Easing Anxiety & Stress

Hello and welcome to this calming meditation.

My name is Charlotte Brady and I will be guiding you to stillness today.

Before we start,

Let's find a comfortable position,

Sitting somewhere with back support and with some cleared space in front of you,

Since we will be doing a seated forward bend.

If you are unable to do it,

No problem,

Simply follow along without the movements.

Let's start with taking some deep breaths together,

Keeping our eyes open.

Breathe in through your nose and exhale slowly through your mouth or nose.

Feel your body,

Feel your breath.

Now let's try the forward bend.

Make sure you have some cleared space in front of you and take a deep inhale.

As you exhale,

Bend forward from your seated position,

Letting your hands slide down your lower legs,

Relaxing your shoulders.

Then take one full breath in the position and then sit back up again on the next inhale.

Good.

Let's do it again.

Take a slow deep breath and exhale slowly,

Bending forward,

Sliding your hands down your lower legs.

Take one full breath in the position and sit back up as you inhale.

Good.

Let's do one more together.

Inhale deeply and exhale,

Bending forward,

Allowing your body to release and relax.

Take one breath in the position and sit back up again as you inhale.

Now return to your normal breath and notice if you feel any changes in your body after the forward bends.

If you like,

You can close your eyes now as we will be moving deeper into stillness.

Put your focus on your feet and feel the sensation inside them.

Is there a certain temperature,

Some pressure,

Tingling perhaps?

Don't rush anything.

Stay with the sensation and really go into it.

Don't worry if it doesn't feel too much.

Simply observe your actual experience.

Now move your focus up your legs to your lower abdomen and notice the sensation there deep inside.

What does it feel like?

Perhaps some sort of density,

Perhaps something else.

Take your time and feel into your lower abdomen.

If any thoughts appear,

It's okay but try not to engage with them.

Instead return to focusing on your lower abdomen or your breath.

Right now it doesn't matter what your thoughts are telling you.

Right now they are not important.

Then move your attention to your upper abdomen and feel the sensation there.

It's a place where we often hold our fears and anxieties.

Right now notice what it feels like and see if you can soften any tension.

Breathe into the abdomen and relax as you exhale.

Allow everything to soften and quiet down.

Now let's try to draw our breath all the way into the lower belly and fill our whole torso with air.

Then take another breath all the way down to your lower belly and exhale making an aa sound.

So inhale and exhale.

And again inhale and exhale.

And then allow your breath to go back to normal observing it without making any changes.

Notice how your body feels.

Notice how it feels without judgments.

Just focus on your actual experience of your body.

It's neither good nor bad.

It's simply what you're feeling in this moment.

Then put your focus on your heart,

The whole chest area and notice the sensation there.

Whatever you feel it's okay.

Perhaps there is a constriction or tension and perhaps nothing special.

Simply breathe into whatever you sense in the heart area and allow your heart to soften with each exhale.

If you feel you need to take some deep breaths or sigh then do that.

If you feel like yawning then open your mouth wide.

Let it out with a sound if you want to.

This is a way for the body to release tension.

Cooperate with what your body is showing you.

See if you can allow this moment to be completely free from what's going on in your life,

In yourself even.

Right now there is nothing you need to fix.

Things are the way they are and you are the way you are.

It's okay.

Allow yourself to put everything on hold and be here now as you are.

Go back to feeling your heart.

Feel how it's beating for you.

Day and night it keeps you alive whether you think of it or not.

Even when the heart is racing it does so to keep you safe.

It's a mechanical process.

It doesn't mean anything in itself.

Your heart can't evaluate any level of threat.

It mechanically responds to your thoughts.

Right now see if it's possible to let your thoughts become less important,

Smaller,

Quieter,

Even meaningless.

Only for this moment.

See if you can remove all meaning from some of the fearful,

Sad or hopeless thoughts you might have.

Only for this moment.

See if you can allow your thoughts to become unimportant.

Only for this moment.

See if you can remove all meaning from them.

Don't judge yourself for your thoughts or feelings.

Did you decide to have them?

No.

They just appeared.

Don't interpret anything.

Simply observe,

Letting any thoughts come and go without engaging with them.

Try to see your thoughts as electric impulses.

The thoughts just pop into your head without asking permission.

See if you can let go of claiming the thoughts as yours and instead observe how they appear in you.

Exactly how do they form?

How do they disappear?

Did you really decide to think that thought?

Or did you just notice it?

Your thoughts are not who you are.

Your thoughts can't predict anything.

Really.

Your thoughts are simply suggestions and you don't need to believe them.

Fearful thoughts are like fuel for your fear.

And when the thoughts notice the fear they created in the body,

They become even more scary and on it goes in a vicious circle.

Right now,

Notice if there are any thoughts in you but don't allow them to create a feeling imprint in you.

Let them go the same way they came.

Remember the thoughts only for this moment are completely unimportant and even meaningless.

