Welcome.
Enjoy a few moments of silence and we'll begin.
Taking a deep breath,
Allow yourself to be right here and right now.
Close your eyes and open your heart.
Breathe in fresh oxygen through your nose.
Let it rush through your entire body,
Refreshing it and bringing it new life.
Like a gentle river running through a beautiful forest.
Enjoy these breaths as they flow in and through you without beginning or ending,
But as one continuous process unveiling itself with every passing moment.
Life is like a river,
A mysterious combination of the eternal and the impermanent.
The river always is,
Yet it is always changing.
One cannot step into the same river twice.
It is also in the river that we find ourselves.
For this is breath.
This is music.
This is dancing.
This is life.
The river carries many things with it.
Rocks,
Branches,
And leaves to name a few.
Of which do you find yourself to be in this moment?
Rocks are the heaviest of the three.
As the current moves,
They roll around at the bottom,
Hitting other rocks,
Getting stuck,
And resisting the flow.
Their nature is hard and their form unchangeable,
Except over vast periods of time or in moments of great conflict that shatter them into smaller pieces.
The bigger they are,
The less they move,
Staying still as the river passes them by along with everything else.
Passing in the current above them are some branches and sticks.
They aren't quite light enough to float,
But they are light enough not to sink to the bottom.
The river moves them to and fro,
Carrying them to their final destinations.
Some wash up at a nearby river bank,
While others get trapped between some rocks,
And yet a few others make it over a waterfall and become part of a beaver's den.
The world is always in need of sticks and branches.
They move with the rhythm of the river,
Get to where they need to go,
And find their purpose in the cycle that the river has created.
Yet there is something missing.
The water is not always clear,
And while they do not sink,
They also cannot see.
Above them,
Kissing the surface gently,
Are the leaves.
They enter the river ever so lightly,
Softly falling from the sky and landing effortlessly into the flow.
They accept its movement and direction without resistance,
Because they have nothing to resist with.
They are soft,
Malleable,
And almost weightless.
They are nothing,
And because they are nothing,
They can float,
Seeing all of the beauty that the forest and the world around them has to offer as the river carries them forward through their limited journey.
Breathe in life.
Let the river of oxygen flow through and out your body and allow yourself to float.
The world will challenge you and hurt you.
Do not become hard and unbreakable in return.
One thing is certain,
And that is the river.
Its flow will never stop.
But it does move forward.
Are you resisting anything?
When we hang on to a particular way that life has to be,
Our rigidity makes us heavy and we sink closer and closer to the bottom.
Rocks will always find other rocks to bump into and get stuck on.
Freedom from these cycles exists only in lightening the load and letting go.
Another question is,
Are you moving and doing so much that you have lost sight of the beauty all around you on this short river ride?
Vision is both something that carries us forward as well as fills us with gratitude and awe.
While the river's flow cannot be stopped,
We can escape the mundane by gaining a different perspective.
There will always be something to do,
Yet what you can see right now you will not be able to see tomorrow.
Find use in the world for what you have and who you are,
But do not forget to peek your head above the current surface every so often to enjoy what's around.
Let the river take you where you need to go and trust that it is always moving you forward.
Whatever this life may be,
It is certainly a beautiful ride.
Enjoy it and remember to breathe.
