Welcome dear friend.
In this meditation you will be offered an opportunity to savor an open water swimming experience in a quiet sea.
Find a comfortable quiet space where you can sit or lie down.
Make yourself comfortable and ensure your spine is in alignment so that energy can flow freely through your body as you breathe.
Begin to settle into the posture and relax.
Draw awareness to your breath.
Feel the air filling your lungs,
Expanding the space in your belly,
Rib cage and chest as you inhale.
Feel the soft release as you slowly let out a long exhale.
Continue to follow your breath,
Feeling its easy flow in and out,
In and out of your lungs and nostrils.
Now draw awareness to the screen in front of your closed eyelids.
Allow your awareness to open to the Chittikasha or space of consciousness.
You may see shapes and colors on this expanse of space already.
Now allow your imagination to open up so you can take a visualization journey with me.
70% of God's beautiful earth is covered by sea and ocean.
What a gift that water is,
Especially to you,
A swimmer.
You see water and all you can think about is immersing yourself in it.
It is a part of you,
This affinity you have for the water.
Now visualize yourself standing on a tropical Caribbean island.
You feel warm Sun and a sea breeze kiss your skin.
You walk down a conch shell lined path past dozens of coconut trees toward the beach.
Finally you can see what you've been longing for,
The Caribbean Sea.
You look over the broad expanse of aquamarine water.
The sea is calm this morning,
Beckoning you to swim.
You place your goggles over your eyes and wade into the sea,
Sliding your feet across the sandy bottom.
The temperature is just right and you eagerly plunge into the water.
You begin stroking,
Reaching,
Pulling,
Breathing and kicking,
Savoring the sensation of the salty sea rushing over your skin as you get into the rhythm of your stroke.
Swimming always has a way of breathing new life into your being.
Warm gratitude swells in your heart as you kick and pull through the water.
You're so grateful for the lakes,
Seas and oceans on this beautiful planet that offer you endless opportunities for these swims,
Which feel like a miracle every time you experience them.
The water is crystal clear.
You swim past a school of six spotted rays.
You pause and watch spellbound as they flap their water wings through the saline water in graceful flight.
You stroke your way over a beautiful reef,
Soaking up a view through your goggles of the variety of coral,
Brilliant red fire coral,
Gold elkhorn-like branches and knobby white masses that look like cauliflower.
You see brittle starfish with brilliant spiky orange tips clinging to reef ledges.
You glide among schools of blue damselfish,
Parrotfish and pairs of king angelfish and spot a pouting nurse shark hiding under a ledge.
Before long you're talking to the fish.
Always when you are alone in open sea connecting with nature,
You feel at peace,
Acceptable,
As if there is nothing about who you are that needs changing.
It's so freeing.
You see a blue tang swimming among a large school of yellow striped French grunts.
These fish are brilliant blue with yellow tails and black accents.
You wonder if the blue tang lost her mother.
It seems she's been adopted by her striped companions and probably doesn't even know she appears different from them.
If only all humans could be so accommodating,
Accepting and welcoming everyone regardless of skin color,
Nationality,
Sex,
Political views or religion.
As you continue to stroke through the water,
Feeling happy chemicals surging through your veins,
You continue savoring this underwater view more amazing than any view you've ever seen in an aquarium.
You see a butterfly fish with a big black spot near its tail,
A green puffer fish with hooded eyes,
A pair of black and orange French angelfish.
Up close their eyes look like yellow and black marbles.
Every fish you see has pectoral fins that are delicate and fan-like that wave through the water like small wings.
On your way back to shore,
You roll over onto your back,
Floating in the salty water,
Slowly kicking your legs.
You savor the sensation of your body's boundaries mingling with the surrounding sea.
You feel like your entire body has melted,
Become liquid,
Become a part of the sea.
Gazing towards shore,
You see an endless stretch of sea grapes and coconut palms.
Overhead are puffy clouds painted brilliant shades of pink,
Orange and purple by the rising Sun.
You close your eyes momentarily so you can smell the salt air and savor the sensation of your body gently shifting with the rhythms of the sea.
It is here that you experience peace,
That you connect with your true essence,
That you know that all is well.
Now slowly allow these images to drift into the recesses of your mind or you can bring them back whenever you need them.
Bring your awareness back to present moment,
Space and time,
Noticing your body relaxed in the room where you are resting.
Feel the easy flow of your breath.
Begin to bring slow movements into your fingers and toes and when you feel ready,
Roll over onto your right side and slowly make your way back up to seated.
Thank you dear one for joining me for the sea swimmers meditation.
The divine light in me honors the divine light in you.
Namaste
