Hello,
Beth here.
Welcome to your meditation.
This meditation is on soothing and releasing anxiety.
When life feels challenging,
It's perfectly normal to experience some anxiety and worry.
These emotional states keep the mind and body alert and prepared to manage the challenges ahead.
However,
You might find that you're worrying about things that haven't yet happened,
Predicting further concerns and perpetuating your unease.
These types of difficult emotion can be really hard to hold or find some relief from.
That is unless we can soothe the body.
In this meditation,
We're going to invite some softness and safety into the body and in doing so,
Also soothe and release some of the mental tension too.
So get into a comfortable seat where the body feels balanced and able to settle.
If you're really tired,
Lying down is also fine.
Just note that you'll be invited to move the body a little to begin with,
So work with the guidance as feels good for you.
You can have your eyes closed or open.
Again,
See what feels right for you today.
Now feel where the body is supported by the surface beneath you.
You might feel this as a pressure beneath the body.
If you're seated,
Also feel a kind of upwardness in the torso,
The head.
Feeling all the way up to the crown of your head.
And explore swaying or rocking the body just a little from side to side or forward and back.
Invite a fluidity to the movement.
Let it be pretty effortless,
Playful even.
Feeling a lightness and ease in the upper body.
And you may begin to notice a point of balance where the body seems to keep returning to,
A still point.
And gently allow the body to come to stillness,
Resting in this point of balance.
Invite the weight of the body to soften down into the surface beneath you as if the whole body was sighing.
And as you feel your body beginning to settle,
Notice how it feels in your body right now.
You may likely notice where you are tying until tense.
Perhaps the shoulders could release down a fraction.
Feeling a softness across the eyes and the jaw dropping a little.
Invite your belly to let go.
No need to hold onto the belly.
No need to hold any tension in the shoulders.
Let your body know that for now it can let go a little.
That right now there's nothing that needs to be done.
That right now it is safe.
And we can encourage a little more release by becoming more aware of the breath.
So notice how you are breathing.
And if you like or you feel the impulse,
You can invite the breath to be a little deeper.
Breathing in,
Feeling the chest expand.
Breathing out,
The body softening.
Breathing in,
The body rises.
Breathing out,
The body lets go.
Allow the breath to be gentle.
There's no rush to breathe.
Little effort required.
The outbreath simply taking care of itself.
And of course you'll notice thoughts arising from time to time.
And your perfect focus on the breath is not required.
You can let thoughts and sounds intermingle with your awareness of the breath.
If it's possible,
You can just let the thoughts be.
Explore them for a little while before returning to the breath.
Be really gentle with yourself.
It's just breathing.
You might like to imagine the breath is somehow nourishing you with the quality you might need today.
Maybe calm or strength or courage.
See what words come to mind when you think of the quality you might need.
And you might like to imagine the breath to be a light or warm energy that's filling your body with this quality with each in breath.
Breathing in that quality and breathing out relief.
And returning now to your body.
Bringing some awareness back into your body.
Your whole body breathing.
And notice how you feel.
Has anything changed?
Thanks for sharing this practice with me.
Take care.
