Canoe journey to your heart.
This guided meditation is designed to bring you closer to your true self.
The meditation will end with three consecutive bells.
To begin,
Find a comfortable sitting position or any way in which you can feel at ease and alert.
Close your eyes and take two or three deeper breaths to signal to your mind and body that you're entering a different space.
Deep breath in and deep breath out.
Allow yourself to be fully present and when a thought of something you should or could be doing arises,
Notice it without becoming entangled in it and gently turn back to this guidance.
If the thought is important,
It will return and you can pay attention to it at another time.
Now allow your breath to return to normal.
Notice the sensations of breathing.
Notice how much is happening right now,
Right here,
The patterns of colors behind your eyelids,
The sensations in your body,
The thoughts that arise and then fade away.
You can focus on any part of your body and notice numerous sensations,
A rich landscape.
Now imagine you are outside on a beautiful sunny day with a temperature just right for light clothing and bare feet.
The sun is warm on your skin.
Imagine a small lake in the woods and a tiny beach of sand on its shore and you're sitting on that beach on the warm sand.
When you put your hands down next to you,
You can feel the sun's energy in every grain of sand.
You know these grains have been around for eons,
Just like the carbon matter that forms your body.
This beach,
This lake,
These woods and you are timeless.
Looking around,
You notice a wooden canoe pulled up onto the beach.
You look over its edge and inside you see beautiful wooden ribs glinting in the sunlight and woven cane seats at the bow in the stern.
You feel that the right thing to do is to get inside this canoe and paddle it into the lake.
You stand up slowly and take a deep breath of fresh mountain air and now you notice a beautiful wooden paddle sitting in the stern of the boat and you immediately know that this is a paddle for you.
Stepping into the cool water by the back of the boat,
You dig your toes into the warm sandy bottom.
Then you step into the boat and sit down in the stern facing the shore.
You take hold of the paddle thinking you will push the boat away with it,
But as if by magic,
The boat slides away from the shore and slowly turns around to point into the center of the lake.
Maybe you have paddled before and maybe this is your first time in a canoe.
Either way,
You know exactly what to do,
As if you have always known.
Your hands hold onto the paddle as if it's an extension of your body and the wood feels smooth against your skin,
Warmed by the sun and perfectly sized to your hands.
You reach forward and you put the paddle into the water and you pull your first stroke.
The canoe pushes forward and slices quietly through the water.
The sun shimmers on the water's surface like a thousand tiny mirrors reflecting the blue sky.
You pull the paddle again and again,
Developing a steady rhythm.
The sound of the water rushes around at the end of the paddle and the strength of your shoulders and the warmth of the sun on your arms all reassure you that you are in exactly the right place at exactly the right time.
As you continue to paddle,
The boat cuts silently through the smooth water straight towards the opposite shore.
Looking ahead,
You notice an opening between the trees and you feel an energy pulling you in that direction.
You continue to pull the paddle through the water and the canoe glides ahead as if it knows where to go.
Now the opening in the opposite shore has grown and you can see that it's a gently flowing river into a forest.
As you approach,
Tall evergreens rise on either side and the wooded shore looks peaceful,
Lined with moss and tall marsh grasses that wave gently over the water's surface.
Here and there,
Water lilies dot the surface of the water like yellow,
Purple and white splashes of paint.
Looking up,
The tops of the trees rise high above you and somehow these trees are comforting,
As if they are watching over you,
Providing shelter for your journey.
In your mind,
You thank the trees for their good work.
As you continue to glide between the shores of this river,
You feel immense gratitude for this extraordinary place,
This amazing beauty.
Now you take a moment to look into the water,
Which is a deep shade of green,
And you can see the bottom where long waving grasses intermingle with the misty rays of the sun that stretch away from you like strips of emerald and gold.
All of it is almost too beautiful for words.
Now,
There is a bend in the river and as you come around,
You notice that up ahead,
The trees open up again and the river gets wider and wider into a new body of water.
