Okay welcome to today's session I'm gonna be inviting you to do a visualization exercise today This will entail visualizing or imagining in the mind's eye a flower in as much detail as you possibly can.
As always don't worry too much about the strength of the visual image Just trying to accept that whatever comes up for you is the right thing in this particular session Okay to begin make sure that you're sitting comfortably in a chair or perhaps on a cushion on the floor,
Both are fine Closing your eyes Maybe just checking in with the mind,
Seeing how the mind feels as we begin today's session Trying not to judge the mind,
Approaching it instead with a spirit of curiosity,
It's like this is how my mind feels right now and that's completely fine for this practice Moving away from the activities of the mind and getting a sense of being grounded Becoming aware of the points of connection between your feet and the floor or your legs and the seat Also getting a sense of the weight,
The heaviness of your body and also a sense of being supported by the ground beneath you and then dropping the focus on the grounding and we'll begin with the visualization So I'd invite you now to visualize or imagine in the mind's eye a beautiful flower in as much detail as you can Getting a sense of what type of flower it is Where is it located?
Is it in a garden?
Is this a particular flower you've seen in real life?
Equally it can just be one that you are making up But trying to create this visual image with as much texture as you can You can even include sounds that surround the flower,
Perhaps leaves rustling in the wind,
Birds chirping There could even be smells associated with nature where the flower is located What color are the petals on this flower?
Are there bees buzzing around it?
I'd invite you now to place yourself at the center of this image of a flower so that you in effect are the flower Your body is located where the flower stands So to do this you can imagine where the flower's roots bed into the earth That's where your legs are connected to the ground beneath you Your torso is located where the stem of the flower lies And then the colorful petals of the flower are located where your head is Radiating beauty to the surrounding scene I'll invite you now just to imagine a day in the life of this flower So in the early morning,
The sun is rising,
It's cold outside,
Birds are chirping And yet the flower remains the same,
Rooted in the ground beneath it,
Radiating its beauty In the mid-morning it's a little bit cloudy,
In fact it starts to rain So you can imagine there's light rain drizzling on and around the flower,
The sky is a shade of grey And yet the flower stands,
Rooted,
Indifferent to the changing weather And as the day progresses,
It's the afternoon now and by now the clouds have burnt away,
The rain has stopped,
It's now a beautiful day with blue skies Imagine this scene in as much detail as you can While also getting a sense of the flower remaining,
Rooted,
Unaffected by the changing weather It's flower still radiating beauty This flower visualization can be a useful metaphor for our meditation practice There will be stormy periods and sunny periods in our lives,
We can't really avoid that But amidst this changing weather we can maintain this sense of being stable and rooted And we can radiate this sense of inner beauty to those closest to us Now I just gently invite you to let this image of the flower go,
It can fade into the background Instead starting to connect with the sounds and smells in the room that surround you To finish the session checking in with the mind once again And then to finish opening your eyes,
Coming back to the room And congratulate yourself for practicing today,
I really hope you enjoyed the session
