So,
Just go ahead and get yourself into a comfortable position and just notice your body just resting.
And take a moment to wiggle around in your chair or if you're standing just get yourself comfortable.
And notice your breathing.
Don't yet change your breathing but just notice air going in and out.
As the music is introduced allow that sound to fill the space.
If you're wearing headphones allow it to transport you.
And just feeling the contact between your feet and the floor and the seat and the chair.
And when you're ready just go ahead and close your eyes if you're able to do so,
If you feel comfortable doing so.
And for the next few breaths just bring your full attention to your breathing.
Notice the feeling of the air flowing in through the nostrils down into the lungs,
Into the belly as you inhale and then on the exhale feeling the release of any tension as you let the air out slowly.
And now imagine that you're sitting by the side of a gently flowing stream and this might be a stream that you know or it might be something that you create for yourself in your mind in this moment using your imagination.
And there might be a light breeze blowing as you sit there,
Dappled light glistening on the water and soft green grass beneath you.
Imagine the stream however you would like.
And now imagine that there are leaves floating on the surface of the stream and these leaves are gently flowing past you down the stream.
And for the next few moments see if you can take your thoughts as they pop into your head and place it on a leaf.
Now your thoughts may show up in your mind in the form of words or pictures or maybe it's something else.
However a thought arises simply place it on a leaf and let it float by.
So do this regardless of whether the thoughts are positive and enjoyable or negative and challenging and simply place each on a leaf and let it float down the stream.
And if you notice that your thoughts stop momentarily just watch the stream and sooner or later your thoughts will start up again.
And allow the stream to flow at its own rate.
There's no need to try and speed it up.
The aim here is not to wash the leaves away.
The aim is just to let the leaves flow by.
Allowing your thoughts to just come and go in their own time to just sit and watch.
And if your mind says something along the lines of I can't do this or this is stupid just place those thoughts on the leaf as well and let them float by.
And if the leaf gets stuck let it hang around.
There's no need to force it to float away just sit and watch as sooner or later another leaf will come along and give it the nudge that it needs.
And if a difficult thought arises such as boredom or impatience or anxiety just simply acknowledge it and say to yourself here's a feeling of boredom,
Here's a feeling of impatience,
Here's a feeling of anxiety and place those words on leaves as well.
And from time to time your thoughts will hook you and you'll lose track of the exercise.
This is normal because our minds naturally wander.
And as soon as you realize this has happened simply come back to your stream.
Just continuing to place each thought that pops into your mind on a leaf and watching it slip by.
And again and again your thoughts may hook you and remember this is normal and as soon as you notice this has happened just simply come back to your stream.
And as the exercise slowly comes to an end and the music fades begin to let go of your imagined stream and bring your attention back to where you are.
Noticing the sounds around you,
Noticing what you can feel,
Maybe moving the body to wake it.
And when you're ready open your eyes coming back to the space.
