Meditation · Sleep
The Lake at Dusk
Elena Marsh · 15 min
15:00
remaining
What to do, minute by minute
1. Settle in
0:00–3:00Sit or lie down somewhere you won't be disturbed. Let your shoulders drop, close your eyes or soften your gaze, and take three slow breaths.
2. Follow the breath
3:00–6:00Breathe in for a count of four, out for a count of six. Let the out-breath be longer than the in-breath — that's what calms the nervous system.
3. Scan and release
6:00–9:00Move your attention slowly from your jaw to your shoulders, hands, belly and legs. Wherever you find tension, breathe into it and let it go.
4. Rest in stillness
9:00–12:00Stop steering. Let thoughts come and go like passing traffic — when you notice you've wandered off, that noticing is the practice. Return to the breath.
5. Come back gently
12:00–15:00Deepen your breath, wiggle your fingers and toes, and open your eyes slowly. Carry a little of this quiet into whatever comes next.
A visual meditation that grows darker and quieter as it goes.
Picture a lake at the end of the day, flat and grey-blue. The last boat has gone in. The surface has nothing to do but hold the sky. Let each breath make the water a little stiller and the light a little lower. Stay until there is nothing left to see.