Settling The Soul

Welcome to this Tibetan singing bowl meditation.

I'm Catherine Wakefield,

The founder of Soothing Sounds for the Soul,

And I'll be guiding you through this sound meditation.

Before we start,

It's important to understand that this meditation is best done with your eyes closed,

Laying down in a comfortable position,

Preferably with headphones for full effect.

It's not a good idea to listen to this whilst driving or operating machinery.

Remember,

If you get interrupted or need to stop earlier than the end of this meditation track,

That's absolutely okay,

And you will still benefit from the effects of taking this time for yourself.

I'll guide you into a relaxed state with my voice and invite your body and mind to connect.

You'll hear the sound of the bowls,

And then the sound of my voice will bring you back into the here and now.

It's time now for you to find yourself in a nice,

Comfortable position,

Somewhere you're unlikely to be disturbed,

And go ahead and close your eyes.

We're going to take a few deep breaths together,

As we do each time.

And we do that,

It's a nice big deep cleansing breath,

We do that to settle into our bodies and to check in with that sensory intelligence that we have,

And invite that cognitive thinking brain to just step outside of the room for the next hour,

While we enjoy our meditation time.

We're going to do a deep breath in through the nose,

And then we're going to do a deep sigh exhalation out,

Like this.

I'll just do it for you so you know if you haven't done it before with me.

In through the nose,

Hold it for a couple of seconds,

And then ahhhhh.

Nice big sigh out.

Just feel your body settling into whatever is beneath you.

So with me,

If we just breathe in through the nose,

In one,

Two,

Three,

Hold,

Two,

Three,

And then sigh out,

Two,

Three,

Four.

Just pay attention to your body,

And what happens to it.

And then again,

In through the nose,

I'll do it with you.

Hold,

Two,

Three,

And sigh out.

And again,

Just pay attention to the whole of your body.

And one final time,

In through the nose,

One,

Two,

Three,

Hold,

Two,

Three,

And sigh out,

Two,

Three,

Four.

And then just bringing your attention to the whole of your body again.

Anywhere that feels a little bit uncomfortable or needs a little bit more relaxation,

Just sigh it out.

Allowing yourself to completely settle.

Bringing your awareness all the way down to the bottom of your feet and the bottom of your soles.

The sole of your feet.

And just gently letting them be.

And then inwardly,

Just inviting them to completely and utterly relax.

And then we're going to bring our awareness up from our feet,

Through our ankles,

To our shins and our calves,

And our knees,

And the whole of the bottom of our legs.

And we're just going to let them be,

Holding our awareness there.

And then we're going to inwardly,

Just gently and softly invite them to completely and utterly relax.

And then bringing your awareness up from your knees to your thighs and your hips.

And so now your awareness is the whole of your legs,

From your feet all the way up to your hips.

And just holding your awareness there,

Notice whatever you need to.

And just allow however you find them to be.

Nothing to fix or change or do right now.

Only notice and relax.

And again,

Just inwardly invite your hips,

Whole of your legs,

And your feet to completely and utterly relax.

And then bringing your awareness from the bottom of your spine and your hips all the way up your torso,

Your lower back,

Your belly,

Upper back,

Chest,

Neck,

Shoulders.

Just notice your breath there.

And however your breath is,

Is absolutely fine.

And perfect for right now.

Just notice what you need to.

And as you do,

Just softly and gently,

You might like to inwardly invite the whole of your torso to completely and utterly relax.

And then just bring your awareness all the way from your shoulders down,

All the way down your arms,

Elbows,

Hands.

Paying attention to your wrists,

Back of your hands,

Palm of your hands,

Fingers and thumbs.

And again,

However they be is absolutely fine.

Just allow your arms and your hands to settle.

And again inwardly just invite them to completely and utterly relax.

And then bringing your awareness back up to your neck and to the whole of your head.

Your jaw,

Your nose,

Your cheeks,

Your eyes,

Your forehead,

Space behind your eyes,

Whole of your head,

Back of your head,

Top of the head,

Front of the head.

Just notice how your head settles on whatever is holding it beneath you.

And then gently,

Softly invite your head to just relax that little bit more.

If you wish,

You might like to create your own little bubble or sphere around you right now.

Your safe space for the next hour to just enjoy and let go.

Perhaps imagine a cord strong,

Thick like an anchor from the bottom of your spine dropping down into the centre of the earth,

Grounding you gently.

Connect to the drain pipe allowing anything you wish to release or let go throughout the session.

Just allow it to drain away down that cord into the earth to be transformed.

Thank you for making the time to be here for you.

Thank you for being you.

