22:11

Affirmative Practice For Depression

by James Bene

Rated
4.1
Type
guided
Activity
Meditation
Suitable for
Everyone
Plays
2.2k

This meditation is perfect for de-escalating depressive symptoms and returning the listener into the light of love and acceptance. Calming the inner chid and relaxing the body, this guided affirmative meditation is geared towards total healing.

DepressionSelf LoveInner ChildBreathworkEmotional ReleaseBody ScanGroundingLoveAcceptanceRelaxationHealingSelf Love AffirmationsInner Child HealingGuided MeditationsVisualizations

Transcript

Hello and welcome to your meditation.

I am James Bene and today I will be guiding you through a meditation designed to help you in diminishing some of your depressive symptoms.

Depression can simply create discord within anyone's life.

This cognitive distortion can hold you back from living and doing and being who you truly are meant to be.

Please know that you are not your depression.

Truthfully depression is something that is attached to you because of certain traumas that you may have experienced.

And it's okay because depression isn't your enemy today.

In fact it is your gateway into the light.

For you are brought into this darkness so that you can work through whatever emotions you are meant to work through so that the divine light of the creator can become known once again.

I know how difficult it can be to sit within the dark night of the soul but I urge you to know that you are safe with me to do so.

So find a comfortable seat or even better lie down on a flat surface or on your bed is fine.

And if you are currently experiencing any depressive symptoms it is okay that you are.

I'm here to help you deescalate and diminish.

So wherever you are now in a lying position take a deep breath in and up and release out and down.

Again breathing in and up allowing the breath to flow up into your third eye.

And as you slowly exhale down and out you move the energy from your third eye down into the heart down into the stomach down into the hips and down and out through your feet.

So breathing up into the feet and pushing the energy up through the body flowing all the way up to the crown of your head now holding the breath and exhaling the breath out and down as you push the breath down into the shoulders back into your solar plexus hips this movement will help you elongate your inhalation and your exhalation almost as if your inhalations begin at your toes and your exhalations begin at the top of your head.

So you inhale and exhale the length of your entire body.

Let's do that a couple times.

Readying yourself slowly picturing the energy at your toes slowly beginning to inhale the breath as you allow this energy to move up through your legs into the solar plexus as your diaphragm expands into your ribs and your lungs the breath fills as it flows up into the crown of your head.

You hold that breath and you release that breath as you release down from the crown of your head flowing down quickly through the ribs into the stomach feeling the breath deplete as you push the breath down back into your toes and perhaps out into the earth.

Repeat this now on your own for two more times.

Very good.

I now ask you to scan your body starting at the head moving through your body down to your toes.

I want you to see if you can locate where your depression lives.

Is it in your heart?

Does it live within your stomach?

Is it in your mind?

Or is it in multiple areas?

Or is it everywhere?

When you locate this discomfort in your mind describe how it feels.

What does this depression feel like?

Give it a shape.

Give it a color.

Is it warm?

Is it cold?

What images come into your mind when you think about this discomfort?

When you feel this depression?

Do you have a clear image and a clear sense of what this looks,

Feels,

Maybe even tastes like?

I want you to simply sit with it wherever you feel this depression.

Place your awareness in that exact space.

Just feel it.

Don't judge it.

Don't try to remove it.

Just feel it.

Simply take some nice deep breaths into that space as you simply be and allow it.

You no longer need to fight against these feelings.

Instead,

Accept them,

Understand them,

Go in there.

There is a voice.

There is a message and there is a lesson.

Your depression isn't trying to hurt you.

It's trying to heal you.

It's trying to teach you.

It's simply a symptom letting you know that something is in balance.

So when you focus on the feeling,

Open your awareness and see if you can't give that feeling a voice.

What is it trying to tell you?

Why is it there?

What needs to be healed?

Find a few moments within this space.

What are you grieving?

Is this your inner child?

Is this fear?

Is this lack?

Whatever this may be and whatever answer you have come up with,

In this moment,

Understanding that depression is your friend,

We are going to ask your friend to begin to shift out knowing now the reason why it is present in your life.

Deepen your breath in this space.

Empty all the breath out now.

Take a deep breath in and out as you breathe in light.

Breathe out and down as you spread this light throughout your entire being.

Breathing in light and releasing all the rest.

Breathing in all that you are,

Releasing all that you are not.

Breathing in love and releasing all the rest.

Breathing in all that serves you and your greatest good and breathing out all the rest.

Still focusing on the center point of the depression.

Check in with it now and see if it has lessened a little bit or lightened up.

