Welcome to this session to help you through high amounts of stress.
When we are presented with situations in our life that are very stressful,
It seems impossible to get past the stressful feelings to see clearly.
The best way to tackle high stress situations is through full and conscious breathing.
When we are not present in our bodies,
Our thoughts can carry us away,
Making stressful situations almost debilitating.
Luckily,
When we have awareness to focus on our breath and body,
We can bring ourselves back into the present moment,
Bringing us clarity.
So let's bring our breath into focus with five deep breaths.
Fully inhale,
Expanding your belly and chest as much as you can.
Hold it for a moment.
And exhale,
Feeling a wave of relaxation sweep over you.
Inhale,
Filling your lungs with fresh oxygen.
And exhale,
A wave of relaxation gently sweeping over you.
Inhale deeply so that you are brimming with air.
Hold it and soak in all the oxygen.
And exhale.
Your body relaxes in different areas without any effort.
Inhale,
Feel these breaths purifying your entire body.
Hold.
And as you exhale,
Just notice how you are feeling.
And last,
A beautiful breath coming in.
Hold it,
Feeling invigorated from the oxygen.
And exhale,
Allowing relaxation to sweep over you.
Take note of how you feel at this very moment.
You now have an abundance of oxygen.
This is how we are supposed to feel.
Breathing deeply and fully is an expression of self-compassion.
Let the flow of your breath become natural and notice how this abundance feels.
Now visualize yourself standing in a big field.
No one else is around.
Everything is calm and peaceful.
You are surrounded by nature.
Sit down in this meadow and look around.
Take note of the beauty.
The flowers.
The birds.
The butterflies.
You are fully relaxed.
In the distance,
You see dark clouds closing in as the sky grows a little darker.
You see a small storm is forming and you feel some raindrops begin to fall.
Imagine that this storm is your stress.
It could be mild,
With just some rain and a little wind.
Or it could be very strong,
With powerful winds and heavy rain pouring down.
For this visualization,
We are going to face a strong and powerful storm.
So we learn how to stand still in the middle of stress and let it pass.
As you feel the storm getting stronger and the wind blowing even harder,
You stay right where you are in the meadow,
Completely unfazed by it.
The storm cannot hurt you here.
You have a choice on how to react.
You can choose to react with fear or with love and compassion,
Knowing the storm is harmless in this visualization you are creating.
Stress is usually our reaction to fear,
Worry,
Or high demand.
And whether any of those are real,
We still have to learn the proper reaction to all of them.
Sometimes we can't help it and stress will take over in a matter of seconds.
And we must handle it quickly,
Or it will handle us.
Just like sitting through the storm in the field,
Stress cannot harm you if you know that it simply passes you by.
What matters is your own reaction to the events around you.
Really embrace the stress now and fully let it exist without fighting it.
You are still there,
Calm,
In the middle.
You see the storm in front of you is very dark as the storm clouds get thicker,
Raining down with fury.
This is where you decide to take control.
Get up from where you're sitting and slowly start walking towards the storm.
No fear,
No worry.
Confident that you are safe.
You get closer and closer.
But the wind and rains have no effect on you.
It's really easy for you to step forward until you find the eye of the storm.
And around that eye,
The winds and rain are extremely powerful and strong.
But you have no problem as you step inside the eye,
The center of the storm,
And it's calm and clear and peaceful.
It still feels like there's something in the air.
There's chaos all around you.
But here it's clear.
This is your space,
Your safe spot.
It exists in the center of all of your stress storms and you can just step into it.
It can't hurt you here.
As you realize that,
The storm starts to lose its power.
The wind's slow.
The rain calms down,
Turns into a drizzle,
And then fades away.
The clouds drift away and the sunlight peeks out,
Touching everything around you,
Sparkling in the raindrops on the flowers.
You see the birds come out and start singing and the butterflies and the bees dance around the flowers.
Everything is beautiful now.
You made it through the storm.
Remember how this feels.
Stay here for a couple of minutes and when you're ready,
Take a deep breath.
Deep breath and open your eyes.
