Happiness is mostly found in the here and now. The present moment.
Autumn River Relaxation
This is a nice and simple meditation for letting go of worrisome and troubling thoughts. Enjoy!
Afterwards or during, listen to the serene soundscapes on the videos below. Of course, you may have your own relaxing alternative too.
Worrying thoughts tend to link together and form a chain. This chain can be broken, with a little practice. Try this exercise below.
1. Sit comfortably erect with the weight of your head falling straight down your spinal column.
2. Take a deep breath. Let the air push way down, stretching your diaphragm and relaxing all the tension in your abdomen.
3. Now imagine a river. Narrow, flowing and gurgling over rocks. It is Autumn and the trees are aflame, red and orange and yellow.
The far bank rises in a steep slope and beyond it, in shades of grey, are distant hills and mountains spilling against each other. The river flows to your left, bending after a while out of sight.
4. A faint morning mist still clings to the trees. Green pines stand tall above the burning Autumn colours. You can smell the damp earth on the bank.
You can hear the water ripple over the rocks. Now your whole body relaxes as you take another deep breath.
This is a place to let go of all your troubles, all worries, letting them drift away out of sight.
5. Each time a troubling thought enters your mind, imagine it as an Autumnal leaf that has fallen into the river.
See your worry as a leaf landing, turning about and drifting slowly with the current around the bend and out of sight.
6. As it disappears, take another deep breath way down into your abdomen and feel your whole body relaxing and letting go. Say to yourself: "I am relaxed. I am at peace."
7. Keep watching the River flow past you, and the Autumn trees on the other side.
Feel the warm air...hear the rippling water...smell the moist earth at the waters' edge.
8. And each time you recognise a worrying thought that comes into your mind, make it as a leaf.
Watch it quietly loose itself from a hidden branch on high, landing, drifting by you, around the bend and out of sight.
9. And, as each leaf disappears from view, take another deep breath and remind yourself: "I am relaxed, I am at peace."
Try it. What have you got to lose except your stress?
Simple introduction to meditation below.