Welcome to Easing Social Anxiety Grounding Meditation.
This is Jacqueline,
Your guide for this practice.
Let's begin by finding yourself a comfortable position for your body.
You can be sitting or lying down in a quiet space.
Allow your eyes to gently close or soften your gaze.
Now take a nice deep breath in and slowly exhale.
Very good.
Continue to breathe deeply and slowly.
Inhale deeply through the nose and exhale fully through the nose.
Let your breathing find a gentle natural rhythm.
You may feel the rise and fall of your belly and your chest.
Allow yourself to arrive here in this moment,
Like a boat gliding toward the sandy shore from the choppy or rocky water you've been.
With a steady rhythm of your breathing,
Let yourself arrive.
Now bring your awareness to the point of the contact between your body and the surface beneath you.
Feel that support.
Maybe it's the support of your chair,
Your bed or the floor.
Notice the support you've got is so strong and steady,
So confident.
You are so safe in this moment.
And you know you're always safe in this moment.
And this moment is always here for you.
Now slowly scan your body from your head to your toes.
Notice where you're holding tension.
Any tension at all,
Simply notice it.
Maybe in your shoulders,
Your jaw,
Your stomach or your back.
Any tension you notice,
Now breathe into those areas.
And as you exhale,
Imagine yourself softening,
Releasing the tension.
Breathe into the tissue and exhale to release the tension.
That's very good.
Now you have arrived and begin to relax.
Imagine you are riding in an elevator down to the ground floor from whichever floor you are.
I'm gonna count from 5 to 1 for you to take your time to gently arrive at the ground floor.
Allow yourself to relax more and more with each number you hear.
Follow my words or copy them gently in your heart.
Now number 5,
Begin to go down.
4,
And keep descending.
Continue to let go.
Completely relax.
You are at the ground level of your consciousness.
Here you are present,
You're safe and you are totally supported.
100% supported.
You may pay attention to how relaxed you're feeling right now.
And you know if you feel relaxed,
You can always be more relaxed.
Just drop into a deeper relaxation as you please,
Anytime.
That's very good.
Now bring to mind a recent or upcoming social situation.
Maybe something that used to cause anxiety.
Do not judge it.
Simply notice what arises in your body and mind.
What's the thought that comes to mind?
And what is the feeling in your body?
Where do you feel it?
Maybe you feel some tightness,
Unease,
Some butterflies.
You can gently name the sensations,
My feelings.
Now say to yourself silently.
It's okay to feel.
It's good to feel.
These are my feelings.
These are only feelings.
We all have feelings.
That's very good.
You know everybody generates feelings all the time,
Every day.
Some feelings are signals of danger,
Which are important to pay attention to.
Some feelings are just our normal bodily functions,
Which can be ignored safely.
Those feelings are handled by our automatic nervous systems and by our trusted subconscious.
We can safely ignore those feelings.
We know our physical,
Biological,
Bodily system is enormously more intelligent than our conscious minds.
At this moment,
You can make a decision to release your judgment of your feelings and replace it with a new discernment you just heard.
You know when there is real danger,
Your feelings will warn you properly and you will react accordingly.
However,
When there is no danger,
When you are simply here,
You're safe.
You are in this moment.
Your feelings are just on standby.
You don't need to react to nor avoid them.
You can allow your feelings to be just here with you,
Keeping you safe and keeping you alive.
Imagine you're in that social situation.
You move your gaze,
Look around,
Look at the people around you.
You realize everybody has a body.
Everybody generates feelings.
Some people may be very good with discerning and choosing which feeling to pay attention to and which ones to simply notice without judging.
Now you can do that as well.
When you are in a social setting,
You can say to yourself as following,
Yes,
There is butterfly in my stomach.
Yes,
There is tension in my legs.
And yes,
I can hear my heart beating.
And yes,
These are all very normal.
I am not nervous nor afraid when I am surrounded or with my fellow human beings.
I know I'm safe.
And I also know I may be excited to connect.
And that's why my body generates feelings.
And there you have it.
Imagine you're talking to a younger version of yourself.
Maybe when you're two,
When you're five.
Maybe when you are a teenager.
That younger version of yourself is someone who just wants to be heard,
Accepted and understood.
Listen to what this child has to say.
And maybe you will hear,
I am so excited to meet others.
Just like walking across a bridge.
I don't know what's on the other side.
But I know it's normal to feel excited when facing the unknown.
I don't know what others feelings are.
And they don't know mine.
Maybe there's an opportunity to find out this time.
Maybe it will be next time.
I'm walking bravely across the bridge of social unknown to find out,
To give my feelings a chance to be known,
To be seen and maybe to be understood.
To see if my heart will skip a beat or jump out of my chest.
Just like crossing this bridge,
When I get to the other side,
The feelings of unknown,
All this excitement and nervousness will all come to an end.
I know feelings always pass.
I will once again feeling grounded and safe when I get to the other side.
Now listen to your inner innocent child.
You always know when you embrace your feelings,
You will feel more connected to yourself,
To the real part of you.
You will gain courage and insights of others feelings every time you interact with them.
And you will appreciate the feelings you do have.
You will feel more relaxed and more alive.
Once again,
Picture yourself in that social situation.
This time,
Imagine yourself a little bit more grounded.
Be able to breathe more calmly.
Be more present,
Allowing others to be as they are and you to be as you are.
Here with all your feelings,
Feel yourself smiling softly inside,
Speaking when you are compelled to,
Listening deeply with curiosity,
Feeling at ease in your own body.
You know you don't have to be perfect.
You don't need to be understood by everyone.
In fact,
You can never be perfect and totally understood because you are real,
You're changing and you're alive.
That is very good.
Now gently bring your attention back to your breathing.
Feel the air flowing in and out.
Steadily and faithfully,
Your heart is beating for you and feel the support of the ground beneath you.
With each breath,
Think to yourself,
I am safe.
I am here.
I am growing.
When you are ready,
Slowly begin to move your fingers and toes.
Bring your consciousness back to here and now,
Back to the space that you are in.
Take a deep grounding breath and exhale completely.
When you are ready,
You can gently massage your eyes with your hands and give yourself the following closing thoughts.
Thank yourself for showing up,
For choosing curiosity over social avoidance,
For choosing excitement over anxiety.
And this practice is here for you anytime you need it.
Until next time.
