Guided Inner Journey To The Sea

This meditation begins with deep, cleansing breaths and a relaxing body scan before shifting into the guided visualization (8 minutes in). You will be guided to imagine being at the ocean with all of your senses and to allow the environment to resource you. There is an invitation to release to the ocean something that has been weighing on you, or to send out caring wishes. An ocean waves soundtrack (recorded in Marblehead, MA) accompanies the guided visualization portion of this meditation.

Transcript

So I'm inviting you to close your eyes and settle in.

Taking a moment to make yourself comfortable.

Settling into a sitting posture that supports you so that you're sitting upright,

Alert,

And also at ease.

Being aware of what it might mean to sit beautifully and with kindness.

Sensing this meditation as a sacred pause,

An opportunity to come home to yourself.

So gathering the attention inward by closing the eyes and taking a few full deep breaths.

Inhaling deeply through the nose,

Filling up the whole front body with the breath.

And exhaling and letting the out breath be slow,

Smooth,

Releasing,

Letting go.

Taking a few more nice deep breaths like that in your own rhythm.

Full breath in and a slow breath out.

Letting go with the inhale,

Filling the chest and the lungs with this breath,

With vitality.

And with the exhalation,

A sense of relaxing outward,

A releasing,

Letting go.

Now allowing the breathing to resume its natural rhythm.

I don't need to control it in any way,

Just letting it be.

Becoming aware of the energies of the body and how the energy of the day is resting in you.

And inviting relaxation to wash through you as we scan through the body from head to toe.

And the invitation here is first of all to become aware of the energies that are present.

And then to see if it's possible to soften a little.

Without making relaxation be a goal,

But an invitation.

Allowing the forehead to smooth and the brow to relax.

Noticing the energy and the gaze in the eyes,

Even with eyelids closed.

Becoming aware of the quality of the gaze,

Softening,

Widening the gaze so that it's not focused like a laser,

Giving the eyes a rest.

Maybe bringing a slight smile to the eyes,

An attitude of friendliness,

Kindness.

And bringing awareness to the mouth and the jaw area.

Noticing any energies and sensations there and unclenching,

Relaxing.

Maybe bringing a slight smile to the lips,

Bringing awareness into the shoulders.

Again,

Noticing any sensations present in the shoulders.

You might even want to move the shoulders a little,

Maybe wiggling them or lifting the shoulders up towards the ears and letting them fall back and down.

And releasing any tightness,

Any tension in the shoulders.

Inviting relaxation and bringing awareness down through the arms,

Into the hands.

And the hands are just resting gently in your lap,

On your legs.

Softening the hands.

Noticing any sensations that are present in the hands.

Maybe tingling,

Maybe temperature.

Maybe the hands in contact with the legs,

Clothing.

And softening again and bringing awareness down through the legs.

Aware of the position of the legs,

Any sensations that are present.

Bringing awareness to the feet.

Becoming aware of where the feet are in contact with the floor or whatever is supporting you.

And allowing the feet to relax.

Noticing the aliveness in the feet,

Any sensations that are present.

Then bringing awareness to the front body.

And it may be helpful to place a hand on the belly and a hand on the chest.

And noticing the wave of breath moving through the front body as you breathe in and out.

Bringing awareness to your body sitting here.

Breathing.

Aware of the body breathing itself.

Being breathed.

This changing dance of sensation.

Now we'll move into the inner journey part of this meditation.

So imagine you are walking on a path that leads to the ocean.

And you can't see it yet.

But you can hear the seagulls and the rhythm of the waves crashing to shore in the distance.

And you can smell the salty ocean air and breathe it in deeply.

It's a beautiful day to be at the seashore.

And you feel a light breeze dancing with your hair or touching your scalp.

And as you do,

The wind experiences your hair,

Dancing with it or coming in contact with your head.

And as you walk towards the water,

The sparkling blue of the ocean comes into view.

You step off of the path and onto a long stretch of sandy beach.

The sand is soft and warm.

And you might take off your shoes and walk through the sand toward the water.

Feeling the sensations in your feet.

The temperature of the sand and how it massages the bottoms of your feet and feels really nice.

You hear the waves more loudly now and smell the salt water.

The blue of the ocean stretches as far as you can see.

And sunlight sparkles and shimmers on its surface.

There's so much light on the surface of the water.

You notice the waves washing up onto the sand and receding back toward the ocean.

Washing up,

Flowing back down,

Caressing the earth.

You might even hear the sound of some smooth pebbles being sucked back into the ocean with the outgoing movement.

