Hello and welcome to this meditation for anxiety.
This practice will be around 10 minutes long so take a moment to let yourself settle tuning in to what your body and mind needs for support right now.
That might mean you choose to lie down for the practice or maybe you find a comfortable seat but find a position that feels the most supportive and grounding for you.
Feel free to also grab a blanket,
Cushion or any other items of comfort to support you.
Give yourself as much time as you need to settle in feeling free to pause the audio if you need to.
If you do find that you need to move during our meditation today please know that that is okay but do so slowly and mindfully allowing yourself to hold on to this meditative state.
Once you are settled I invite you to start softening through the eyes you might allow them to close or feel free to simply fix the gaze on a still point in front of you.
I'm going to start by taking a few deep cleansing breaths so I invite you to take a deep breath in through the nose and a super slow exhale through the mouth.
Deep inhale through your nose slow soft exhale through the mouth one more inhale deeply and slowly then let it go start to let your breath settle to a natural rhythm let your body simply breathe for you nothing to change,
Nothing to control and see if you can relax the muscles through your face just allowing the jaw to unclench the brows to soften allowing the eyelids to be soft find some ease in your shoulders relax through the arms and through the legs and maybe start to notice the surface beneath you the parts of your body in contact with this surface feeling yourself grounded,
Held and supported here and continue to tap into the sensations of what you can feel maybe you can notice the temperature of the air just allowing these details to ground you into the present moment giving your mind the opportunity to come into the same time and space as your physical body so often when we are anxious,
We are either living in the past or in the future so give yourself this time to simply soften,
To be present in the here and the now if that feels challenging for you,
Just know that that is okay simply continue to breathe and meet yourself where you are at today with kindness and compassion maybe you can gently fix your awareness on the breath,
Observing each inhale and exhale your breath is the simplest tool you have to bring you into the present moment so observe how this breath feels perhaps noticing any sensations the breath brings with it you might be able to notice your breath at the tip of your nostrils perhaps a cooling sensation with each inhale any more warming sensation as you exhale but know there is no right or wrong answer or sensation here you are just simply observing your sensations today letting this flow of breath keep you present and bring you into a calm state if you find your thoughts start to wander,
That is okay just gently come back to your breath,
Be kind to yourself this time is for you we are now going to continue working with the breath just doing a little bit of breath work if it feels uncomfortable at any point,
Know that you can release control and go back to simply observing the technique we are going to do today is called box breathing it involves a count of 4 as you inhale a hold for the count of 4 an exhale for 4 and then a hold again for 4 counts it may be useful to imagine creating or drawing a box within your mind's eye this could help you stay more grounded,
Focused and hopefully help ease your anxiety if you lose count or your mind drifts,
That's okay just come back into the practice when you feel ready simply following my voice we are going to begin with a normal inhale and exhale so breathing in and letting it go then inhaling for 4 3,
2,
1 hold for 4 3,
2,
1 exhale for 4 3,
2,
1 then releasing the control allow the breath to return to a natural rhythm take a moment to simply tune back into the body notice how you feel I'm going to do a few more rounds of this box breathing in a moment but first take your time to re-soften the face relax the shoulders check if any tension has started to gather up in the body and just see if you can soften and let go both physically,
Mentally and energetically and then bring your awareness back to your breath we'll start again by taking a normal inhale in exhale,
Let go and breathing in for 4 3,
2,
1 hold for 4 3,
2,
1 hold for 4 3,
2,
1 hold for 4 3,
2,
1 1 then taking a normal inhale and exhale let the breath soften back to its natural rhythm take a moment to notice how you feel any physical sensations that might have come up any tension that you might still be holding onto can you continue to soften give yourself permission to release give yourself permission to drop into ease and allow yourself to simply be for the next few moments there is nothing else you need to do nowhere else you need to be simply give yourself this opportunity to rest give yourself permission to simply be in the moment maybe bringing your awareness back to the surface beneath you the surface that's been holding and supporting you gently guiding your awareness to your fingers and your toes you might start to add some gentle movement there allowing this movement to grow easily into the arms and the legs and then I invite you to bring your hands to rest over your heart center take another nice deep breath in and a slow exhale out the mouth extend some gratitude and love to yourself for choosing to do this practice today it's not always easy to choose ourselves when we're feeling anxious or stressed out so thank you for choosing you at this moment when you feel ready you can start to gently flutter the eyes open it's been an absolute honor to guide you through this practice today please take care of yourself,
I'm sending lots of love out to you and I'll see you in our next practice
