Welcome to a meditation to help relieve anxiety.
Come into a comfortable seat,
Letting your spine be tall,
Maybe rolling the shoulders up and back a few times,
And gently begin to close the eyes or gaze down.
Feel your seat where it's connected to the cushion or chair,
And allow your body to feel heavy,
Weighted,
Grounded.
Allow my words to flow into your words.
Raise your awareness wherever you feel your breath the strongest.
Perhaps that's the nose,
The chest,
Or maybe the belly.
Wherever that is for you,
See if you can keep your attention on this space.
Feel the breath as it flows in through your nostrils.
Allow each inhale to soothe you.
Each exhale softens the body.
Letting go of the contents of the mind by allowing your mind and your awareness to rest on your breath.
Can you stay connected to the breath as if you've been assigned the job of bodyguard,
Staying with your breath for its full cycle,
Following the breath in as you inhale,
Following the breath out as you exhale.
Each breath is a coming home.
Breathing deep into the belly,
Feel how your belly and ribs,
The lungs expand as you breathe in.
Breathe space as you breathe out.
Feel how the chest gently falls.
Perhaps you repeat the words,
Rise as you inhale.
Fall as you exhale.
Continuing in this pattern,
Allow your body to breathe you.
You may have noticed thoughts coming.
That's okay.
The mind is designed to think.
See if you can notice the thoughts without getting caught up in them or swept away into the stories of them.
If a particular thought is blocking you from being present,
Just notice it and set it aside.
You may be saying to yourself,
Thinking is happening,
Worry is happening,
Or planning is happening,
And shift the mind and your awareness back to the breath.
We are not trying to stop thoughts.
We are changing our relationship to our thoughts,
Gently letting them go as we notice them and returning to our breath.
The moment we notice the thought is the moment we have regained awareness.
Next I'll introduce an anxiety breath.
We're going to inhale for a count of four,
Pause for one or two,
And exhale for a count of eight,
Maybe ten.
When we extend our exhales longer than our inhales,
It kicks in our parasympathetic nervous system,
Our calming nervous system,
Takes us out of fight,
Flight,
Or freeze.
So let's practice.
Inhale one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Pause one,
Two.
Exhale one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Five,
Six,
Seven,
Eight.
Continue in this pattern.
Exhale one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Take a few more deep breaths.
As you inhale,
Feel yourself receiving peace and presence.
As you exhale,
Feel the mind releasing stress,
Worry,
Fear.
And we simply find enjoyment in each breath.
Gently relaxing your attention,
Check in,
Notice how you feel.
When we can accept whatever is in our present moment,
We can release fear and anxiety.
I will leave you with this quote by Maya Angelou.
Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space at the same time.
Invite one to stay.
I hope you choose hope.
Thank you for practicing.
