floating meditation

enter the caribbean sea.
swim to an empty piece of water
float on your back
close your eyes.

your ears submerged
your legs close to the surface
your arms loosely wherever the water takes them
your body loosley wherever the water takes it.

float for a while,
wonder at it.

now spend some time with the breath.
youll be able to hear it
because of the water
so start with the breath and the sound.
thats two.

your eyes are closed.

breath, ears, just these two, until you can concentrate on both at the same time. at the exact same time. they are similar enough. dont listen to one and then the other; dont feel one and then the other. do it at the same time.
float with this for a while.

you may moan a little,
you may whimper.

now find your hands.
dont move them
just find them
and let them float towards your hair.
now find your hair.
dont move it
just let it float towards your hands.

now interlace the two
and feel your hair with your hands.

breath, sound, touch.
your eyes are closed.

try to feel your hair at the same time that you hear your breath.
exactly the same time;
exactly.
do not listen a moment after you touch
or touch a moment after you listen.
even if these moments travel at the speed of light,
it is too slow.
it must be instant, unseparatable
superluminal.
breath, sound, touch, three senses.
lungs, mouth, nose, ears, fingers, hair
quite a few.

this will take a while
but dont go on until you can do it all at once.

now.
find your feet.
do not move them
just find them
and find how they feel
find the water that is touching them.
they are so far away!
your feet are so far away, but you must travel all the way down, past your neck and heart, belly and groin, legs and ankles, to your feet, and find them.

your eyes are closed.

dont forget your breath
or the sounds
or your fingers and your hair
and dont forget the sea
and the wonder of your floatation.
feel your feet and your hair at the same time
do not let a moment pass between the two sensations,
do not let the length of your body fool you.

this is not juggling;
do not toss the ball of breath into the air as soon as the ball of your feet is remembered. rather, this is holding all the balls at once, in the center of the palm of your hand.

have you dont this?
are they all there?
breath and sound, hair and finger, foot and water?
find more.
find salt on your mouth
find sun on your face
find hunger in your belly
place each ball with the others
find the surface of your knee
find the muscles of your arm
find the tiny interior sensations that travel throughout your torso
place each ball with the others and never let one drop
until you are nothing but sense
lacking concept
lacking thought
nothing but floating.

and now:
open your eyes.