This is a meditation dedicated to addressing anxiety.
Find yourself in a nice,
Quiet,
Safe space.
Whether it is seated on a meditation cushion with your legs crossed,
Seated in a chair,
Your back upright yet relaxed and not rigid,
Maybe lying down on a mat or in bed.
Take a deep inhale and fill your body with fresh oxygen,
And as you exhale,
Release any tension that you may be holding in the body.
We're going to practice a progressive muscle relaxation.
On a cycle of three,
We're going to take a deep inhale,
Take a breath in and tense up every single muscle within your body.
Tense up your brow,
Your jaw,
Tense up your fists and your feet and your torso and your belly and release with the exhale,
Relaxing,
Relaxing,
Relaxing all the muscles in your body.
Inhale again,
Tensing up every single muscle in your body from head to toe and hold this.
And as you exhale,
Really connect with the release of all of the muscles throughout your body.
Inhale for the last time,
Tensing up all the muscles really,
Really tight.
And as you exhale,
Feel the rush of relaxation that comes with the release of those muscles.
Move now into a natural breath cycle,
Inhaling and exhaling in a way that is comfortable for you.
When we feel anxiety descend upon us,
Sometimes it can also feel like a rising up within the body,
It's really helpful to take a position of non-judgment and this involves not resisting the anxiety,
Not resisting the accompanying thoughts,
But taking a position of ease,
Much like you felt with the release of your muscles.
Inhale here and think about approaching these anxious thoughts with curiosity,
Really exploring what is coming up for you.
We can acknowledge anxious thoughts,
But we do not need to attach ourselves to them.
Oftentimes when we do attach ourselves to these thoughts,
We suffer as a result.
For instance,
You may face a particular challenge and become very,
Very anxious.
Maybe you've got an assignment due or there's a project at work that needs to be completed.
Maybe you're feeling that you're not competent enough to get it done or focused enough and you may start to play this reel within your mind of,
I'm never going to get through this.
This feeling is never going to pass.
Inhale here,
Bringing a deep,
Deep sense of fresh air into the body and as you exhale,
Release any tension that may be coming up for you.
In cognitive behavioral therapy,
We talk about these anxious thoughts as maladaptive thoughts or thoughts that are unhelpful.
They are negative and they impact the way that we feel and they oftentimes lead to worsening anxiety.
But when we shift the focus to one of non-attachment,
Non-judgment,
We do things like acknowledge the thoughts.
We recognize that they've appeared,
But we don't allow them to take root.
We do not allow them to take residence within our minds and within our bodies.
Take an inhale here now and imagine the image of a cloud passing overhead.
Clouds don't stay put.
They're not stagnant.
They're moved by the wind and they pass overhead.
You can look up into the sky and you can see big billowy clouds.
Sometimes they're full of rain and ready to burst open,
But they continue to move overhead and our thoughts are quite the same.
When we have these maladaptive or negative thoughts or anxious thoughts,
We can begin to imagine that they are like a cloud.
We're not going to welcome them to stay.
We know that they're going to pass overhead and we can approach these thoughts with curiosity.
We can ask things like,
Why am I having these thoughts right now?
What's going on for me in this moment?
Inhale here and release any tension.
By taking an approach of curiosity,
We're inviting an openness to these thoughts and to these experiences.
By taking this stance of nonjudgment,
On taking this perspective of curiosity,
We can create space to change the quality of our thoughts.
I like to sometimes call this flipping the script.
We change the negative thought to one that is positive.
Take an inhale here now and release sighing any tension out of the body.
We can inhale deeply when we're feeling anxious,
Inviting calm into the body and as we release,
We can imagine releasing those negative thoughts and creating a safe space for positive thoughts.
When these negative thoughts arise,
We can simply remind ourselves that these moments or these challenges will pass.
We can invite ease and a more positive perspective to the moment.
I gave the example a few moments ago about feeling anxious about a particular project or maybe a task that you've been putting off or maybe a difficult conversation that deep down inside you know you need to have.
It can be very helpful to go back into the past and think about another time when you've had a similar project and you've made it through and you've completed the project or you've had to have a similarly difficult conversation with someone who you love and in the moment it caused a lot of anxiety,
But you took that deep breath and you initiated that conversation and you made it through.
Inhale here now and recognize that you have gone through previous times and moments that have been difficult,
But you have made it through on the other side.
Remind yourself that you are capable of doing that now.
Approach any anxious,
Maladaptive thoughts that come up in the moment with non-judgment,
With self-compassion and with the knowledge that you are capable of confronting this in the moment and use the breath to invite calm and peace into the body to help to relax these anxious feelings,
These sensations in your body,
Maybe the rushing thoughts that pass through your mind.
You'll have three more deep breaths and exhales here as we wind down the meditation.
Inhale in deeply and feel that air just bring calm into the body and as you exhale,
Release any anxiety,
Release any worrisome thoughts.
Imagine them coming out of the body as you inhale again,
Inviting calm,
Inviting peace,
Inviting a letting go as you exhale the breath out of the body.
On this last inhale,
Invite peace,
Invite calm into the body and as you exhale,
Release,
Release and let go.
When you feel ready,
You can begin to wiggle your fingers,
Wiggle your toes and slowly open your eyes,
Bringing yourself back into the room.
Namaste.
