Come to the Water
Meditation & Transcript
By Marisa Lopez
Welcome.
Take a moment to settle in. Feel your feet in contact with the ground. Your bum on the chair. Your spine elongated.
Now take a deep breath through your nose, and release slowly through your mouth. Take two more slow breaths, and as you exhale feel your spine lengthen even more.
Allow your breath to return to normal.
Arrive.
Gently close your eyes.
Imagine the sound of ripples. Like the soft lapping of waves along a sandy beach. Seashells rolling. Small pebbles.
Just sit and be with that sound for a moment.
As you breathe in, the water reaches the shore.
As you breathe out, the water returns to the sea from where it came.
You and the ocean are breathing as one.
Imagine you’re watching the waves rippling.
Notice their movement.
Their smooth surface, rolling.
The way they retreat, crackling, carrying grains of sand with them.
Tiny white bubbles on top of the waves.
Movement like a dance that needs no choreography.
A dance older than time.
You decide to enter the water.
Stepping slowly, bare feet in wet sand, you approach the water’s edge.
You feel the cold liquid on your toes.
The sea tickles the sides of your feet, as it ebbs and flows.
Your feet sinking a little deeper into the sand.
Take a deep breath. And release.
Take another step.
And another.
Until you are ankle-deep in the water.
Feel the sea enveloping your legs, like a hug.
When you are ready, move further into the water.
You are up to your knees.
Then your waist.
Pause.
Notice the difference between the half of you that is submerged, and the other half that is still dry.
You feel a soft breeze on your shoulders.
You are warming up to the cold water now.
You look around and notice the sun’s rays sparkling on top of the waves.
Your body is acclimating.
Stay there for a moment.
Keep breathing.
Allow the waves to glide past you, as you hold your ground.
Coming in and going out.
Coming in and going out.
Like your breath.
You lie back, floating on the water.
Feeling weightless.
The water feels soft, and good on your skin.
The sea is filled with minerals that nourish you.
The sun warms your face and dances all around you.
You turn and can see the bottom.
Soft rippling patterns in the white sand beneath you.
Everywhere you look, there are patterns. Like works of art.
Symmetry. A sense of harmony.
You feel at ease.
You feel whole.
You feel fully present.
Your mind is finally quiet.
Your senses are heightened to the natural world around you.
The smell of salt and distant jasmine wafting in the air.
The sound of waves.
The feeling of cold water and warm sun.
The reflection of the sun’s rays on the blue sea.
Even the salty taste on your lips.
There is nowhere else to be.
In that moment, with your mind quiet, you are fully immersed in the present.
You are fully in your body. Floating effortlessly.
Breathe.
And listen.
What gift is this moment bringing you?
How do you feel?