The Tao Of Flow

Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, said that we can learn from water how to flow through life. In this water meditation, Saqib will guide you through a visualization practice that will make you experience the journey of water in nature. Through this experience one can learn how to live this life from a place of "being" and "pure awareness", and still benefit others without making too much effort and without causing oneself stress and anxiety. If you like this practice, then check out Saqib's course here on Insight Timer: "Non-Duality."

Transcript

Namaste and a warm welcome to the Dao of Flow.

My name is Saqib and I am your guide for this meditation.

Before we begin with the meditation,

I would like to give you a background on this topic for a few minutes,

Because it is essential to understand the concept to make our meditation more effective and enjoyable.

The Daoist philosophy was proposed by Lao Tzu,

Who is believed to have lived somewhere around the 6th century BC.

Lao Tzu believed that Dao cannot be described.

This is what he said.

The Dao that can be described is not the eternal Dao.

He meant that the Dao is something to be experienced,

Which cannot be confined to the limitations of language.

Therefore Dao can have various meanings.

However,

The soul is the primary focus in the Daoist teachings.

Although Dao literally means the way,

The earliest of the Daoist philosophers have explained the Dao in the following manner.

Quote,

The true Dao is an all-encompassing force that is beyond our comprehension and cannot be perceived by the senses.

And even though we can never grasp the true Dao,

The goal is to live in agreement with it.

These Daoist philosophers meant that there is a force,

An energy that runs through the universe,

Which makes nature flow the way it flows.

There is a natural order in the flow of nature caused by a force that we cannot comprehend with our five senses.

On the cosmic level,

This flow is in the form of the movement of planets,

Stars,

Star systems and galaxies.

On the earthly level,

This flow can be seen in nature,

The flow of rivers,

The blooming of flowers,

The coming and going of various seasons,

The balance of the ecosystem and even the internal processes of our body like the beating of the heart,

The blood flow and our digestive system.

Today's meditation is focused on the flow of water.

Laozi believed that water can teach us how to flow through life.

There are certain characteristics of water from which we can learn and hence live in harmony with nature.

This seems logical because the truth is that 60-70% of our body is water and therefore we are mostly water.

Even our planet is 70% water.

We will learn from seven such characteristics of water and then we will do a water meditation.

The following are the seven characteristics of water.

1.

Water has no goals.

Water just flows without any purpose and still benefits all sentient beings.

Similarly,

We can live our life without any specific goals that cause us stress and anxiety and we can still benefit others.

2.

Water keeps moving to stay pure.

If water becomes static,

It becomes impure and causes diseases.

Similarly,

We human beings should keep moving to stay healthy.

3.

Water understands impermanence.

It transforms from gas to liquid to ice and from a raindrop to a river to an ocean.

Similarly we human beings should understand the impermanence and changing nature of everything in the universe and not get attached to things or people.

4.

Water adapts.

It takes the shape of the container it goes into.

Similarly,

We can learn to adapt to any difficult situation that we face in our lives.

5.

Water settles for the lowest places.

It always flows downwards.

Similarly,

We can learn to be humble and not fuel our egos.

6.

Water is soft,

But still it has the power to erode rocks and metals and even cause tsunamis.

Similarly,

We can be compassionate,

But we can still overcome the greatest challenges in our lives.

7.

Water is fearless.

A river faces its death when it merges with the ocean.

We should also be fearless in facing our death.

The way a river merges with the ocean,

Similarly in death,

Our individual consciousness merges with the universal consciousness or god or whatever we believe in.

As this merger is something beautiful and inevitable,

It doesn't make sense to fear it.

So these were the characteristics of water that can teach us how to flow through life.

Now without further ado,

Let's meditate.

I would request you to sit in a comfortable posture with your back straight but relaxed at the same time.

And now you can gradually close your eyes.

As you close your eyes,

Bring your awareness to your body.

And just relax your body.

One by one relax each and every part of your body.

So bring your awareness to your head.

And relax your head.

Feel your head becoming lighter and lighter.

Relax your neck.

Relax your shoulders.

Relax your chest,

Your abdomen.

Relax your arms and hands.

Relax your back,

Your pelvis.

Relax your back,

Your pelvis.

Relax your thighs and your knees.

And relax your calves and your feet.

And now you can gradually bring your awareness to your breath.

Breathe in through your nose and breathe out through your mouth.

And as you do so,

Let your awareness follow the flow of your breath in through your nose,

Into your windpipe,

Into your lungs and back from your lungs,

Through your windpipe and out through your mouth.

And as you do so,

Let your awareness follow the flow of your breath in through your mouth.

If you find your awareness distracted,

Just acknowledge that you are thinking and without any judgment,

Gently bring your awareness back to your breath.

You know in your mind's eye,

Imagine and visualize that you are a cloud floating over the earth,

Floating in the sky.

As you are floating,

See the earth below you.

See the various landscapes as you move across the atmosphere of the earth.

Feel yourself floating in the sky.

You can see mountains below you.

You can see the forest.

You can see the grasslands.