On either side of you,
Rocks are starting to emerge from the water,
Creating a kind of lane into this new lake,
As if they're pointing the way you need to go.
You continue to paddle between these beautiful old granite rocks and the sky opens up as the mouth of the river opens into this new body of water.
You notice that this lake is smaller and round with a little wooded island in the middle.
As you stare at that island,
Which also looks perfectly round,
You notice a kind of light,
A warm golden glow shining from somewhere inside it.
At this point,
You can feel that while your paddle is still going through the water every few seconds,
It doesn't seem to be doing much to propel the boat.
The canoe seems to have its own energy,
Its own intention to move you towards that little island.
So you stop paddling and the water continues to slide past beneath you.
Some energy is pulling you ahead.
For a moment,
You glance back and the two rows of rocks into the river are still there and you have a reassuring sense that if you wanted,
You could just turn around and return to where you came from.
But this is not the time.
Looking forward again,
The island has gotten very close.
Now the canoe slides into a shallow sandy opening and comes to a stop on the shore next to some low blueberry bushes.
The sun warms your back as you look into the welcoming woods.
A well-tended path cuts through the blueberry bushes and into the woods and you think you can see a glowing light and you sense the need to move towards it.
A branch leans over the boat like a helping hand and you easily pull yourself out onto the warm earth.
As you walk ahead with your bare feet,
The path is soft,
A combination of grass and moss and earth and you enjoy the feel of it under your feet.
You can feel every little variation in the soil and the ground and you start to feel like your body is part of nature.
You can feel the warm ground and the moist forest air on your skin and your face.
You feel all the muscles in your face relax.
You notice the sun's golden rays slanting through the trees and moats of pollen and little insects dancing in the golden beams.
The temperature has never felt more perfect.
Your lungs have never felt more filled with clean,
Delicious woodland air.
Presently the woods open up into a clearing and your bare feet sink into the rich warm moss.
At the center of the clearing glows a shimmering diffused light,
A pulsing mist of warmth and color.
You step forward towards that light slowly.
Everything inside you recognizes that you've entered a sacred place.
You inhale the smell of trees and soil and moss as if you're breathing in life itself.
Again,
You recognize that you are made of the same matter as everything around you,
That you are as much part of nature as it is part of you.
This is not a place you have come to and can leave.
This place is part of you and you are part of it.
Now you feel like you've entered the center of the light at the center of the clearing at the center of the island.
The warm glow has penetrated your whole body.
You decide to sit down on the soft mossy ground surrounded by warmth and brilliance.
And now you understand that this is your light,
The light you carry with you at every moment of every day.
You feel its brilliance and warmth,
Its powerful life force and its purity.
This is your heart,
Open and strong and capable of illuminating everything you touch.
It is your heart without judgment or fault,
Including all the good and all the bad,
The fears and doubts,
The joys and pleasures,
The moments of clarity and peace.
These are all part of this bright light,
All part of your life force.
Your heart,
A limitless vessel through which all the thoughts and emotions pass,
A vast expanse that is you,
Your consciousness,
Your being much bigger and greater than any single thought or emotion.
In this space,
You welcome every part of yourself undivided and you can see and feel that the many facets of your existence,
Whether painful or pleasant,
Are worth treasuring.
You are a whole human being,
A whole consciousness,
And you shine as brightly as any human has ever shown.
For the next few minutes,
Allow yourself to bask in the glow of you.
Every thought that shows up is welcome and looked at with understanding,
Just another appearance arising and fading inside your vast awareness.
You welcome them all,
Appreciating each one and remembering in these moments that no one thought,
No single feeling defines you.
You are the totality,
The glow,
The moss,
The canoe,
The water,
The island,
The trees,
The day's warmth,
The sun's light.
At the center of it all,
Your extraordinary heart shines the light of your life and you sit comfortably open and receptive inside of its glow.
Thank you.
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