Because this moment you are simply sitting with yourself,

Breathing,

Sensing,

Being.

Nothing needs to change right now.

Everything is okay.

You are sitting where you are sitting,

Sensing what you are sensing and it's okay.

If there have been difficulties in the past,

You have survived,

You got through it.

It's in the past and this is now.

Allow everything to be as it is and don't interpret,

Don't judge,

Simply observe.

One reason anxiety and fear are so difficult to deal with is our assistance to them.

I shouldn't be feeling this.

Something is wrong.

Why am I feeling this?

Why is this happening?

How can I make it stop?

We are saying no.

Right now,

Try to say yes.

Say yes to yourself.

Say yes to your feelings and sensations.

Of course you should be feeling what you are feeling.

It's okay.

Don't resist it.

Don't interpret anything.

Don't judge.

Simply feel what you are feeling.

You also don't have to hold on to anything.

You don't have to hold on to any feeling.

In this moment,

You can let everything go.

There's nothing you need to hold on to.

If you feel overwhelmed at any time,

See if you can anchor yourself in your body by feeling its position.

Feeling your feet,

Your hands,

Your face,

Your belly.

Stay present with yourself.

Don't abandon yourself.

Stay present like you would with a child that came to you for comfort.

You wouldn't push the child away.

You would sit with them,

Holding them.

Do that for yourself as well.

Don't label anything as wrong.

That sends signals to your body that it must react.

Put your focus on your actual bodily sensations and say yes to what you feel.

What are the sensations like?

Where do you feel them?

Can you breathe into them and relax your body around them?

Investigate how your body feels.

Fear is a sensation in your body.

And with your eyes closed,

Your feet are also a sensation in your body.

Anxiety is a sensation in your body.

And with your eyes closed,

Your hands are also a sensation in your body.

Sadness is a sensation.

Hopelessness is a sensation.

Your breath is a sensation.

Feel into it.

Don't interpret and breathe into all your sensations.

Focus on your sensations only.

Your breath,

Your body,

Your sense of being.

Now compare the sensation of fear or sadness or whatever you feel to the sensation of your feet.

What is the difference?

Is there a difference in intensity?

Go to the place in your body where you feel the feeling and really investigate it.

And then compare it to the sensation of your feet again.

And now see if you can evoke a memory of stubbing your toe or something similar and try to compare that to the sensation of anxiety or whatever your feeling is.

What is the actual difference between stubbing your toe and your feeling?

They're both sensations.

Is there a difference in intensity?

Quality?

Investigate.

Be like a scientist researching this.

Make clear factual observations.

Notice the sensations.

Observe their neutral expression in your body but don't interpret anything.

And now feel the sensation of your hands.

Notice the soft sensation of the palms of your hands.

And then pay attention to your breath again.

Follow the breath all the way into your belly and observe it expand and gently contract.

Inhale peace and exhale all that burdens you.

Inhale peace and exhale all that burdens you.

There is nothing you need to fix this moment.

This moment is only about being with yourself as you are.

Everything is okay as it is.

You gave yourself some breathing room and you can come back to it whenever you want.

It's yours.

Always remember that the peace is as much yours as your difficult thoughts or feelings are.

The stillness is even more yours because it is you,

It is what you are.

Beneath every thought and emotion there is stillness.

You are not the turmoil,

You are the deep ocean of stillness.

You are not the noisy waves on the surface.

The waves come and go but you,

Stillness remain underneath.

Beneath thoughts and feelings,

Beneath memories,

Beneath the turmoil,

You are peace always.

Inhale that peace and exhale all that burdens you.

Inhale peace and exhale all that burdens you.

You are kept safe by all the millions of processes going on in your body constantly.

You don't have to think about it even.

Your body is working for you day and night.

What an amazing thing that is.

Inhale gratitude for this and exhale all that burdens you.

Inhale gratitude and exhale all that burdens you.

And then gently start preparing your body and mind to come out of this meditation.

Allow yourself time to return to normal body consciousness.

Be very slow.

Take all the time you need.

Don't rush.

Softly wiggle your toes,

Move your fingers.

Perhaps take some deep breaths.

Perhaps a more yawning or voiced exhales.

If you like you can touch your arms and put your hands over your heart,

Holding yourself,

Loving yourself for staying present and not abandoning yourself.

And then when it feels right,

Open your eyes but remain in stillness.

Take your time,

Breathe into the stillness with open eyes.

Allow your own peace to fill your body and your surroundings.

You and your peace are one.

Don't rush into anything you must do.

Don't rush into thinking.

Take your time and just sit with yourself,

Holding yourself and feel the okayness of this moment,

The okayness of you.

Don't rush.

When you're ready to go about your day,

Remember this stillness.

Allow it to come into your experience now and then.

Let it find you.

The stillness is always there.

It's just a matter of finding it and to let it find you.

Thank you for taking this time to be with yourself and until next time remain as you are and keep finding stillness at heart.