Hello,
I am Melissa and I want to guide you in a meditation for slowing down and releasing racing thoughts.
Sometimes when we are anxious the head grows loud and obsessive.
It can be hard to escape.
So let's create today some inner sanctuary and quiet.
Just begin with getting comfortable in your seat on your cushion.
Let your muscles begin to relax and your focus shift to your breath.
You can move your focus away from your thoughts as much as possible into your diaphragm,
Your breath.
When your head is loud this way and obsessive,
It can produce stories that are impressive and scary.
A lot of fears and what-ifs.
And you can just visualize for now turning the volume down on those thoughts with kindness and shift your attention to this quiet space of your breath.
Take a deep inhale and a long exhale.
Notice the breath spread ease through your mouth and your jaw.
Another deep inhale and a long exhale.
Feel that ease spread down your neck and shoulders,
Down your arms and settle peacefully into the palms of your hands.
Allow your hands to fall open and release stories.
Should your head remain busy just gently visualize turning the volume back down on your thoughts.
Shift your focus back to your breath,
The peaceful slow rhythm of in-breath and out.
With each exhale allow any racing thoughts to leave your mind just like the ticker at the bottom of a news screen.
Let your thoughts leave the screen.
Exhale and let them go.
As they return exhale and let them go again.
You can do this again and again as many times as you need to.
Notice the quiet and the space that's created with breath.
This type of loud anxious thinking wants to problem solve.
It wants to anticipate worst-case scenarios and solutions.
You can always come back to that if you decide to later from a quiet space,
From a place of wisdom.
We don't do our best problem-solving from an anxious and dysregulated mind.
You might just begin to scan your body from the top of your head all the way down through your neck and shoulders,
Your chest,
Tummy,
Your hips and legs,
All the way down to your feet and scan for any emotional impact from your busy mind today.
Where does your body most feel the stress and pressure from all that thinking?
Just notice.
Notice where you feel that without resistance,
Without any judgment.
You're shifting your focus away from the head and into places in your body that need your attention and your care.
And wherever you might notice tightness,
Pain,
Heaviness,
Take a breath into that space.
You don't have to force anything.
It's a breath that offers a cushion that offers love and allowing for who you are and where you are today.
You don't have to solve anything right now.
You're just attending to your nervous system and with each breath inviting in gentleness.
With each breath invite stillness.
You're inviting calm.
Allow the empty space to expand inside your body and your mind.
Continue to check in with your body for any places that might remain tight or heavy.
You might just place a kind hand there or touch with some compassion for all you've had to carry today.
Your head's been very busy.
It's really hard trying to solve and carry so much.
You don't have to fight with that right now.
It's okay to let go a bit.
Extend some grace to the parts of you that are trying so hard to just be okay.
A loud head can leave so much residue inside our bodies.
It's good to take a minute to sit with that and release some adrenaline,
Some cortisol.
Give our bodies space to just recover.
Let your body and your mind know I am here.
I'm learning to pay attention.
I can sit with you and let the tension go when it's ready.
I offer this breath as cushion and a space to you.
As we wind down this meditation you can always come back to your breath as a place of sanctuary from your thoughts.
A place to remember how to turn down the volume,
Sit quietly inside yourself and abide in your own inner stillness.
