Breathing And Learning To Let Go: River Raft Visualization

Start by tuning into the posture of the body where it is right now.

Are there any minor adjustments you can make?

If you're sitting,

It is helpful to keep the spine straight and energized,

While relaxing the muscles around the skeleton.

Even if you're laying down,

Have your palms facing upwards towards the sky and your feet aligned squarely with your shoulders.

You can use the breath to aid in this process.

As you breathe in,

Breathing energy and awareness into the spine,

Reaching the spine gently upward,

One vertebrae at a time.

And as you exhale,

Let go,

Allowing the shoulders to drop,

Let there be some slack in your jaw,

And soften your belly.

So taking a few long,

Slow,

Deep breaths,

And just allowing your body to process this intake of beautiful energy.

And then connecting the body back to its natural breathing.

Notice where in the body you can actually feel the breath.

It may be in the stomach or the abdomen,

Where you can feel the rising and falling as the body breathes.

It might be in the chest,

Where you may notice the expansion and contraction as the body inhales and exhales,

Perhaps it's in the nostrils,

Where you can feel a slight tickle as the air comes in and the subtle warmth as the body exhales.

You can pick one spot to stick with for this meditation practice,

Whichever feels right or the most prominent for you at this moment.

And as you feel the body breathing,

Try to stay with the breath all the way through from the beginning of the inhale through the end of the exhale,

Be with the breath.

You don't need to force your attention on the breath,

Rather,

Rest it gently on the sensations of the body breathing.

When thoughts arise,

You don't need to push them away or resist.

You can notice them,

Let them be,

Returning to the experience of the breath and the body.

And we can begin to use a counting exercise to help this process along.

You can breathe in with awareness,

And as you exhale,

You can count one in your head.

And with the next exhale,

You can count two.

And you can count like this all the way up to ten,

And then simply start back again at one.

Remembering that counting is a tool to help build concentration,

It's not a measurement of how good a meditator you are.

So if your mind wanders,

Just come back to one.

So inhaling in for one,

Exhaling out for two,

Inhaling in for three,

Exhaling out for four,

Inhaling in for five,

Exhaling out for six,

Inhaling in for seven,

Exhaling out for eight,

Inhaling in for nine,

Exhaling out for ten.

And keep this pattern going,

Starting back at one,

At your own pace.

And we'll continue waiting.

And now that you're relaxed,

You can begin to focus your mind gently on the task ahead of you,

The task of letting go.

And in your mind's eye,

Imagine or sense that you're walking along a pathway and it can be anywhere you want it to be.

Perhaps it is a greenway close by a river,

Spending as much time as you want to walking along this path.

And in a little while,

You find yourself coming upon a clearing near the edge of the river.

And in that clearing,

You can see a small boat dock.

And it looks like a nice area for a boat to be able to take on passengers.

And at the edge of this boat dock,

You notice a raft.

It's tethered to the side of the dock.

And the raft can be any size you imagine it to be.

It could be small.

It could be large.

It could even be a full-size barge.

And at first,

You may wonder what it's doing here.

But as you look back on the banks of the water,

You notice that there are lots of boxes that are stacked and ready to be loaded onto the raft.

And you realize intuitively that it's your job to start loading those boxes one by one onto the raft.

And as you begin to examine the outside of the boxes,

You notice that each and every single one of them is labeled.

Look at the labels.

What do they say?

You realize that they are labeled with the names of all the items that you want to release from your life.

These boxes are packed full of your excess baggage that you've been carrying around with you unnecessarily in your life.

Perhaps they say relationships or grief or fear,

Maybe doubt or pain.

Examine each label to see what is the content in each box.

And one by one,

Begin to carry the boxes from the bank of the river to the dock,

Gently setting them on the raft,

One by one.

And so continuing to stack these boxes on the raft,

You think the raft is looking pretty full.

But you keep working until all the boxes on the riverbank are loaded onto this raft.

And it doesn't matter how many boxes are there.

There's plenty of room on the raft,

Even if it looks full.

