Welcome to this guided visualization meditation.
This meditation will be particularly valuable if you're finding it difficult to surrender yourself to life without constantly shifting into problem solving mode.
This meditation may encourage you to acknowledge that by simply letting things be,
You liberate yourself from needing to fix things,
Perhaps allowing life to feel a little more fluid,
More straightforward,
And able to unfold naturally.
Beginning this practice by finding a comfortable position in a place where you won't be disturbed.
You might be in your bedroom or living room or somewhere quiet in your house.
You may also like to decide whether you prefer to be seated or lying down on a bed or a couch.
Ensuring that you take some moments to find some pillows or some blankets or anything else that can make you just a little bit more comfortable.
Once you're in a rested position,
You may like to slowly place your hands either by your sides or resting on your thighs,
Shoulders nice and relaxed,
Allowing your entire body to rest on the surface of your chair or bed.
Noting that you are able to move or adjust your position throughout the practice.
Feeling the contact of your head,
Your neck,
Your upper back,
Your glutes,
Resting on the surface,
Feeling that warm,
That gentle pressure settling into your awareness,
Becoming conscious of any thoughts,
Any bodily sensations,
Allowing them to sit and just observe them as they are.
And when you feel ready,
Allow yourself to softly close your eyes,
Bringing awareness to your mind now.
You may experience wandering of thoughts,
But just acknowledging that this is perfectly normal and natural in just how the mind works.
For this meditation,
It may be helpful for you to choose a particular sensation that you can come back to when your mind gets distracted.
It might be the sound of your breathing,
An object in the distance,
The sound of your stomach.
When you notice yourself getting distracted,
Simply allowing yourself to bring your awareness back to that sensation,
Taking an opportunity now to become conscious of your breathing,
Following the inhale or the exhale,
Allowing yourself to not try and control the breath,
But simply flow with the breath,
Focusing on the natural flow of your breathing.
Now drawing your attention to the whole body,
Perhaps if it helps you,
You may like to open your eyes briefly,
Beginning with a scan of the body from head to toe,
Starting with your face,
Noticing any tension in your face,
Any tension in your eyes,
Being focused for a long time during the day.
You might like to purse your lips into a smile very briefly,
Just relaxing the muscles in your mouth.
You may also like to tilt your neck slightly,
Just bringing awareness to your neck,
Holding up your face all day,
Just bringing some kindness and compassion here,
Just allowing yourself to tilt your neck slowly to the left and back to centre,
And slowly to the right and back to centre,
Tilting your head forward a little bit and then back to centre,
And back a little bit and back to centre.
Moving down to your shoulders now,
Inviting you to gently shrug your shoulders up towards your face,
Feeling any tension in your shoulder blades,
Upper back,
Feeling all this tension for a moment,
Allowing your shoulders to find a neutral position.
Moving down now to the belly,
You may like to place your hand on your stomach and just feel the warmth of your hand on your skin,
Allowing it to comfort you and soothe you,
And just sitting with it for a few moments,
No need to observe any particular sensations,
Focusing all your attention on your belly,
And just twist your feet in circles,
No need to twist in any specific way,
You can choose to twist them clockwise or anticlockwise,
Or shake them a little,
Or simply wriggle your toes,
Paying attention now to the whole body,
Head to toe,
And allowing yourself to feel a little bit more relaxed.
It's okay if you don't feel any different,
Just knowing that this practice is inviting a sense of relaxation,
Stillness within your mind and body,
And just giving yourself the opportunity to experience this in your own unique way.
Through a short visualization now,
You allow yourself to observe the environment around you,
Noticing that you're surrounded by greenery,
Beautiful thick trees all around you,
Finding yourself seated on green,
Thinly cut grass,
Perhaps your hands are resting out in front of you,
Noticing that there's quite a long river in front of you,
That you're sitting only a meter or so away from it.
The river flows downwards.
Maybe you notice that there's a very small waterfall to your left,
And to your right the river flows up a very short hill,
Tracing the river by each side,
Seeing even more trees,
Feeling as if you're in the Amazon rainforest,
Except this forest is safe,
That's only your space to enjoy.
Allow yourself to watch the river flowing,
Watching the water the other way,
Trickly.
Perhaps you notice that there are some leaves,
Just a few leaves,
Floating along the river.
For some reason there are quite a few leaves floating through the river,
And this may make you feel curious.
There are so many leaves in front of you,
You wonder whether they're there for any particular reason.
As you ponder,
Noticing the flow of the leaves and the flow of the river,
The leaves have no control over where they're going,
They just flow over the river,
They don't try to go somewhere else,
They don't try to get to the edge of the water more quickly,
They just flow gently upstream,
One by one.
It's difficult to live in this way,
It's difficult to live in a world where things move so quickly,
Things change so quickly,
It's often a tendency to try and control outcomes,
Control events in life.
Sometimes you may find yourself feeling frustrated,
Impatient or restless when something isn't working,
But just know that it's perfectly okay to feel these feelings.
After all,
You do want what's best for you,
But also acknowledging that although it may not seem like it,
Your life is unfolding naturally without you needing to intervene.
As you watch this leaf,
The last leaf flows up the river,
Maybe you decide to get up,
Brush yourself off and gently walk upstream and just keep walking,
Knowing that you're on the right path and that everything is unfolding as you imagine.
Inviting a few minutes now for silent surrender,
With your body resting in stillness,
Allowing yourself to check in,
How are you feeling?
What do you notice about your energy now?
How does your body feel?
Allowing yourself to just observe whatever answers unfold in your mind without judgement,
Connecting with the breath once again,
Slow inhale,
Slow exhale.
When you feel ready,
Allowing yourself to slowly open your eyes to the room around you.
Thank you for participating in this visualization meditation.
Hopefully it has helped you bring a sense of surrender and presence to your life.
May you have a wonderful day.
