Hi,
This is Danielle.
Together today,
We are going to be breathing out our stress in this meditation.
I will walk us through a meditation today that supports returning to our breath and seeing it as a support to managing stress.
I will start and end with a bell.
To start,
We can sit with a dignified,
Balanced,
And relaxed posture.
If sitting doesn't feel dignified,
Balanced,
And relaxed,
Know that you can always lay down or take another posture that does.
You can choose to close your eyes or take a soft gaze.
We can start with a brief scan of the body from the top of our head down to our toes,
Acknowledging that we are here.
You may notice the sensation of gravity anchoring you to the earth.
For the next 10 minutes,
See if you can set aside any roles and responsibilities,
Plans and thoughts of the future,
Regrets and reflections of the past.
Arrive in this moment.
When you're ready,
You may move your attention to your breath.
You might notice the cool air as you breathe in,
Then the warm air as you breathe out.
You might notice the rise and fall of your chest or stomach.
Spend a moment here with wherever you feel your breath the strongest.
I'm not trying to change or control the breaths,
Just watching as your body breathes.
Next,
If you'd like,
You can imagine that with each in-breath,
Your lungs pull in all the negativity,
All the worry you might be holding,
And with each out-breath,
You can imagine breathing all that energy out of your lungs.
Breathing in,
We pull in all difficult thoughts and feelings into our lungs,
And breathing out,
We let it go.
Breathing in,
Your breath gathers all tension and discomfort.
Breathing out,
Your body surrenders that and lets it go.
Take another minute and do another scan through your body and see if there's any other stress or tension that you can release.
Sometimes we can't let go of all of our stress or tension,
And that's okay too.
Just seeing if you can relax any tough spots by just a little bit.
And if you'd like,
If you've found even a tiny bit more relaxation,
See if you can spend the next minute simply enjoying it.
If it would feel good,
You can set an intention for moving back into your day,
Knowing that stress will still come and go,
But you know you can always breathe through it.
And when you're ready,
You can wiggle your toes and fingers,
Bring yourself back into your body,
Slowly open your eyes.