So keep stacking them up until all the boxes are off the ground and onto the raft.

And soon you come to the last and final box,

Gently setting it down,

Stacking it up.

And once you do,

You take a few steps back,

Looking around the bank to make sure that you got all the boxes.

And when you're satisfied that you got them all,

Look at the stacks on the raft and realize this represents your bondage to the past.

And as you're looking at the boxes on the raft,

You notice that the raft has become untethered.

It's actually beginning to drift away from the dock.

But relax,

Don't worry.

This is supposed to happen.

The raft floats farther out from the boat dock.

You realize the current of the river is pulling it out and away from you.

And you begin to feel a sense of relief as you watch the raft drift further and further away from you.

And you can feel that you are spiritually being released from the bonds that have kept you tied to your past.

For everything there is a season and now is the season of letting go of those things that no longer serve you.

It's okay.

It's a good thing.

So taking a long,

Slow,

Deep breath in through your nose,

Just notice how much deeper you can breathe in when you have nothing weighing you down.

And the raft continues to drift away from you as it's pulled into the center of the river's current and begins to flow downstream.

A breeze caresses your body as you look up and you can see how blue and wide the sky is.

Can you hear those birds singing?

What an amazing feeling of freedom you feel.

Look at how blue the water is and how green the trees and the shrubs are.

And notice how everything is working in perfect harmony to provide a peaceful and healing environment.

You can see clearly how nature provides healing in every situation.

The leaves fall off the trees in autumn to make way for new growth in the spring after a period of rest.

And you understand that now is the time that this is happening now in your life.

Because when you let go of the things that have served their purpose in your life,

You clear them out to make way for new and better experiences.

This is nature.

This is the way it's supposed to be.

The raft continues to move downstream.

It appears to be getting smaller and smaller and smaller.

And as it moves further away,

You lose your sense of attachment to the things in the boxes on that raft.

And in some cases,

It may even become difficult to remember what was in those boxes.

You're actually happy to see them being taken away.

And when you feel ready,

You can begin to turn away from the riverbank.

Turn your back on it,

Continuing on your journey.

You can move ahead on the path,

Moving on and around the next curve to whatever it takes you.

And as you go along,

You are able to observe all that is around you,

Being open and receptive to the next experience,

Knowing that you are free from any past restrictions that would limit your ability to receive the blessings of the present and the future.

Perhaps you want to open your arms to the sky and express your gratitude with a big sigh of thankfulness and gratitude.

You are grateful that you can heal and release and move forward in your life,

Joyfully unencumbered by past judgments or error thinking.

You are now able to let go of it all and say yes to your brand new life.

And you are free to create your new life in any way that you see fit.

And now that you are free from the past,

You have unlimited opportunities ahead of you,

Which you welcome with eagerness and anticipation,

Expecting only to come to goodness.

Without any preconceived ideas about what you will experience,

Allowing yourself to remain open and receptive to the best and highest good that is coming your way,

You realize your life is good.

You have the power to make it even better because you have let go of the past.

And when you're ready to finish your meditation,

Bring yourself back to your present moment awareness.

Give yourself a few minutes to realign yourself in your environment.

Notice the light feeling you have,

Feeling the true release you allowed to happen in your heart,

In your mind,

In your spirit.

And you can write in your journal about how you feel,

And if you still feel bothered by some of the things that were on the raft,

That's okay.

Because you can do this exercise again and again,

As many times as needed until you are able to fully let go of an idea or situation that's holding you to the past.

Our past experiences have made us who we are today.

We should honor them and be grateful for the experiences.

For if we are at the place of moving on,

Then they have done their job in helping us grow.

So remain open and receptive to the lessons available in every experience,

Even if it's simply the experience of appreciating what you have now.

For you will be more blessed by every experience when you are fully present with it.

So feeling cleansed and fully invigorated,

You can wiggle your toes and your fingers.

You can slowly widen your gaze or open your eyes.

You can be free to sit or lie in the space for a while and adjust your position as needed.

And you can be free to just be.