Hello, and welcome to this guided, mindfulness meditation. Before we begin, please make sure
you are in a comfortable position, with your back upright. In a few moments, I will ring the bell to
begin today’s session.

Taking a few moments to lie down in a comfortable place where we can feel supported and
undisturbed and just touch base with the flow of our own breathing and with a sense of the body
as a whole, lying here.

And when you feel ready, picturing in your mind's eye a lake, a body of water, large or small,
held in a receptive basin by the earth itself, noting in the mind's eye and your own heart, that water
likes to pool in low places, it seeks its own level, asks to be held, contained. The lake you are
invoking may be deep or shallow, blue or green, muddy or clear. With no wind, the surface may be
flat, mirror-like, it reflects trees rocks, sky and clouds, holds everything in itself momentarily. Wind
stirs up waves, reflections distort and disappear, but sunlight may still sparkle in the ripples and
dance on the waves in a play of shimmering diamonds. And when night comes, it's the moon's tum
to dance on the lake, or when the surface issti11, to be reflected in it along with the outline oftrees
and shadows. In winter, the lakemay freeze over, yet be teeming with movement and life below....·

As you lie here breathing, as you establish this image of a lake in your mind’s eye, allowing
yourself, when you feel ready, to bring it inside yourself completely; so that your being merges with
the lake, becomes one with it, so that all your energies in this moment are held in awareness with
openness and compassion for yourself, in the same way as the lake's waters are held by the
receptive and accepting basin of the earth herself. Breathing as the lake, feeling its body as your
body, allowing your mind and your heart to be open and receptive, moment by moment, to reflect
whatever comes near, or to be clear all the way to the bottom. Experiencing moments of complete
stillness, when both reflection and water are completely clear and other moments perhaps when
the surface is disturbed, choppy, stirred up, reflections and depth lost for a time...

And through it all as you lie here, simply observing the play of the various energies pf your own
mind and heart, the fleeting thoughts and feelings, impulses and reactions, which come and go as
ripples and waves, noting their effect. In contact with them, just as you are in contact with and feel
the various changing energies that play on the lake, the wind, the waves, the light, the shadows,
the reflections, the color, and the smells. Noticing the effect of your thoughts and feelings. Do they
disturb the surface and clarity of the mind's lake? Do they muddy the waters? Is that okay with
you? Isn't having a rippling or a wavy surface a part of being a lake? Might it be possible to identify
not only with the surface of your lake, but with the entire body of water. so that you become the
stillness below the surface as well, which at most experiences only gentle undulations, even when
the surface is whipped to frothing?

In the same way, in your meditation practice and in your daily life, can you be in touch, not only
with the changing content and intensity of your thoughts and feelings, but also with the vast
unwavering reservoir of awareness itself, residing below the surface of your mind. The lake can
teach this, remind us of the lake within ourselves. If you find this image to be of value, you might
want to use it from time to time to deepen and enrich your meditation practice. You might also
invite this lake image to empower you and guide your actions in the world as you move through the
unfolding of each day, carrying a vast reservoir of mindfulness within your heart... 

Dwelling here in the stillness of this moment, untilsignaled by the sound of the bells, we can be
the lake in silence now, affirming our ability to hold in awareness and in acceptance, right now, all
our qualities of mind and body, just asthe lake sits held, cradled, contained by the earth, reflecting
sun, moon,stars, trees, rock,s clouds,sky, birds, light, caressed by the air and the wind, which bring
out and highlight its sparkle, its vitality, its potential, moment by moment...