Everything that you know is possible,

You get to choose.

And what if this could be even easier?

It would be a great sound to hear that our soul and our physical reality are intrinsically linked and connected.

If there were a physical connection to our soul,

It would be by the vagus nerve.

It connects our brain with major parts of our organs in our body.

It's known as your body's communication superhighway.

Does it serve you?

It carries information between the brain,

The internal organs and controls your body's response in times of rest and relaxation.

This time we're enjoying right now.

This is the vagus nerve's domain or realm.

It originates in the brain and branches out in multiple directions to the neck and torso.

Where it's responsible for things like carrying sensory information in the skin of your ear,

Controlling the muscles that you use to swallow and speak and even influencing your immune system.

It's marvellous.

Its communication is two way.

Vagus nerve cells that connect with your digestive system send commands from the brain to control your muscles that move food through your gut.

They even carry sensory information from the stomach back to the brain.

How clever.

It's one of 12 cranial nerves that extend directly from the brain.

And although we refer to the vagus nervous singular,

It's actually a pair of nerves that merge from the left and right side of your brain stem,

Connects to your spinal cord in your neck.

The nerve gets its name from the Latin word wandering.

Because its largest,

Most widely branching cranial nerve that wanders throughout your body.

It's the switch between your nervous system's parasympathetic system and its sympathetic nervous system.

It's the switch between rest and digest and fight flight response.

When the body is not under stress,

The vagus nerve sends commands that slow your heart and your breathing rate and increases your digestion.

Whatever words you've heard completely,

Whatever words you've washed over you in rest,

Whatever you're left with,

There's nothing more you need to know or hold onto except that your vagus nerve has a powerful job and it's supporting you every tiny minute moment of the day and night.

It controls whether you're in doing mode or healing mode.

And right now,

By being here,

Resting here,

Staying here in this moment,

It's instructing your whole body to rest and digest,

Staying in your parasympathetic system,

Feeding your sense of well-being.

Let's take a moment to thank your whole body for all it does without you even having to think about it.

For your brain and all its parts.

Your heart,

Your lungs,

Your digestive system,

Your blood and the veins that feed your whole system,

Including this communication superhighway,

The vagus nerve,

Which supplies all of them with messages to support you day and night.

Inwardly,

Gently,

Softly,

And without any extra effort,

You might ask your vagus nerve to just relax,

To soften,

To rest as you fully appreciate the tiny micro messages,

Movements,

Constant adjustments,

Contractions and relaxations it makes to have your whole body and system working completely.

Beautifully.

As one.

And in connection to your body's purpose for you.

In your life right now.

Your vagus nerve is part of your involuntary nervous system which means it regulates and processes in the body that we cannot consciously influence.

It is constantly active,

Regulating things like your breathing,

Your heartbeat,

Your metabolic processes.

Does this by receiving signals from the brain and passing them on to your body.

And it also sends direction of messages in the other direction from the body to the brain.

Take a few short slow breaths of appreciation for all the cells,

Muscles,

Messages and involuntary movements and adjustments that are made on your behalf.

Each moment of each day and night for you,

So you may live,

Expand,

Learn,

Focus on bigger and bigger things,

Conversations,

Activities,

Magical moments.

As we shed light on the smaller parts of ourselves,

That we have no need to be consciously controlled.

Let's shed light on the bigger more abstract parts of ourselves too.

Our purpose,

Our reason for being here in this life,

In this moment,

In this time in humanity's history.

Appreciative of everything that they come to mind,

Any sensory information,

Any insight,

Any feeling,

Appreciate it all.

Welcome it with an inner smile,

A moment to relax,

To allow everything to just be as it is in this moment.

As you continue to allow,

Let everything settle,

The physical,

Emotional,

Spiritual,

Within and without you.

You can notice a grounding into the earth,

Into the moment of now,

Into the planet we live on,

The realities of now that we're consistently finding true.

Rest into your own truth now.

Allow this to be.

Allow it to guide you while the sounds wash over you.

Your whole being with a loving intention to cleanse and heal and expand yourselves into a peaceful,

Truthful,

As it is,

Knowing.

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You you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you to here and now not just yet but in a moment and now we're ready on the count of one connecting your breath back to your body with a big inhalation two coming up a little further three integrating all your bodies and personalities into the here and now just becoming aware of yourself laying down in the room if you find yourself four come up a little further still and five feeling refreshed and awake and if you're not awake just yet and just be gentle and take your time some nice inhalations you have time and you have time to be gentle,

Maybe give your body a little walk or even a hug just reorientating yourself back to where you find yourself now as we are now where you are now