Overcome Worry With Breath & Bodywork

Take a few deep breaths,

Inhaling through the nose,

Visualizing that air traveling all the way down into your lower belly and gently exhaling through pursed lips.

The idea of this meditation is to calm the mind that may be feeling overwhelmed with thoughts,

Bogged down with worries,

Perhaps ruminating on the past or future forecasting.

This meditation seeks to place your hands on the steering wheel rather than the mind controlling how you're feeling and your outlook at this present time.

I invite you to reflect on the state of your mind at present and do this using a creative tool that is to get a sense of what landscape is currently occupying your mind.

So set a scene,

Think about the weather,

Think about the ground,

The environment,

What elements might be at play,

Think about what other people or creatures or symbols might be present,

The temperature,

The time of day,

Really painting a picture of your current mental space.

It may be like a lightning storm,

A lot of static energy,

Thoughts being tossed around everywhere.

It may feel like a tidal wave,

A large volume of thoughts,

Perhaps from the past wiping you out,

Perhaps a tornado where you see all these worries flying around you and you're flying too or perhaps you're doing your best to stay at the center of the storm.

Whatever comes to mind is just as it should be.

Note how when you step into the observer role of the mind,

E.

G.

Trying to describe it,

Trying to paint a picture,

Looking at it with curiosity and detachment,

Your thoughts and worries decrease and a kind of stillness starts to pervade.

This detachment is not the same as avoiding the issue.

You are still leaning in to what's taking place but you're doing so from the place of the observer rather than the experiencer.

Now that you have reflected on the state of your mind in a more diffused way,

We will start to pay attention and reflect on where the rest of your being is at at this time.

So settling in,

Letting go of that mindscape for now,

We're going to bring your attention into your body and explore sensations and manifestations of thoughts and feelings and then in turn release and let go of this energy that needs acknowledgement and is no longer serving us.

At the end of the practice I will invite you again to create a mental landscape in order for you to see the mind-body connection in a visual way and hopefully to appreciate the importance of relaxation.

We're going to start with some feet breathing to draw the energy and attention away from the top of your body where your brain is.

So take your attention now to the soles of your feet.

If you're sitting down they're going to be on the floor,

If you're lying they'll just be flopped out to the sides.

Now with each inhale through your nose you're going to visualize the bottom of your feet is where the air is going to enter your body.

You might like to visualize something to help you to do this,

Just see how you go.

Start with 10 deep breaths through the feet,

Taking your attention to the bottom of the feet now,

Breathing in,

Picturing the air traveling all the way up your body until you feel your chest rise and then exhaling out of the mouth and picture that air traveling all the way back down the body,

The breath leaving the soles of the feet and again breathing in and all the way out the bottom of the feet.

Breathing in through the feet,

Pulling the breath all the way up to your chest,

Feeling the chest rise and gently exhale.

This nourishing breath is going to cleanse your body,

Breathing in,

Cleansing white light moving up to the chest and as you exhale taking all the toxins,

All the negativity out the bottom of the feet.

Inhaling in and breathing out,

Repeat this five more times,

Inhaling in and releasing all the residue out the bottom of the feet,

Breathing in and letting it go.

Three more times.

Final foot exhalation,

All the negativity and worries,

All the toxins released through the soles of the feet.

Feel the feet open,

Soft,

Relaxed.

Recognize what's happened in the mind while you've been pulling your attention to the bottom of the body and using the breath to anchor you in this way.

Now we're going to move up to the hands.

If you're feeling any tension or frustration or anger right now,

This is a good one for you.

If not,

Move along at your will.

Any stress or anything that you're carrying can also be used in this part of the exercise.

So breathing in,

Clenching your hands,

Bring to mind anything that's frustrating you or making you feel bitterness or rage or anger.

And as you exhale out your mouth,

Flick your hands,

Flick those fingers,

Imagine some heat you might like to see red,

Whatever description of anger comes to mind.

I want you to really visualize that you're flicking it out of your hands right now.

So breathing in through the nose,

Clenching your face,

Or bring to mind what's causing you some anger and exhale and release.

Flick it out.

Really want to flick it out.

This five times,

Okay,

We're going to repeat this action eight more times now.

Breathing in,

Clenching the face,

Visualizing the emotion and flicking it out,

Releasing it from the body.

Visualizing it,

It's no longer serving you,

It's holding you back and repeating seven more times.

