Detaching ourselves from our thoughts,
Because we really aren't our thoughts,
Even though we like to think that we are our thoughts or that our thoughts are somehow who we are connected to us in some way.
So this is a breathing exercise and detachment exercise.
So I just invite you to go ahead and get comfortable.
And we're going to begin with our eyes open.
And I invite you,
I invite you to just unfocus your eyes and just notice how much of your peripheral vision you can take in.
Unfocusing from looking at anything in particular and just bringing your awareness out to the very edges of your vision on the left and right side of you simultaneously.
And now I just invite you to breathe in and we're going to hold it for a moment.
So breathe in and hold and breathe out and release all of the thoughts and worries and concerns of the day and continuing to unfocus your eyes.
Now notice your vision as high as you can look and as low as you can look while keeping that unfocused softness to your eyes,
Spreading your awareness out as high as you can see and as low as you can see simultaneously.
And noticing when you're in this space of unfocused awareness that you can see your body,
But it kind of just melts and merges into everything else that you're looking at.
Now I invite you to breathe in and hold.
Once again,
Breathe out any of the anxiety or the stress or the thoughts of the day,
Letting it all fall away.
With your eyes still open,
Expands that awareness out just a little bit further beyond,
Beyond what you thought your vision could see,
Perhaps expanding your awareness and your sights all the way behind you as you become aware of your peripheral vision in a greater and greater degree.
And breathe in,
Hold and breathe out and softly close your eyes if you feel comfortable or soften your gaze and continue to take deep intentional breaths.
Feeling when you breathe in,
Feeling the expansiveness in your lungs,
In your belly,
In your chest.
And when you breathe out,
Just feeling the release with every out breath,
Letting go of anything that no longer serves,
Continuing to focus your attention and awareness on your breathing.
When you breathe in,
Where do you first notice your breath?
Do you first notice it in your nose or your throat or your chest or your belly?
And when you breathe out,
Can you fully release all the way down to your fingertips and your toes,
Staying conscious of our breathing.
And as we focus on our breath and focus on just becoming aware in this present moment,
Thoughts arise.
It's what they are made to do.
It's what our brains are made to do.
They are made to think.
So the intention of meditation is not to have no thoughts,
But rather to unattach from the thoughts that arise.
And so we stay focused on our breathing.
And I invite you to visualize yourself sitting on the edge of a riverbank,
Looking out over the river,
Letting everything else fall away.
And even on this river,
Being conscious of your breath,
Conscious of your breath,
Take in all of your surroundings on this river.
Notice what color the water is.
Are there rocks or islands or pebbles that you can see in the water?
Is the current moving fast or slow?
Are you sitting on a sandy riverbank?
Are you sitting with some trees,
Perhaps on a rock?
What does the river sounds like?
Can you hear the current flowing?
Perhaps you can smell the freshness of the water.
This riverbank is the riverbank of your minds.
So as you sit and watch this river flowing,
When thoughts arise,
I invite you to just notice the thoughts,
Then set it into the river and watch it flow away,
Completely unattached,
Completely non-judgmental,
Just noticing every thought that arises,
No matter what the thought is,
Just setting it on the river,
Watching it floats downstream until it's out of your sight,
Turns a corner,
Maybe it just gets so far away that you can't pick it out from the water with your eyes.
So now I just invite you to spend a few minutes consciously breathing,
Sitting on this riverbank,
Every thought that you have,
Thanking it,
Gently setting it in the river and watching it float away,
Continuing to be conscious of your breath.
If you find yourself deep into a thought,
No longer on the riverbank,
That's okay.
There's no judgment here in the river of your mind.
It's all just awareness and consciousness and bliss.
So if you find your mind wandering off,
Gently bring it back,
Sit back down on the riverbank,
Become conscious once again of your breath and set the thoughts down on the river,
Watch it gently float away.
Often we will find that we're having the same thoughts over and over again.
Perhaps it's a thought of a person,
Our situation,
Or an item on our to-do list,
Or our work,
Our partner,
Or our finances.
This is such good information.
There's no judgment,
It's just information.
What is seeking to be released,
What is calling us to return to our own breath.
And this river,
This river that exists in our minds is able to hold all of this.
So if you find yourself having the same thought over and over,
It's okay.
You can set that thing in the river as many times as you need.
You can put that person on a float and just watch them float away.
You put that to-do list in the river and watch it dissolve and break apart in the rapids.
You can set your bank accounts in the river and watch them just float gently downstream.
Everything that needs to be known will be known in the perfect and right time.
So we can just let it all go in this moment.
After you release that thing,
Whether it's for the first time or the thousandth time,
Just return to the breath,
Feeling the experience of expansion as you breathe in and release as you breathe out.
Perhaps you can only breathe an eighth of a breath before your mind brings up the next thought.
That's okay.
No judgment.
Your mind is just doing what minds do.
It's just thinking.
You can just set it in the river.
Perhaps you can breathe a whole breath or two breaths or five breaths before it comes up with the next thought.
That is also okay.
No judgment.
Your mind is just doing what minds do.
You simply release the thoughts onto the river.
Return to your breath.
So just as our minds are always thinking and always producing thoughts,
This river is always flowing.
So at every moment,
Any time,
Day or night,
We can stop what we're doing.
We can place our thoughts on the river and watch them gently float away and return ourselves to this present moment.
Return ourselves to our breath,
Detaching from those thoughts.
It's just our minds thinking.
It is not who we are.
It's not the essence of our beingness.
These thoughts are just thoughts.
It's okay to let them go.
It's okay to detach from them.
So you are welcome to continue to sit here on your riverbank for as long as you want.
Or you can stand up,
Step away,
Begin to return to this physical space-time plane if you wish.
If you feel ready,
Taking an extra deep breath in,
Releasing it,
Maybe beginning to wiggle fingers and toes to a neck roll,
Coming back to this time,
This space,
This place,
Preparing yourself for your return to the real world,
Whatever that means.
When you feel ready and comfortable,
You can open your eyes or you can simply stay in this space on your riverbank.
