Welcome to a meditation on the element of water.
An element of movement and emotion and wisdom.
An element that can be gentle and yet so strong.
With three forms,
Water can be strong and solid in the form of ice.
It can be fluid and moving in the liquid form.
And also still with a reflective quality.
And in the form of steam or gas,
It can burn or heat.
Water can be gentle and yet wear away the strongest stone.
Get comfortable in your body.
Closing your eyes if you want to.
Otherwise lowering and softening your gaze in front of you.
Connecting to your body now.
Noticing what sensations may be present.
Coolness or warmth.
Perhaps a sense of calm or relaxation.
Maybe you notice agitation or restlessness.
Perhaps there is a sense of comfort.
Or there may be aching or tension.
Maybe there are no sensations you can connect to at the moment.
Just kindly being with whatever is present in your body right now.
Letting go of wanting anything to be different from how it is.
Connecting to your body with whatever sense of clear seeing you have in this moment.
Without judging.
Inhabiting your flesh and bones.
Inhabiting your breath moving in and out.
Now noticing any thoughts or stories that may be present.
Perhaps something the mind is replaying or remembering.
Perhaps the mind is planning for what comes next.
Perhaps there is a feeling of muddiness or confusion.
Like disturbed cloudy water.
Just notice what thoughts are coming and going.
Holding them with a sense of kindness and compassion toward yourself.
Notice how these thoughts flow like a river that you have no control over.
There may be underlying familiar themes that you recognize.
Maybe calm or contentment.
Direct or hopes.
Fear or worry.
Perhaps impatience or frustration.
Notice any common currents flowing in the thoughts or stories that are arising.
Currents that have carved well worn patterns in the mind like the grooves in a riverbed.
Be gentle with yourself as you notice these.
Be like soft spring rain falling onto the river's edge.
Just gently touching those themes or currents with your awareness.
Noticing but not getting swept away in them.
Notice how those thoughts lead to sensations in your body.
Notice where in the body the river of your thoughts flows to.
Perhaps your neck and shoulders or your chest.
Perhaps in your belly or back.
Just notice what sensations are most prominent and call your attention.
Sitting with them for a few moments.
Acknowledging and allowing what is there to be present with kindness.
See now in your mind's eye a lake in this place in your body.
The rivers of feelings and emotions running into this lake freely.
And yet this lake is big and deep.
It holds all that the rivers bring in.
The mud and silt.
Stones and rocks.
When emotional storms make the riverbanks brim and the water turbulent.
When the waters become choppy like frothing white rapids.
That deep calm lake in your body can receive it all.
As the thoughts and stories flow in,
The current slows.
The stones and rocks settle to the lake floor.
As the water becomes calm,
The smaller particles of mud settle to.
And the lake in your body becomes clear.
The surface still,
The deep undisturbed.
Like glass reflecting the sky and trees overhead.
The lake in your body like a mirror reflecting all it receives from the mind.
Holding all of it with clarity.
Unchanged and still.
Rest in this reservoir of fluid calm within yourself.
Let your mind become still.
Like a clear forest pond.
Reflecting all that arises with calm,
Peacefulness,
Quiet.
Know that you can return to the stillness and clarity of this lake within you whenever needed.
The calm abiding of your own internal stillness.
Let your mind become still.
Let your mind become still.
Let your mind become still.
