This guided meditation is meant to involve your senses while integrating breathing practices and TCM insights.
This meditation is not meant to replace medical advice but to complement your healing journey. Feel free to adjust it to suit your preferences - after all, in Dàoism, the way is always flexible. Please do not construe this guided meditation as medical advice or treatment. Instead, allow it to be a holistic adjunct for a wise health plan.
In the Dàoist tradition, healing often involves harmonizing with natural energies, emphasizing balance, & cultivating a deep sense of flow within the body.
This is a guided meditation that aligns with these Principles. It is designed to support the body's natural ability to address the imbalance of a persistent fever.
Guided Meditation: Flowing with the Inner River
Begin by finding a quiet, comfortable space where you can sit or lie down. Sit comfortably, spine aligned like a mountain rising into the heavens. If you need to be laying on your back, you can instead simply imagine yourself sitting upright - a mountain rises even in repose!
Close your eyes and begin with three deep breaths. Each breath will fill the lower portion of the belly. As you inhale, imagine drawing fresh energy from the vastness of the cosmos into your lungs. As you exhale, allow your body to soften, your weight sinking into the Earth, grounding you.
OK, now:
Let's draw in limitless and flowing cosmic energy with this inbreath.
Let's soften and sink with this outbreath.
Three breath cycles, three times...
Allow yourself to settle into stillness.
The Scene Unfolds
Imagine yourself standing at the edge of a calm, flowing River. You've enjoyed a brief and pleasing stroll through a most beautiful countryside. Beyond a clearing, with birdsong as accompaniment, you've happened upon a slow-flowing, wide, and inviting River. The stones resting within are polished and smooth, the glisten where sunlight finds where water'd been. This River is not separate from you - it is your Dào, the natural flow of life within you. Notice how the River meanders gently, its currents cool and soothing. This River, all Rivers, you... are each forever curling toward a vast and receptive ocean.
Envision yourself stepping barefoot onto smooth, sun-warmed stones at the River’s edge. The sunlight is dappled through the leaves of a few overhanging witnesses to the River's ancient journey - beech trees, perhaps. And willows, too. The sun is reflecting back to you in gold where it's found some sandy-bottomed corners of the River. The air is fresh, infused with the green, lively aroma of moss and wet earth. Unseen birds insist on never being un-heard. Perhaps you've even wet your feet a bit, now.
A light breeze brushes your skin, cool yet gentle, carrying whispers of distant forests. Bend to touch the water - it feels silken, cool enough to invigorate yet soft enough to soothe. Bring a palm of water to your lips, smell it as it comes closer to you. Sunlight plays, shimmeringly on the underside of a leaning tree trunk. A creature scampers there. The River tastes faintly mineral-rich, like a liquid's secret echo of ancient stones. The rippling melody of flowing water fills the air, overlaid with occasional birdsong and the faint rustle of reeds.
Now, bring your attention to the warmth within your body. See this heat, wherever it happens to be localized, as a patch of sunlight on the River’s surface. Beneath the sunny surface, water flows. Far above, the sun falls and clouds pass. The patch of warmth will pass. All things flow, all things transform. The patch of warm water is not a villain; it is simply energy that has gathered and in time will move. Welcome the warmth with compassion, as though greeting an old friend.
OK, now:
Let's draw in the breath from the cosmos - fresh and vital.
Let's exhale, softening and sinking into Earth.
Three breath cycles, three times...
Allow yourself to settle into stillness.
Breathing with the Flow of the River
This River is your lifeforce, your Qì, flowing ceaselessly through the channels of your body.
Consider matching your breath to its rhythm:
* Inhale slowly through the nose. Feel the cool River breeze entering your nostrils, traveling down to your lungs, and expanding your lower Dāntián. Let your belly rise fully. This is nurturing Qì,the motherly energy that nourishes your inner balance.
* Hold for a moment. Visualize the breath pooling in your lower Dāntián like still water, gathering its strength.
