Here you are,
Welcome.
My name is Helen and thank you for meditating with me.
Let's cozy on down,
Make yourself comfortable,
Maybe lying down,
Maybe seated,
Wherever your body can rest.
And take a long,
Slow,
Deep breath in through your nose and exhale gently through your nose.
If you haven't already,
Softly close your eyes and again take a long,
Slow,
Deep breath in through your nose.
Let your breath settle into its own rhythm.
Let the ground beneath you hold you,
Support you.
Let your body begin to arrive.
Sometimes the mind gets busy trying to solve everything,
To fix or understand and wants to organize and control.
But underneath all that,
There is a quiet place,
A stillness that's always here waiting for you.
This meditation is an invitation to rest beneath the noise,
To release the thinking that tires you and return to peace.
Let's begin by bringing awareness to the top of your head.
Can you simply notice what's here?
No need to change anything,
Just notice.
Now gently invite some ease into the space around your forehead,
Maybe allowing the muscles of your face to soften and let your eyes rest deeply in their sockets.
Notice the space between your eyebrows and can you invite some relaxation here,
Some letting go.
Let that space smooth and widen,
Like a small window opening into a column.
Now feel your jaw.
Is it holding something,
Is it clenching?
If it feels tight,
Maybe let the teeth part slightly and let the breath sigh out softly through your mouth.
Notice your throat,
Your neck.
Can you allow some softness here?
Imagine the breath moving freely through this space,
Up and down,
Without effort.
Bring your attention to your shoulders.
They often carry the weight of our thoughts,
Our stress.
See if you can invite them to drop,
To release and to fall away from your ears,
Melting into the support beneath you.
Notice your arms and your hands,
The energy of doing,
Of holding,
Gripping.
Let your hands rest open,
Heavy,
At ease.
Maybe sense a quiet hum of life in your palms.
Bring awareness to your chest and notice the rise and fall of your breath.
Maybe invite the breath to become a little slower,
A little deeper.
Can you feel the gentle wave of inhale and exhale?
Now gently move your attention to your belly.
This is where so much of our emotions and control lives.
Let the belly soft,
Let it move freely with your breath.
No holding,
No effort,
Just soften.
Notice your back,
From the upper back to the middle part of your back,
To your lower spine.
Can you sense the gentle contact between your body and the ground?
Invite the back to release any weight it doesn't need to hold.
Bring your awareness to your hips,
To the space that connects upper and lower,
Doing and being.
Let them feel heavy and supported.
Moving on down,
Your attention down into your legs,
Your knees,
Your calves,
Ankles,
Your feet and all the ten of your toes.
Can you feel the ground beneath you?
Maybe imagine the earth itself gently holding you,
Steady,
Solid and peaceful.
Take a slow,
Full breath in through your nose,
All the way down into your belly.
The deeper and the slower you go,
The softer you get.
And exhale softly,
Gently through your nose.
Let your whole body rest here,
Feeling safe,
Being supported.
Let go,
Let be.
Now gently bring your attention to your head again.
Not to the thoughts themselves,
But to the space where thinking happens.
Can you notice that space?
The buzz,
The movement,
The chatter perhaps?
Just notice it.
No need to push it away or do anything with it.
Just notice,
Accept.
Maybe asking yourself softly,
Where do I feel this overthinking in my body?
Can you notice where you feel your overthinking in your body?
Maybe it's behind the eyes,
Or in the temples.
Maybe it's in the chest.
Can you stay there for a moment,
Wherever it is in your body?
Just breathing and just noticing.
In this moment you don't have to fix or stop your thoughts.
You're simply watching them move,
Like clouds buzzing through the sky.
And when they do come up,
See if you can invite a little more space around them.
Let each thought have a little room to drift,
To dissolve,
To rest.
And see if you can come back to the space in your body where you feel overthinking.
Without changing anything.
Just breathing and noticing.
Nothing else to do.
Nowhere else to be,
But right here.
And you might gently ask within,
What is beneath this thinking?
Maybe there's a feeling.
Maybe there's worry or fear.
Uncertainty.
Can you allow it to be here,
Without needing to label or change it?
Can you feel that in your body?
Rise up.
And ask that part of your body,
That feeling,
What does that part of me need right now?
Stay with that part in your body.
You might even place your fingers there,
If that helps,
If that feels comfortable.
What does this part of me need right now?
Perhaps it just wants to be seen.
Or maybe to be told it's okay to rest.
And so we let it rest.
Now let's take it even deeper.
We soften the body.
We quiet the mind a little.
And now we'll move into the stillness beneath all thoughts.
We'll do that through an ancient Sanskrit mantra.
A sound vibration that gently aligns you with peace and awareness.
The mantra is OM NAMA SHIVAYA.
OM NAMA SHIVAYA.
NAMA SHIVAYA.
OM is the sound of all creation.
The vibration of the universe.
The home that lives within everything.
NAMA means I bow or I honour.
It's a gesture of humility,
An acknowledgement of the sacred.
And SHIVAYA comes from Shiva,
Which represents pure consciousness.
The still,
Unchanging awareness that lives within you,
Within all of us.
So OM NAMA SHIVAYA.
I bow to the stillness and the divine self within.
Or simply said,
I honour the peace that I already am.
As you silently repeat this mantra,
Let it carry you inward.
Beyond words,
Beyond thinking,
Into the place of deep peace inside.
You can repeat it gently in your mind,
Without effort,
Without rhythm,
Just softly.
Let it rise.
OM NAMA SHIVAYA.
Let's repeat it out loud together.
Take a long,
Slow,
Deep breath in.
OM NAMA SHIVAYA.
And now let's echo it within your heart.
If the mind begins to wander,
And it will,
That's perfectly okay.
You're a human,
That's normal,
You're alive.
Just notice the thoughts.
And gently come back to the mantra,
To the breath,
To the stillness beneath everything.
Allow the mantra to become quieter and lighter.
As a thought,
It's simply humming within you.
Don't worry,
I'll watch the time.
NAMA SHIVAYA.
Slowly let go of the mantra.
And feel the silence that remains.
Notice how the body feels now.
A little lighter,
A little quieter,
A little bit more spacious.
Take a deep breath in through your nose.
And gently exhale.
Let the corners of your mouth soften and feel the peace that's always been here beneath every thought.
And remember you are not your thoughts.
You are the stillness beneath them.
Take one last,
Slow,
Deep breath in.
And softly sigh it out.
And when you're ready,
Begin to move gently.
With your fingers,
Your toes.
Move your shoulders.
And when it feels right,
Slowly open your eyes.
Welcome back.
You are here.
You are calm.
You are whole.
Thank you so much for meditating with me.
I wish you a beautiful rest of your day.
