Aloha Friends,
I found this opening meditation in the Yoga Journal several years ago, and I’m sorry I don’t know the author. I have been going through my notebooks and sharing the passages that have stuck out for me from readings, workshops, classes etc. Since I write them in my chicken scratch at high speed, they are not always verbatim and sometimes I don’t know where I got them, but they’ve been worth saving. I particularly like the image of this opening meditation which helps realize that we always have extra thought and that realization is helpful for letting go of control and effort. Have a great weekend. Aloha, Johanna
“Sit quietly and close your eyes.
Focus your attention on the flow of your breath as it moves in and out of the body.
As you do, become aware of the space inside your mind.
Imagine that your mind is a sky, and open space.
Thoughts move through it like clouds.
Let the thought arise and let it then depart.
You are the watcher, not the thinker.
Observing the thought clouds as they move through the sky of your awarness.
Once you begin to identify with the sky of awareness rather than with clouds of thought, a great sense of spaciousness arises.
You can let the thoughts be there without being caught by them.”