Welcome travellers,
And welcome to this new meditation journey where we will travel along the Amazon River.
Let's take our time to settle and relax.
Come to a position of laying or seated that feels best for you.
Make sure that you are warm and comfortable.
You may want to close the eyes or let the gaze be soft.
As the body comes to calm and settles,
We'll let the breath come to calm as well,
Easeful and unhurried.
We'll bring a little bit of that calm to the mind as well.
Any busy thoughts from your day,
We'll gather them up and pop them aside.
As we travel today,
We want to travel light so we'll set down any busy thoughts we don't want to carry with us.
Just allow yourself to feel restful in this place.
There is nothing you need to do.
Simply to be restful and listen as we journey in the mind's eye.
Our journey will start in the town of Iquitos in Peru.
This is a town that runs alongside the banks of a great river.
Within its streets there are beautiful cathedrals and churches and houses painted in beautiful pastel colours.
Wooden shutters covering windows in complementary colours.
This is a busy port town as people sail and bring their boats to dock with their goods for sale.
The market street we find ourselves upon is a hubbub of activity.
Children are playing and animals are moving around hopefully for a little scrap of food.
Stool holders and shoppers are talking about the beautiful produce.
There are fruits and vegetables of every colour.
Huge avocados,
Bright peppers and shiny red tomatoes.
Suedes of silvery fish lay glinting in the sun so fresh from the waters below.
Stalls sell beads and jewellery made from seeds found deep in the rainforest.
Little dolls made up of dried grasses made by students of the shaman for good luck and positive spirits.
The sun is warm and bright in the afternoon sky and you move about the happy noise and joyful busyness of market day.
Behind the market the banks of the river are jostling with little wooden canoes and all sorts of boats.
You spot the boat that you will be riding on on your journey.
A river cruiser with little portholes with comfortable cabins inside.
Shiny wooden deck and freshly polished handrails.
And a great canvas canopy to shelter the top deck from the sun.
And underneath it there are beautiful bright hammocks and comfortable chairs for relaxing in as you take in the views of the river and the rainforest.
So you take one last look around you at the beautiful market.
Just taking a little snapshot in your minds eye of the colourful market stalls.
The smell of spices and cooking food from street vendors and the sound of activity around you.
And then as you step aboard your boat you walk along the polished wooden deck of the boat towards the very front.
And seamlessly and quietly your crew raise the anchor and you are aboard this beautiful boat on the rippling waters of the Amazon River.
You hear the water gurgling and moving around the bow of the boat as you move easefully.
And although not rushing it is not long before the sounds of the town become distant and dim.
And the busy boats and the busy market stalls are replaced by lush green reeds and grasses.
And more rural homes,
Wooden huts on stilts with great fat roofs of reeds like beautiful tree houses.
Further still and the great tall trees of the rainforest come into view.
Beautiful tall slender trunked trees that gently bow over the water.
And great wide trees with buttress roots that rise tall like cathedral spires.
Creating a beautiful canopy of green above you from which the evening sun shines through golden and sparkling.
And as the last sounds of the town fall away then we move into the realm of the animals.
First that splashing water around the boat gurgles with splashes of pink river dolphins and manatees.
Maybe in the grass along the banks of the river you spot the sparkling eyes of little caiman like little tiny crocodiles.
Maybe the beautiful broad face of the capybara.
Giant mammals like huge guinea pigs gently grazing on their supper.
Docile,
Kind and calm.
And then as your gaze follows the great tree trunks up into the canopy.
Maybe if you are lucky you'll see the slow smiling face of the sloth.
So sweet and unhurried as they gaze upon you.
And the flurry of bright parrots and birds fly above you.
The flash of yellow of the great toucan's beak.
You are surrounded by life.
Carried within the water and within the trees.
Supported by this amazing ecosystem.
You see these beautiful animals untroubled by your calm and quiet journey through the water.
Now our rainforest soon lives up to its name as clouds gather all of a sudden.
When rain descends in great sheets of warm water washing over the deck of the boat and drenching you completely.
The water is warm and soothing.
And as the river water dances as each raindrop falls into it you feel that your day has been washed away.
The noisiness the busyness the dust and the dirt all washed away.
As if you have been cleansed and cleared of all stresses.
Almost as though you have crossed a threshold from the noise of the human world into the calm of this natural world.
And just as soon as it has appeared the rain stops.
And all is calm.
The animals have retreated into their places of safety and warmth.
But now perhaps the animals of the evening and night appear as the sun sets low below the horizon.
The frogs begin to call and the insects begin to sing.
And the warm air feels so clear now washed clean and last to emerge for the fireflies of the forest.
Dancing on the edges of the water above the reeds and the grasses.
They dance.
They light up the edges of the river creating a great line of light like a landing strip for an airplane.
As if guiding you further and deeper into this magical forest.
Within these waters you will find creatures of myth and magic.
Within the forest you will find beautiful animals of every kind.
The secretive and stealthy jaguar.
The slow and sweet sloth.
The kindly capybara.
Further still into the forest you will find ancient ruins and mystical shaman.
The river of the Amazon and the forest and its animals welcome you.
For you to journey onwards and inwards.
That's the meaning of a So my darling traveller,
If you wish to come to the end of this meditation and gently wiggle and move the body and flicker open the eyes when you are ready,
You can return to the world.
If you wish to stay a little longer in this restful place,
Then feel free to just be here with the music that I will let play for a few minutes more.
Either way,
Take your time.
I hope you have enjoyed your journey.
Welcome home.