Clenching those fists,

Breathing in,

Pause and release.

Six more times to go,

Breathing in,

Clenching those fists,

And release.

Flick it out.

Breathing in,

And release,

Flick it out,

All that negativity,

All that frustration at the end of your fingers.

Four more times to go,

Breathing in,

Clenching,

And release.

Flick it out,

Repeat three more times,

Inhaling,

Clenching those fists.

Hold and visualize as you release and exhale.

Relaxation always follows tension.

Inhale your fingers,

Getting softer and supple.

Two more times to go,

Breathing in,

Clenching those fists,

And release.

The final residue of frustration,

Bitterness,

Anger or tension.

Last inhale,

Clenching those fists,

Holding an image,

And releasing.

Let it all go,

All draining from your body.

Just become aware of the stillness in the body,

The dispersing of tension,

Hopefully creating more space.

Take a moment to reflect on how effective that exercise was for you,

In terms of feeling like you've made a proactive physical attempt to release that anger that can often kick around in our system for quite some time.

Feel your hands relaxed by your body.

Take your attention to your stomach area now.

Certainly one of the most common parts of the body that people note emotional sensation,

Also referred to as our second brain,

That place of the gut.

More and more research is showing the amazing universe that is our stomach area.

So just tapping into that space now,

You can put your hands there if you feel that connects you best.

Spend a few moments here,

Just becoming aware of any sensations you might like to bring to mind some of the things that have been on your mind today or this evening,

Some of the things that have been making you feel not quite right or impacting your mood.

Just notice how your tummy responds to thoughts about that particular subject matter.

In this part of the exercise,

We're wanting to allow the body to communicate with you.

And a lot of the time,

The more negative emotions such as guilt or sadness,

Dread,

Even anger.

So now with a bit of a refresher of thoughts that maybe had been impacting you previously,

Just placing your hands on the tummy and get into that observer stance on what you can pick up in your tummy.

What are you feeling?

How would you describe it?

If I was to ask you what color comes to mind with your hands on your stomach,

What would it be?

If I was to ask you for a shape or some sort of imagery,

What can you see?

How could you describe the feeling to someone else in detail?

Now I'm going to invite you to ask your tummy what message it has for you.

What is this sensation representing?

Sometimes particular memories will be stirred up.

You might find that there's a particular pattern going on.

Just be really curious and kind about the message your tummy has for you.

It's important that we get into a relationship with our body,

Our conveyor of feelings that is based on respect and acknowledgement.

So if you feel you've spent sufficient time gauging what your stomach is trying to express,

I want you to now be sending this particular part of yourself some nurturing,

Loving kindness.

Whatever message your tummy has for you,

See if you can come up with a power word.

What are some words that would be like a soothing palm to your tummy at this time?

You already have your hands there as a sign of acknowledgement honoring that place.

This breath restore balance.

So inhaling through the nose,

Filling the belly.

10 breaths.

Inhaling sending that power word down to the belly,

Cleansing out that area of your body.

Exhaling unburdening to the room around you.

Eight more breaths.

The power word going in and a visualization of the feeling becoming smaller,

More manageable.

Seven more breaths.

Six.

Five.

Four.

Notice the spaciousness down there now.

Notice the lightness.

Three.

And two.

Last breath.

And it's okay if there's still that imagery.

As long as it's more manageable now,

That's what's key.

We're going to move a little higher now to the heart space.

And I invite you to put both hands on that heart of yours.

That amazing ally that you could not possibly live without.

Just notice how your heart rate is in this moment.

After about 10 minutes of relaxing and deep breathing,

How is that heart of yours?

Now the heart chakra is the color green.

So I always like to do a bit of visualization work.

Think of some inspiration for green to really get the brain creating.

You might like to think of rainforests or tree ferns to observe the heart in this moment.

Become aware of the sensations of the heart beating on your hands.

And now see this beautiful luminous green that is swirling in a clockwise direction.

And as it swells,

It grows bigger and bigger,

More and more vibrant.

Just as if your touch is watering the garden of the heart.

And as this luminous green swells larger and larger,

I invite you to bring to mind someone or something that makes you feel love.

If not a person or an animal,

It might be an activity where your heart feels absolutely full of passion and dedication.

You might have noticed a soft smile has crept onto your lips as you soak up the feeling of love.

