washing away,
Cleansing away anything that has been stuck,
Stagnant,
Heavy.
And you just let it go.
Continue to breathe in,
Feel the heaviness.
Exhale.
You're gonna let it go.
Let it seep into the water.
Water is love.
She's willing to wash away whatever is no longer serving you.
So we're just gonna stay here in this process for a few more moments.
Feeling the love of the water,
The love of the trees,
Feeling how held you are in this moment.
Just bringing your awareness back to your heart space.
If there's any last pieces of density that you wish to let go of in this moment,
Sending it out through your arms,
Through your fingertips into the water.
Thanking the water for its presence here today.
You're gonna slowly turn around and begin to make your way back up the shore.
Feel the new lightness in your being.
Having let go of what was no longer serving you.
The stones begin to crunch beneath your feet again as you leave the water,
As you step back towards the trees,
Back towards the forest,
Back to where you began.
As you are walking back into the forest,
You just pause beside one tree.
You're gonna place your hand against the bark,
Feeling the texture beneath your fingertips.
The contrast between the fluidity of the water and the solidness of the earth.
You're just gonna feel the way this tree is willing to help you anchor back into your body.
The way this tree is there for you.
And if ever,
As you move through the rest of your day,
Through the rest of your week,
You find yourself feeling ungrounded,
Just come back to this place in your mind.
Come back to this tree.
Come back to your heart.
You don't have to carry everything on your shoulders.
You can begin to bring your presence back to the here and now.
Feeling your fingers,
Feeling your toes.
Rub your hands gently along your thighs and just thank yourself for showing up for you today.
Whenever you're ready,
You can go.