* Exhale softly through slightly parted lips. Imagine the warmer energy of the fever dissolving into the River’s current. A current devoted to carrying away all that it might carry. The longer your exhale, the calmer the waters within.
Let's repeat this breathing pattern, slow and deliberate, for several cycles.
With each exhale, feel the fever’s excess energy dispersing, its heat soothed by the River’s eternal coolness.
Remember:
Slowly, breath in through the nose, cool - arriving in lower belly.
Briefly held, pooling in lower belly.
Exhaling, through slightly parted lips, the heat is drawn away.
OK, now:
Let's draw in slowly and thoughtfully.
Inhaling, we receive from the Cosmos.
Exhaling, we sink into Earth.
Heat receding as we exhale.
Three breath cycles, three times...
Settling into stillness.
Settled in regard to flow.
Let's stay with this a bit...
I'm feeling it.
With your next inhale, draw cool, refreshing energy from the River into your body. Imagine it entering through the soles of your feet, flowing upward like a gentle stream. Bubbling, burbling, babbling. With your exhale, let the warm energy inside you dissolve into the River’s current, carried away with ease.
Take your time here. With each cycle of breath, feel the balance returning, the warmth and coolness meeting and harmonizing. Each arriving at the meeting with a gift for the other. The Fever a gift for the River, the River a gift for the Fever.
With inhalations, cosmic and cool energy flows into your lungs, into your being.
With exhalations, the Earth receives your softening, the River receives your warmth.
If your mind begins to wander, focus on the sound of the water. Imagine its gentle murmuring, the way it rolls around river stones without resistance, flowing ever onward...toward a great ocean.
The fever, like the River, is part of a natural rhythm. It will pass when its purpose is fulfilled.
Bring your awareness to your lower Dāntián. Visualize it as a calm, deep pool at the River’s center. Let this pool collect and balance the cool and warm currents within you, becoming a reservoir of harmony.
With inhalations, cosmic and cool energy flows into your being.
With exhalations, the Earth receives you, the River receives your warmth.
Remain here, breathing deeply, until you feel a sense of equilibrium returning to your body and mind.
Wisdom from TCM
With the lens of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), we see a fever may arise from internal heat, often linked to an imbalance of Yīn and Yáng or stagnation within the body. Imagine this River as your internal network of meridians, flowing freely when the body is in harmony. As you breathe and visualize, invite the cool, Yīn-like qualities of the water to temper the overactive Yáng within you.
生氣, Shēng Qì, the vital energy of the landscape itself, Is flowing through this wondrous River's landscape and now with you, through you!
Let your mind drift deeper into the sensory richness of the scene. The coolness of the River now spreads through your entire body, soothing inflamed pathways. Imagine this cooling effect reaching your Liver and Heart, organs often associated with heat conditions in TCM. The River washes over these centers, harmonizing them with the rest of your being.
OK, now:
Let's draw in and soften and sink as we exhale. Three breath cycles, three times...
Softening, and slowing...
Heat receding...
Harmonizing Through Poetic Reflection
“The River knows no struggle; it bends around stones with grace. Its touch is cool as moonlight, its taste ancient as time. No warmth lingers uninvited, for the River carries all things onward.”
Take this time to reflect on how the River mirrors your inner Nature. It does not resist, it does not grasp. Like the River, your fever has its purpose - it signals a cleansing, an effort by the body to harmonize itself. Trust in its wisdom, just as you trust in the River’s flow.
Completing the Journey
Visualize the fever now as golden light, dispersed and diluted by the River. It transforms, no longer a burden but part of the River’s beauty. The water glitters in the sunlight, a symbol of renewal. Allow gratitude to arise within you - gratitude for the body’s intelligence, for the healing spirit of Nature, and for this moment of alignment with the Dào.
When you are ready, slowly bring your awareness back to the room. Take three deep breaths, savoring the scent of moss and clear water, the feel of smooth stones beneath you, the birdsong and leaf rustle, and the River’s eternal song.
Slowly open your eyes.
Carry with you the wisdom, flow, and calm coolness of the River.
You, too have healing waters within.
Thank you.
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