You can see the ocean.

You can see the plains.

And you can see the rivers.

And now visualize that you have become a drop of water in the cloud.

Feel yourself as this drop of water ready to go down to the earth.

And now you have started falling from the sky as this raindrop.

You eventually fall into this river flowing down from the mountain.

And now you have become the river.

Imagine and visualize yourself as this river flowing down from a mountain.

Feel the gravity pulling you down from the mountain.

Feel your own speed.

Look at the beautiful valley around you as you are flowing downwards.

And just notice that although you are flowing down as a river,

You have no goals.

You are just flowing with this universal energy.

Also notice that how this movement of yours is keeping you pure and fresh.

And as you are flowing further downwards as this river,

Just notice how you are eroding rocks on the way.

Feel that strength and power of eroding the rocks.

And now you have entered the plains and the grasslands.

Notice how your speed is reduced as you enter these grasslands.

Also notice that how you always settle for the lowest places.

The universal energy always pulls you down.

And now you enter the forests.

Look at the beautiful forests around you.

Look at the flora and fauna.

And see how you are benefiting all animals,

All trees by just being,

By just flowing through life,

You are still benefiting all beings.

And now you enter the city.

And just notice how you are benefiting the entire city by just being.

And now it is time for you to merge with the ocean.

You now enter the ocean and you have now become the ocean.

Feel that expansion as you are becoming the ocean.

Feel this expansion of consciousness.

Feel the vastness of the ocean.

And notice how you are a single drop in the ocean but at the same time you are the entire ocean in a single drop.

Feel the calmness and stillness in your depths.

And just notice that how by just being you are benefiting the aquatic life.

Observe the blue sky and the sun above you.

And now as this swim drop in the ocean you have started evaporating.

The heat of the sun is turning you into a vapor.

And now you are rising above from the ocean.

You are moving upwards as this gas.

And eventually you again merge with the cloud.

And now again you have become the cloud.

Notice your own impermanence and how you have changed throughout this entire journey.

And with that you can gradually bring your awareness back to your body.

To your surroundings.

Feel the weight of your body on the couch or on the chair.

Come back in your body,

Feel your body.

Feel your arms and hands.

And gradually in your own time you can open your eyes and come out of the meditation.

Thank you for joining me in this meditation today.

I hope you experienced the flow.

Take care and Namaste.

Reviews

Beautiful meditation on experiencing non duality and flow. Thank you 🙏 ✨🩵

Very helpful; I have used this meditation in the past, thank you so much. Also, another meditator left a message encouraging me to listen to this, so I will pass it on as well. 🙏❤️🍀

It was a wonderful meditation! I enjoyed to become like water in my life. This meditation has brought awareness on impermanence in a gentle way.
I enjoyed learning about the 7 characteristics of 💦 water.
Thank you for this gentle, kind and powerful meditation.
Diane

Everything is really is connected. Thank you for guiding us through that journey… except for passing through the city, that just made me feel sad about how humans all too often mindlessly pollute our beautiful blue little planet.

What a pleasant experience to be in flow as the inevitably changing form of water. I truly felt the importance of the yin or yang of each stage, as well as “my” importance in the universe, just by existing—regardless of the current water composition.
Additionally, the quality of impermanence itself, has left a new, valuable impression upon me as I practiced this splendid meditation. Thank you!

This is excellent I feel more in the flow of life!!

This was absolutely magical and extraordinary ✨💫🤍thanks!!

This was so beautiful and exactly what I needed to hear today. The way you described the Tao as characteristics of water flowing is how I feel, but no one else seems to understand it so I feel like a fish out of water. Thank you for letting me know I’m not alone.

A deeply spiritual experience to make water a metaphor for life including evaporating, returning to the cloud and reincarnating.

Beautiful journey through the life of being water. I like your voice and style. Thank you

Dear Saqib, this was an excellent meditation to realize to go with the flow of life and that everything is impermanent. I loved the visualization of the different forms water takes through the entire meditation and how we can relate that to ourselves and our own life. I am so calm and relaxed.

With gratitude and love,
Stacey

That was a very powerful reminder of how we should take an outlook on life. Thank you.

Thank you so much for this amazing and inspiring moment. This was truly an insightful and reflective meditation. I enjoyed every second of it and thank you dear soul for sharing this jewel with us.
Merci beaucoup! 🌈✨️🙏✨️

A very special meditation, being transported from your cushion to being a particle of water from cloud to sea.
Thank you thank you.

Absolutely amazing! All of your meditations are so relaxing and fantastic!

Soothing, calm, relaxing ✨Truly felt the flow, thank you for this meditation 💗Namaste 🙏🏽

I absolutely love this man’s meditations. I thoughtful, paced well, and I’m always contented after opening. Thank you.

Thankyou for sharing this was very peaceful and connective. 🪷

So perfect a meditation on the tao philosophy merging with the life sustaining and empowerment of water. Love it. I will turn to it often for meditation.

Beautiful teaching, beautiful meditation. I was able to follow the journey with ease. Thank you!