Follow me on Instagram @veronikazeleznik.therapy
Veronika Železnik Psychotherapy
SLO
Write to me

Home · Knowledge base · Vaja

Leaves on a stream

You picture thoughts as leaves floating past — practising watching thoughts instead of living inside them.

Exercise 8 minut

Leaves on a stream is an image in which you sit beside a stream and place each thought that appears on a leaf that floats away. You do not try to push it off and you do not hold it back; you simply watch it pass. Almost everyone finds that the stream disappears and they end up inside a thought — at which point you put the stream back without reproach. That happens ten times in eight minutes, and it is the point of the exercise. If water does not suit you, use clouds, a conveyor belt or railway carriages; the image does not matter, the passing does.

When to use it

With rumination and with thoughts that keep repeating. The exercise comes from acceptance and commitment therapy.

How it goes

  1. Close your eyes and picture a slow stream carrying leaves.
  2. Place each thought that comes on one leaf and let it float away.
  3. Don’t try to speed the stream up, and don’t push the leaves along.
  4. When you notice you are in a thought again rather than beside the stream, simply return to the bank.

Why it works

It doesn’t remove thoughts. It practises the difference between having a thought and being the thought — which, with rumination, is the crucial difference.

See also

A letter to your younger self You write a letter to yourself at the age when things were hardest. A safe place In your mind you build a place where it is safe, and make it detailed enough to return to. Grounding 5–4–3–2–1 An exercise for moments of overwhelm: through the five senses you return from your thoughts to the room you're in.

The whole knowledge base

Contact

Does some of this sound familiar?

An explanation is one thing, the experience another. If you'd like to talk it through with someone, write to me.

Write to me How therapy works
This is what insomnia taught me. What has it taught you? Traumatic experiences can leave you weakened — on recovery and strength. On the worries that drain our energy. On why differentiation matters in relationships. Self-confidence starts with self-awareness. On how hard it is to start — and harder still to keep going.