Pain Relief - Meditation & Coffee

Hello!

You are listening to Meditation and Coffee,

The weekday meditation podcast that helps you start your day off calm,

Aware,

Intentional,

Focused and most importantly,

Awake.

Because did you know that the word Buddha actually means awakened one?

I'm Hannah,

Your host and founder of the online meditation community Breathe Like a Badass,

And I am obsessed with starting the day with good coffee and seriously simple meditation.

As a trained meditation teacher and a female entrepreneur,

My mission is to help anxious yet ambitious women cut through overwhelm,

Negative self-talk,

Constant comparison and fear so they can get the calm,

Clarity and focus that they need to build happy,

Fulfilling,

Freedom-filled businesses and lives.

Meditation is not magic,

But it's a pretty good place to start.

So whether your coffee is a shot of espresso,

A latte decaf or even a tea or a chai,

I invite you to join me every weekday to start your day off right.

FYI,

These sessions are recorded live on my Instagram page,

At Breathe Like a Badass,

So if you'd prefer to join in and watch them live,

You can do so there.

The videos are also available after the lives on my IGTV page.

Now,

On to the meditation and coffee.

Good morning friends,

We are live for a Monday morning session of meditation and coffee.

I did take a few days off last week,

Thank you for your patience with that.

And thank you also to the couple of people who reached out to me to say,

Where are you?

We miss you.

I took a few days off because I was really struggling with migraines last week.

I was really struggling with feeling productive and creative,

And the migraines really are a symptom of that.

They really caused me to feel very low and very tired,

So that's why I took some time off last week.

And as much as it feels difficult to do that,

And as much as I love to keep a consistent habit going,

And I think that's really important,

I also would stress that sometimes you just need a break,

And you just need to switch up your routine,

Give yourself permission to rest.

So that is what I did.

And if you're feeling as though that might be what you need this morning,

Or whenever you're listening or watching this,

Then I highly recommend it.

I do feel a lot more rested today and this week,

And I'm really hoping to keep it that way.

I also went for a run this morning because it's a beautiful day here in London.

It might be one of the last days of summer,

Who knows.

So I've had a shower,

Which is why my hair looks like I've been through a hedge backwards.

But no worries,

No one cares about my hair,

Just wanted to explain what was going on.

Today's meditation is based on what helped me last week when I was suffering with migraines.

I just find that breathing and using the tools of mindfulness and meditation can actually be really useful if you are suffering with pain,

If you are suffering with mild issues,

Headaches,

Neck tension,

Stress induced headaches,

Tension in your shoulders and your neck,

Or maybe pain elsewhere,

Perhaps you've had an injury,

Or you find that you've got back pain,

Whatever it might be,

This meditation can be,

And has been for me,

A really useful tool.

It's not only if you suffer from pain though,

I think that this technique that we're going to use is a really great technique just in general to get in touch with your body,

To help you feel more grounded within your own skin,

And it can also help you just to get in touch with yourself and remind you of the power of mindfulness and just being present in your body and breathing at times of stress or tension in other situations,

Confrontation,

Frustration in your daily life.

So I encourage you to use this technique not only if you've got a headache or physical pain but also throughout your day as a reminder of the power of mindfulness to just bring us back to the present and remind us,

You know,

We're safe,

We're good,

We've got this,

Let's go.

So I do of course have some coffee next to me,

But I also have water because my migraines are often triggered by not drinking enough water,

So I'm doing both today,

So I encourage you to maybe do the same,

Stay hydrated.

And we're going to begin,

So I invite you to come into a position where you're feeling grounded and relaxed,

Cross-legged or sitting loosely on a chair or a cushion,

And taking some cleansing deep breaths in through the nose,

Allowing that oxygen to flow in,

And already imagining that each time you breathe in the oxygen is opening your lungs,

Allowing fresh blood,

Fresh oxygen as well to course around your body and give it the nutrients and the space and the oxygen and the fuel that it needs.

Breathing in and allowing your breath to exhale and coming to sit and relax and melt into position today.

Continuing to breathe and closing your eyes if you haven't already,

If that feels safe,

If that feels pleasing to you,

If not,

You can keep your eyes open,

Just looking slightly ahead.

If you're dealing with pain or a headache like I was last week,

It might be a good idea to close your eyes and allow yourself this space,

This time to be still and notice.