If it has,

Continue to breathe in love and release all the rest.

Breathing in all that you are and releasing all that doesn't need to be there at this moment.

If you are still feeling the symptoms strong,

Perhaps you have not heard the voice yet.

The message hasn't become clear.

So I invite you to stay and sit in that space.

Sit within the core or the center point of this onion and just breathe to relax as much as you can.

Any emotions that want to come up are just coming up to be released.

So if that occurs,

Do so knowing that you are safe in this place.

If the feeling begins to intensify,

Just keep sitting within it knowing that what goes up must come down.

Remember these feelings that are deep inside of you are symptoms of something that might be balanced,

Something that needs to be healed,

Reconciled and looked at.

Depression is sadness.

Depression can be anger that has not been properly released.

It can be lasting grief or loss.

But more importantly it is fear.

It's the inner child that is still fearful of life,

Still in fear of the trauma that it might have been through.

So connect this moment to your inner child.

See yourself at a young age,

Perhaps eight or nine or younger.

See yourself as this child within your mind's eye.

If you had the chance,

What would you say?

What would you tell your inner child?

If a child is in a crib crying,

Wouldn't you walk up to the crib and try to call the child?

Tell the child that it's okay,

That it's safe and that it's loved,

That you are here.

Well your inner child needs to hear that as well because it does not feel safe.

It does not feel loved.

It doesn't feel like it belongs here.

You need to be the one.

You need to be the one to relax this child,

To bring this child from fear to love,

From negativity to positivity,

From rain to sunshine.

Tell your inner child that you love.

See yourself embracing this child and say all of the things that you wish to say now and call this child and bring this child to a state of peace now.

Wrap this child up within a beautiful blanket of golden light.

See this child healed and see this child free.

See this child of joy.

And now see yourself wrapped within a beautiful cloud of golden light.

And see yourself free.

See yourself in joy.

And you are both smiling and you are both in peace.

And you are both a child of God.

Nothing but love.

Nothing but love.

Nothing more than a vessel of good.

And everything that you have experienced in your life,

No matter how difficult,

Created the person who you are today.

It was necessary.

So let go now child.

Let go of the pain,

Grief,

Sadness and the fear.

Allow your body to release this heavy feeling as you move closer into the light,

Closer into joy,

Closer to the authentic truth of who you are.

That's love.

You are love.

You are loved.

You are worthy of love.

You are worthy of receiving love and giving love freely and easily.

And within this love you are safe.

You are blessed.

You are.

Place your attention once again on that space where the mind has felt some discomfort and depressive symptoms.

And see now if it has lifted for you today.

Take a deep breath in and up.

Sighing out and down.

Releasing all that excess energy and emotion as you breathe in and up.

Sighing out and down with releasing all that excess emotion.

As you move back into the physicals,

You wiggle your toes,

Wiggle your fingers,

Clench your fists,

And a beautiful white light surrounds your entire being now.

And it closes up any door that was opened that has to be closed.

As you slowly allow your eyes to flow open,

Take in your space.

And if you are feeling a bit ungrounded or unsettled,

I invite you to find five white things.

Your space and name them now.

I see a white blank.

And maybe five black things now.

I see a black blank.

Good.

As you come back into love,

Back into reality,

Floating above these symptoms of depression,

Floating above your fears,

Centered more into the light,

More into your heart space,

More into the truth.

Once again,

Know that you are not your depression.

It is just something that is there because it wants you to see something more clearly.

It wants you to heal,

And it wants you to return to love.

So when you feel depressed,

Your job is to find a way back to love.

I invite you to have a wonderful rest of your day.

And remember,

God loves you.

I love you,

And you love yourself.

And approve of yourself in this moment and in all moments,

Just as you are.

This is James Bene,

And be illuminated.

Meet your Teacher

James BeneLos Angeles, CA, USA

4.1 (57)

Recent Reviews

William

February 13, 2022

Helpful I wish the background music had been just a touch quieter But glad I stayed with it

Shawna

August 4, 2021

James has a perfect voice for this kind of meditation. Visualization was very helpful. I would only recommend turning the music down in the future offerings. James his voice is soft enough that it is easily overpowered buy the music. Still, five stars for excellent guidance.

Staci

March 4, 2020

Phenomenal. Your caring words and perspective struck my being deeply. I felt a greater understanding of myself. Thank you.

Kat

November 27, 2019

Very nice. The music was very dark though, so it was difficult thinking positive, light and healing thoughts with such heavy and negative music.

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© 2026 James Bene. All rights reserved. All copyright in this work remains with the original creator. No part of this material may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

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