This is a visualization meditation. I will take you on a walk, through Monet’s gardens in Giverny, France. I visited his house and gardens in 2017.
Find a comfortable, quiet place to settle. You may want to close your eyes or look at some of my pictures that have been added to this meditation.
Start by taking three deep cleansing breaths.
Breathe in expanding your belly Hold, then release with a sigh.
Breathe in expanding your belly Hold, then release with a sigh.
Breathe in expanding your belly Hold, then release with a sigh.
In the French town of Giverny I visited the home and gardens of the artist Claude Monet. He designed two different gardens with the help of seven gardeners. A visit allows you to immerse yourself into the environment in which he lived and created many of his famous paintings.
It is a warm summer day in July. I enter a garden gate and start walking along a gravel pathway. I feel the warm summer sun on my face, smell the pleasant fragrance of delicate blooms, and listen to the soft crunching sound my feet make as I walk. This first garden has winding pathways letting you explore the different beds of carefully planted and well-maintained plants. Monet laid out the garden to reflect the different palettes of color. Arranged by hue and varied textures. The strips of color are so breathtaking and have different appearance in the different lights of day; from the soft morning light, to the strong bright mid-day sun, to the crispness of the evening light. Monet would work on up to 5 canvases, each of them the same view, but painted in the different light throughout the day.
I notice that along the path edges there are lavender plants. As I walk, my calves lightly brushed the tiny lavender blossoms and their scent floats upward.
I shall always remember this calming scent of the lavender. The scent of lavender oil can help you to also relax when a drop is dabbed onto your skin.
The second garden at Giverny incircles a pond with lovely water lilies, trees with swaying willow tendrils, bridges, and pathways with beautiful flowers at every turn. I cross over a green bridge, seen in his paintings, and notice to the left a wooden boat tied up along the shore. I look at this peaceful scene and think of what it would be like to float in this boat.
I imagine…the calm, still, waters would gently lap against the sides of the boat. I reach out and imagine the water flowing through my fingers as we drift. Out in the center of the pond the boat comes alongside the waterlilies. His beloved waterlilies were in many of his paintings.
It is a blessing to see the beauty that he created in his gardens. It is like being in one of his works.
As you continue to drift into relaxation, imagine the flower images, smells, and calm waters of God’s presence. There is deep calm water within you. During times of anxiety and worry let your thoughts find the calm water and gentle current. Let the current take you softly along dissolving all the worries and thoughts that do not serve you. Find peace in the beauty around you.
Let your breath deepen, close your eyes and drift off to sleep.
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