Daisy Pond

It is the opening countdown. On each of three out-breaths you mentally say and picture a number, first three, then two, then one, repeating each one three times. The session describes this as a way to reach a deeper, healthier level of mind, and it says an occasional deep breath is enough to return there.

The stairway is a gradual way to move inward. You count down from the top step to the bottom, then walk a short hallway to the door of the pond. At the end you climb the same fifteen steps back up, so the journey has a clear way in and a clear way out.

The daisy floats in the middle of the pond and is large enough to lie down in. You choose its height, perhaps ten or twelve feet, and are counted from one to three into its soft, fluffy centre. It is your home base: you slide off its petal into the water, and later fly from it and return to it.

You float, swim, and dive to the bottom to play with friendly fish you imagine as beautiful as you like. You are invited to mentally breathe the water, picturing it cleansing and refreshing your whole system, and to feel its strength and energy reach every cell. It is imagery for feeling refreshed, and you shape it yourself.

After the swim, you are lifted from the daisy, Peter Pan style, and circle the pond to see it from above. You then fly toward the tallest of three mountain peaks, the snow-covered one, play in the snow briefly, and return. The change of view adds a spacious, lighter feeling before you come back.

You repeat lines mentally twice. Early on: every day you improve your viewpoint toward yourself, you are unique, and you can think, create and do. At the end: every day, in every way, you are getting better and better, and more confident in your own abilities. They send you into the day with a positive view of yourself.