The heart blooming with care and compassion.

Full and vibrant.

That swirling green heart that gets bigger and bigger is sending nurturing growth and rejuvenation to all areas of the body now.

Simply tapping into the way you feel in the presence of that other person or creature or activity.

That feeling of fullness,

Of gratitude,

Of security.

Breathing in deeply here,

Sending a breath of gratitude to that heart of yours,

To being your forever companion,

For opening yourself up to opportunities,

To joyful experiences,

To companionship,

To love.

Send that heart some love.

Breathing in deep,

Returning that replenishing energy.

To me,

This heart space is such an important resource for us to fall back on when our mind takes us to places that don't serve us well.

It's the heart that stays rhythmic,

Consistent,

Stable.

It's the heart that nourishes our body and soul.

Take a final deep breath,

Sigh it out,

Feeling that spaciousness across the chest,

How good it feels to connect with this part of ourselves.

Notice how relaxed you feel in the mind and body at this point in time.

Moving up now to our shoulders,

Where a lot of us carry stress and tension.

And for me,

If I'm doing things that aren't in my best interests,

Often I feel a pain in my shoulders and the bottom of my neck,

Almost as if I'm carrying a burden.

Just bringing awareness to the sensations now in the shoulders,

Whether there's any constriction or you're feeling pretty loose and relaxed there.

And we're just going to bring our shoulders up to our ears now,

Breathing in and dropping the shoulders down where they belong with a sigh.

Crunching them up towards your ears a second time,

Breathing in and sighing out and dropping the shoulders down.

Repeat eight more times,

Breathing in,

Letting go of the stress and tension and the breath.

Repeat seven more times,

Breathing in and six.

All the way up to your bottom of your ears if you can and exhale,

Letting go.

Halfway there,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

Letting the weight of that stress just fall to the floor,

Breathing in,

Breathing out three more times,

Breathing in,

Scrunching those shoulders up to the ears and letting go.

Two more times,

Breathing in,

Breathing out,

One last time,

Breathing in,

Letting that tension go.

If you've got any residual tension in the neck,

Just give them a little shake of the shoulders and gently take your head from side to side,

From left to right,

Stretching out the neck.

Again,

Noting any tension,

Gently looking from right to left.

Feel not to put too much pressure on the neck.

Good.

If there's any tension or discomfort,

I invite you to send a nice healing breath with the intention of softening that place of tension,

Becoming aware of that part softening.

Very good.

Now often we carry a lot of tension in our jaw,

So I'm going to invite you to actually massage your jaw now and just little circles,

Gentle little circles on the top.

You need to find where your jaw is,

Just open your mouth and you'll feel it near the ear connecting.

Nice little gentle circles,

Gentle rubs.

Letting go of any tension.

Good.

Now moving up to our eyes,

You can choose to keep your eyes closed or if you prefer,

Gently open them.

And just look to your left ear,

The direction of your left ear and hold it and then come back to center and then take your eyes over to your right ear and back to center and look down at your feet or the floor and back to center and looking up to the brain or the sky or ceiling above you and back to center.

Now last but not least is our mind and hopefully after the journey you've just been on,

You'll mind is now feeling a lot more still and chilled and relaxed.

Just invite you to visualize inside the mind and set a bit of a landscape.

What is the landscape of the mind right now?

You might like to start with the ground or perhaps it's water.

Are there valleys?

Is it a desert?

Mountains?

Is it rocky?

Is it shrubby?

It might be clear and vast.

It might be a frozen lake.

Just let yourself paint a picture of the landscape of your mind after doing this relaxation exercise.

What time of day is it there?

What's the temperature like?

What elements are present?

I'm hopeful that the space you see or perceive and create is one of serenity,

Of peace.

Just notice the impact of using your physical self to explore aspects of your emotional or mental self,

Using our bodies to anchor and ground,

So to our breath but also our muscles,

Our heart.

I hope you found this exercise helpful and I hope it has shown you ways to connect with your physical self on a day-to-day level where you can integrate parts of this practice,

If not this whole practice,

In a way to bring your whole self back into harmony.

That space that you've just created at the end of this practice may serve you as your safe place of the mind,

Your relaxing place.

Remember this feeling if you're ever feeling low or distressed,

Stressed or unable to gain some stillness of the mind.

Remember how accessible it truly is.

Wishing you all the best.