And as you focus on your breathing and allowing your body to relax into position today,

I invite you to tune your attention to any areas of tension or indeed pain that you may be feeling within your body.

Noticing those areas and noticing them without judgement,

Coming to them from a place of interest and curiosity.

We're not judging ourselves for feeling pain,

We're not trying to eliminate the pain in a flash,

We're just noticing any areas where we might be gripping,

Holding,

Tensing,

Or indeed any areas where we're feeling pain.

And I invite you to notice your breath as you do this.

And as you breathe,

Imagine that you're sending that cool,

Clean,

Fresh oxygen to the areas of your body where you feel that tension,

Where you feel that pain.

Almost like your pain is in a tunnel and you've just opened the door to the outside and you're allowing that fresh air to breathe into those areas of pain.

To open those parts of your body that could use a little bit of extra light,

A little bit of extra oxygen.

And noticing how it feels when you do this.

How does your pain change?

Does it change?

Does allowing yourself to pinpoint the pain and then breathe into those areas of pain,

Does it allow that pain to dissipate slightly or take the edge off it?

Maybe simply noticing it without judgement and forgiving yourself for feeling this way.

I think often when we feel tense or we have pain or headaches,

It's easy to berate our body.

It's easy to think,

Why do I feel this way?

Or I shouldn't feel this way?

Or what can I do to change it or force my body to be different?

And often pain is actually our body's sign that we need to relax into it and we need to give it permission to be itself.

Not always of course,

But often.

Especially with stress,

Tension,

Migraines.

My migraines are often caused by stress.

Sometimes pain in our body is a sign that we've been holding on for too long or we've been trying to force our body into a position or a task or a stressful moment that maybe we don't need to any longer.

Basically forgiving ourselves for feeling what we feel and using this technique of breathing gently into those areas can help us to breathe through the pain.

Physical or mental.

This can be useful as well if we're suffering from stress or fear or anger.

Really noticing where we can feel it in our body physically and breathing into it and allowing ourselves to send cool,

Clean oxygen to those areas.

Kind of like we're doing a bit of a spring clean of the areas that we need a little more light,

A little more air.

And like I say,

This can be a really great technique at any time of day if you notice any areas of stress or tension,

Breathing air into those areas of your body as if your body were hollow or a balloon that you can breathe into.

Noticing how that feels.

Okay,

If you had your eyes closed,

You can open them now.

Come back into the room.

Notice maybe any differences between when you started and when you're finishing.

Any feelings of tension that may have dissipated.

Maybe you were able to just give yourself permission today to take a little bit of time to check in with your mind and your body.

Sometimes that's all that we need.

Sometimes all we need is just to slow down for a second and give ourselves permission to just be.

So thank you so much for this meditation this morning.

I of course do have my coffee with me.

I shall be enjoying that.

But of course I'm going to be monitoring my caffeine intake,

Balancing it with water as well because of the migraines that I had last week.

I think it's a reminder to everyone to go slow,

Listen to your body,

Give it what it needs and give yourself permission to feel what you feel.

So thank you so much.

I hope that you have a wonderful day.

This has been great.

Thank you for joining me.

Let me know if you have any questions.

Let me know if that went well.

Of course these meditations are free and I love doing them.

But if you'd like to support me and buy me a coffee,

You can do that if you go to paypal.

Me forward slash breathe like a badass.

You can buy me a coffee,

Drop me a donation for a bit of coffee and a biscuit,

Whatever works for you.

That's all good.

And of course you can also listen to these meditations on the free meditation app Insight Timer.

So thank you so much.

From me to you,

Have a wonderful day.

Thanks so much for being here.

That's it for today.

Thanks so much for listening and spending your morning with me.

If you like this podcast and you are as obsessed with coffee and maybe meditation as I am,

Please go ahead and leave a rating and a review on Apple podcasts or wherever you normally listen as it helps spread the word and get the message out to more brilliant women just like us who need it.

You can also share with your friends on Instagram tagging me at breathe like a badass.

I always love to see you there.

If you like this and you'd like to hear more from me and breathe like a badass on how to use meditation to get the calm,

Clarity and focus you need to build a happy,

Fulfilling,

Freedom filled business and life,

Head on over to my other full length interview style podcast.

Just search breathe like a badass anywhere that you normally listen to podcasts.

Thank you so much for listening and I will see you for the next one.