The breath flows in and out of the body like a series of waves rolling up and down the beach.
Sometimes the waves are big and fierce, other times barely perceptible.
The body is like the beach and the breath like the waves. The mind’s attention can simply rest on the beach and watch the waves.
There is nothing to do and nothing to change.
Each breath just rolls in all by itself, like a gift.
And when the tide has gone fully out, the sand is left smooth.
The watery movement smoothens even the roughest of pebbles, and even shards of glass are softened into gleaming jewels.
Water flows by itself, but it can also be channelled and directed.
Channelled, pressurised water can be used to clear or hollow out space. It can be used to power machinery or generate electricity.
Channels of water can be used to transport messages or cargo, to travel from one place to another.
Breath can be channelled in the same way and used for power and vitality. We can travel on the breath into familiar places as well as previously undiscovered realms.
Earth can become dry, hard and dusty. Nothing will grow and cracks appear in its surface. When we apply water, the dust settles, the cracks heal and growth is inevitable.
We can plant seeds in this moist, fertile earth and watch them take root below while opening and lengthening to the sky above, all without effort.
In the same way, we can water the earth of our body with a long flow of exhalation. We can plant our seeds of attention, of awareness, and with no effort at all, our growth is inevitable.