This is Paula Jenkins and welcome to Insight Timer.
This visualization will take you through a journey to a beautiful stream where you will be releasing things that are feeling heavy to you today and are perhaps weighing you down.
In preparation for our journey to the stream,
I invite you to find a calm and quiet spot where you can sit and be comfortable closing your eyes for the next 10 or so minutes.
Once you have found that place,
Arrange yourself so that you are comfortable.
Notice the ground beneath you and how it supports you and I invite you to take in a deep breath.
Feel it expand your lungs and hold it for a moment and then exhale.
Inhale again and exhale.
Allow your shoulders to drop down and allow yourself to sit for just a moment in stillness,
In quiet.
Let go of whatever you may have brought with you from the rest of your day until this moment.
Inhale and exhale.
And now closing your eyes,
Visualize that you have just entered a beautiful,
Cool forest.
Ahead of you lies a path that is well worn and easy to walk and you begin walking this path.
You notice around you beautiful,
Tall redwood trees that reach up,
Up,
Up to the sky.
There is gentle,
Dappled light that hits through the trees and makes beautiful splotches around you,
On the floor,
On your face,
On your hand as you extend it out.
You take a moment to breathe in this beauty and you continue walking.
Down a gentle incline and you find yourself crossing a beautiful footbridge made of a fallen redwood tree that takes you over a small running creek that was just filled by a recent rain.
You continue walking down the path,
Ferns all around you,
A small pond is off to your right and you stop to wonder about how this came to be,
A stream,
A pond.
It looks like it is out of a painting.
You continue on through this forest.
You find a light-filled opening that leads out onto a gentle beach.
Across the rocks and the sand is a stream.
There is no one else around and you walk towards the water.
You notice that parts of the water are calm where the stream is wide.
The water pools in circles and dances in front of you as it looks to find its way.
And then a little further down,
The stream narrows.
And then a little further down,
Where the stream is banked by many rocks,
It narrows and becomes faster and the water is rushing.
This reminds you of your life and how sometimes the water is gentle and looping and finds its way to a warm shore and all feels well.
And there are other times when the waters feel hurried and rushed and the things around you feel hard and unforgiving.
On your journey today,
You may have brought some things that feel heavy like these rocks.
Things that are getting in the way of your life being smooth and sunny and gentle like the easy pools of water that are in the water.
In thinking about just one of those heavy things,
You bend down and you pick up a rock.
A rock that feels heavy,
Large,
Solid in your hand.
And you think of this rock as a rock that is heavy and you can't lift it.
And you think of this rock as if it is that heavy thing that you have brought with you.
You feel its weight in your hand and mindfully you decide that you will be releasing the hold that this heavy thing has on your heart.
With sure-footedness and great decision,
You throw this rock into the quick waters of the stream.
You delight in the sound that it makes as it enters the water.
You feel a certain ease as you watch it sink and notice that you can no longer see that rock under the waters.
As you notice the water flowing above that rock,
You think of the waters rushing and lifting away the worries and the trouble and the concern that you have about the issue that that rock represented.
The water washes it clean.
The water takes the hardness away.
The water will smooth this issue,
The concern.
And the water will take it for you.
In this moment,
You feel a great sense of peace in having released this thing,
This heavy burden,
To the waters.
You sit and watch as the water rushes over that spot for a few moments.
You may decide that you have another thing that you would like to release.
And so you reach down to pick up another stone,
Allowing it to represent another hard thing that you want to release mindfully today.
And you toss that stone into the water.
Again,
Noticing the lovely sound it makes as it plops into the stream.
Noticing how the water just works its way around it.
Noticing the lightness that you feel in being able to release these things that feel heavy.
In your mind's eye,
You may choose to release a few more things here as you stand by the shore,
Watching this sure water,
Watching it wash away the things that make things hard.
Or you may decide to just sit and delight in the twinkling of the sunlight on the top of the water.
And noticing the little swirls and pools that the water makes as you sit by the shore.
And I invite you to sit here for a few minutes and contemplate what it means to truly release these things that you have fed to the stream.
What it will mean for the water to wash over you.
What it would mean for you to be like those rocks that you have released.
What it would mean for you to be like those rocks that you have released.
The water smoothing the edges,
The water purifying.
The water cleaning away whatever feels hard.
The water taking with it whatever you will for it to take.
Once you have gathered your thoughts and turned over to the stream,
To release today,
You stand up,
Imagine yourself straight and strong.
Even in your seat right now,
Maybe you straighten your back,
Put your hand on your heart.
And you follow your path back up through the beautiful forest and its coolness and its beauty and its dappled light and its welcoming path.
And as you reach the end of the path,
You find yourself feeling a great sense of appreciation,
Of gratitude,
Of understanding and of connection with this beautiful place that you have visited today.
I invite you to open your eyes,
Allow them to flutter open and to become present again to the room that you are sitting in.
As you go about your day,
Take this deep peace with you,
Knowing that this stream is always there for you should you need to revisit and re-release or send another hard thing.
This stream is always available to you for the next time you want to release something mindfully or the next time you want to sit in the peaceful sunlight and just be.
