Today's guided meditation for men.
Is for burnout.
For the man who can't stop.
So find somewhere to sit.
Somewhere quiet.
Where nobody's going to interrupt you.
During this meditation.
And take a slow,
Deep breath in through the nose.
And release slowly through the mouth.
And gently close your eyes.
To scan through your body and see where it needs to relax.
As we begin with the physiological side.
Slow breath in through the nose.
A sip through the mouth.
And then releasing with a sigh.
I would do this three times.
To take a slow deep breath in through the nose.
Sip.
Release.
As we release the past.
Take another slow,
Deep breath in.
Release.
As we release the future.
Take one more slow,
Deep breath in.
Sip.
Release.
As we come in.
To the present.
And just allow your body to relax.
Or raising any tension.
And just letting the breath find its own rhythm.
You're not here to control it.
Just let it happen naturally.
And the only instruction for the next few minutes.
Is to make the outbreath longer than the in.
Not forcing it.
Just allowing it to take a little longer.
Now let your hands land wherever they fall.
Feel the weight of your body where it meets the chair.
Notice how much of you is already being held by something that is not you.
May your eyes be heavy behind the eyelids.
They've been pointed at a screen,
Or a road,
Or even another person's face since the moment you woke up.
Gently let the teeth come apart.
As you allow your jaw to soften.
And let your shoulders slowly droop.
That is where Laney Inn lives.
And you've been leaning in all day.
Take another slow,
Deep breath in through the nose.
And gently out through the mouth.
Notice the thoughts are still there.
They're just in another room.
And nothing needs you for the next few minutes.
So whatever is waiting.
This isn't the tiredness of a hard day.
You would own that.
This is the tiredness that is still there on a Sunday.
When nothing is wrong,
The work is going fine.
He took the holiday.
Yet three days later,
You couldn't even tell that you'd been awake.
But you kept going anyway.
That is the power of your Guru.
See if you can find where that tiredness actually sits within you.
Not the idea.
Of feeling them.
Is behind the eyes.
Is in the chest.
Or maybe it's in the stomach.
Don't work it out.
Just find it.
Notice what it's like.
Is it heavy or hollow?
Dull or sharp.
You don't need the right word for it.
Just stay in the sensation itself.
Notice what it wants to do.
Whether it wants to lie down.
Whether it wants to pull inward or get smaller.
Whether there's an urge in you right now to explain it,
Fix it,
Or just get on with the day.
Just let it do what it does without helping it.
If something rises while you're sitting here.
Could be tightness in the throat.
Hate behind the eyes.
Or something you weren't expecting.
If it's coming up,
It's coming up because it's ready to.
So don't fight it.
Just breathe through it.
This is the part that most men never do.
I never sit with it.
So stay here.
Notice it hasn't killed you.
So you're not tired because you've worked hard.
Plenty of men work hard and are not carrying this.
You were tired because a long time ago,
You decided that stopping just wasn't allowed.
Nobody had to say it.
You just worked out on your own that you were worth having around as long as you were producing something.
So,
You made a decision.
You decided rest is something you have to earn and that you hadn't earned it yet.
You were right at the time.
But you're still running that same programming 20 years later.
On a day when nothing is chasing.
That is not discipline anymore.
That's an old instruction you never went back and changed.
And bring to mind a version of you who isn't running it anymore.
Same work,
Same responsibilities,
Same standards.
Close enough to you that you would recognize it.
Is an ordinary Tuesday evening and he's just finished.
Not finished,
Are they?
Just finished.
At the hour a person finishes.
Putting them in a room in your own house.
Pick the actual word.
And see the light in it at the time of day.
He sits down.
He doesn't reach for his phone.
He doesn't start working out what he should be doing instead.
He sits down because he is tired.
And that is reason enough.
Look at his face.
Nothing is being held in it.
Nothing in him is keeping the score of whether he earned it.
Now feel that in your own chest.
And across your shoulders.
Not the patron.
What it is actually like to be a man who does not have to earn the right to stop.
Is not years away.
Is what is left when you stop running an instruction you wrote when you were young.
Take a slow deep breath in.
And an even slower exhale out.
At some point today,
You will feel that pull to keep going when you have nothing left.
When you notice it,
Put both feet flat on the floor and press down for a second.
When you press down and feel the floor take your weight.
Say to yourself,
I don't have to earn this.
Nothing is failing.
Come back to that practice whenever you need it.
And take a slow,
Deep breath in.
Release.
Start to bring your attention back to your body.
Feeling your weight on the chair.
Wiggle your fingers and your toes gently.
Bring some movement to your head.
And even a gentle stretch.
Take one more breath in.
And now.
When you're ready.
You can slowly open your eyes.
And to sit for a moment.
Present in the feeling.
Take some time before you reach for your phone.
If they're enough for today.
