You now begin the exercise Thoughts are like clouds.
Come and sit in your quiet practice position and simply put your hand on your belly.
Move your attention to the breathing and the movement of your belly,
Just like a balloon in inhalation and exhalation.
Then move your attention to both your ears and listen to the sounds around you.
Perhaps you notice that sounds come and go.
Some sounds are close by and some are far away.
Some are short and others last longer.
Whatever you notice,
Sounds come,
Stay for a bit and then go away again.
Now move your attention from the sounds to the thoughts.
You watch what comes along into your head.
You don't have to go along with the thought.
You just look at thoughts from a distance.
Sometimes a thought is a word,
An image,
A color and sometimes there is no thought at all.
Just like the sounds,
The thoughts come,
They stay for a bit and then disappear again.
Thoughts are like clouds floating by in the blue sky.
Some clouds drift by quickly and others linger for a long time.
The sky itself does not change because of the clouds.
The air always remains the same.
Notice your thoughts like clouds drifting by.
Now bring your attention back to the breathing in your body.
Come back to your gentle breathing and your belly getting bigger and smaller as you breathe in and out.
And stay like this for a while,
With your gentle breathing and with thoughts that come and go like clouds.
Then open your eyes again quietly and finish the exercise in your own way.