The beautiful music it makes when the pebbles move together.

You stop walking for a moment to enjoy the soothing rhythm of the waves.

You might even want to synchronize your breath with them.

And then you start walking again toward the water,

Over the warm soft sand.

As you approach the water,

You can feel the salty mist from the ocean on your skin.

As you get closer to the waves,

The sand under your feet feels firmer because it's saturated with seawater.

Standing right where the earth meets the sea,

A wave washes over the sand toward you and tickles your toes before receding.

As you step forward,

More waves wash over your feet.

The temperature of the water is very pleasant on your feet.

And you notice the trickling,

Mesmerizing patterns the water makes in the sand as it flows back out.

Almost looks like branches of a tree.

You may wish to stand here,

Or perhaps you'd prefer to walk along the shore.

Or to sit.

So taking a little time to do that.

Taking in the sounds and all the sensory impressions.

Now as you stand or walk or sit,

You become aware of the thoughts or the emotional weather you've carried with you to the ocean.

And become aware of something in particular that's on your mind or in your heart.

Taking a moment to touch in with your heart and mind to see what's alive for you.

Maybe something that's unresolved.

Maybe a question you're grappling with.

Or some kind of anxiety,

Fear,

Or stressor.

Or maybe a limiting belief that doesn't serve you.

As you hold whatever it is inside you,

You take in the immensity of the ocean landscape.

And experience yourself as part of it.

The ocean is big enough to hold whatever you bring to it.

Being at the ocean gives you a greater perspective.

Whatever is troubling your heart doesn't seem quite so overwhelming within this vast landscape and the rhythmic soundscape of the waves.

In a moment,

The ocean will help you to release whatever it is you're carrying.

Whether it's something troubling you,

Or perhaps some kind of caring wish.

In your own way,

You hand it over to the ocean.

You might pick up a pebble and whisper whatever it is into the pebble and place it in the moist sand near the water.

Or perhaps you find a stick and write it in the sand.

Or maybe you speak it out loud.

The next wave that comes along will take it away,

Carry the pebble or words out to sea.

Or wash away the words in the sand,

Like wiping a slate clean.

If it's a caring wish,

The ocean that is connected with all other oceans,

And interconnects us all,

Can carry it wherever you intend for it to go.

Breathing with that receding wave.

A nice long exhalation.

Letting go.

Releasing.

And another.

Feeling a little lighter with every exhalation.

Breathing in the supportive embrace of the ocean.

Breathing out.

Releasing.

Relaxing.

And then you stand or walk or sit for a little while.

Inhaling the ocean air and breathing with the waves.

Taking in the totality of the ocean.

Feeling supported.

Relaxed.

You might fix your attention on the waves or widen your attention to take in the whole landscape.

Or maybe your awareness shifts to different elements,

Like a camera zooming in,

Zooming out,

Moving around.

And if you notice your mind has wandered into thoughts or other distractions,

No worries,

It's natural for that to happen.

Gently returning to the waves.

The ocean landscape.

The sensory impressions.

The rhythm of your breath,

Breathing with the waves.

You might notice how the waves are only present close to shore.

Aware of the waves,

You might fix your attention farther out,

Where the water is calmer.

Still breathing with the waves,

But identifying with greater calm.

At some point,

The ocean might offer you an answer,

Insight,

Some kind of clarity or deeper understanding of what you handed over to it.

If that happens,

Allow it.

Receive it.

Breathe it into your being.

Every moment you notice your mind has wandered away from the ocean landscape and the waves is a moment of mindfulness and an opportunity to bring attention back.

Enjoying being here at the beach for a little while.

Savoring.

Really drinking in the whole atmosphere.

Breathing with the waves.

Returning attention back to the waves whenever you notice it's wandered.

When you're ready to return from your walk on the beach,

You can walk back through the sand,

One step at a time,

And along the sandy path that leads back to where you are sitting here now.

Noticing your feet and your hands and how they feel.

Becoming aware of the sensations of aliveness in the feet and hands.

Feeling yourself still breathing with the ocean waves.

Taking that rhythm into you,

Embodying it.

Taking a few deep cleansing breaths before opening your eyes.

Refreshed from your time at the ocean that is available and accessible anytime you want to return.

Reviews

Thank you so much! Very relaxing. Loved your poetry as well. “The wind experiencing your hair.” Beautiful line.

Beautiful and relaxing.
Wonderful. Helpful in many ways to release and let go.
Very refreshing.
Thank You so much.