Visualize or imagine yourself in a forest.
You've been there before many times.
It's a place where you go to rest,
To let go.
A quiet place where it's just you and nature.
A place where you can come back to center and be with yourself.
Where only good things happen and you're absolutely safe.
Look down at your feet and notice that you're standing on a path.
You may already be walking on this path and if so,
Continue following the path until you come to a river.
It is not a big river.
You can see the other bank.
And it's a very calm river.
Somewhere up high in the mountains,
Yes,
It rushes down in a fast stream.
But here,
Where you are,
There is no rush.
The water moves slowly,
Quietly.
Notice too that there's something floating on water.
And when you look closer,
You see that it's pieces of driftwood or maybe autumn leaves.
Slowly and gently,
Moving with the current.
Follow them with your gaze.
Watch them spin and swirl and move away from you.
We're here at this river for a reason.
This is a healing river,
A calming river,
A river that will help you quiet your mind.
It'll take your thoughts and it will release them downstream.
Whatever you're thinking about right now,
Whatever thoughts are coming in,
Whether it's about what you gotta do or conversations you've had.
Any thought that comes across your mind,
Take it and place it on one of the dry leaves.
Observe as your thought is floating on this dry leaf down the river,
Out of sight.
And we'll do that for a little while.
Every time you have a thought now,
Every time an idea comes across your mind,
Whether it's something you need to figure out or not,
It does not matter.
At this point,
We're relaxing,
We're clearing our head.
There is nothing that needs to be figured out right now.
But what we do need to do is create space for the new.
Each time a thought comes across your mind,
Put it on a piece of driftwood or on a dry leaf and observe as it floats down the river,
Down and away,
Out of sight,
Out of mind.
Observing yourself inhale and exhale and whenever a thought comes to mind,
Place it on a leaf or on a piece of driftwood and allow it to move away from you.
You don't need that anymore.
It is time to say goodbye to the river now.
So,
Standing up if you have been sitting down on your riverbank.
Walking towards the forest,
Towards the tree lines.
You may already be there.
Entering your forest and walking back,
Back to where you started,
Right in the center of this beautiful,
Peaceful,
Calm forest.
I will count to three.
When I count to three,
You will open your eyes,
Feeling relaxed,
Light,
Balanced,
Grounded and happy.
Very happy.
One,
Inhale,
Two,
Exhale,
Three,
Inhaling,
Gently blinking your eyes open,
Fully returning into the present time and into the present space.
