Hello and welcome.
I'm so glad you're here.
It's coming towards the end of January and if you're anything like the women I work with,
You might be feeling the pressure to push harder,
Do more,
Keep up with all those ambitious plans you set yourself just a couple of weeks ago.
But here's what I want you to know.
The real work is in slowing down and grounding in a season that invites us to get a little more present to our body and to the stillness outside.
The big paradox about this time of year is that we are far more powerful and capable of going way further when for now we let ourselves treat the pause as essential as the pushing ahead in spring.
So if nothing else,
Take a cue from nature and me today.
She's not rushing around right now.
And yet in her yin,
In her slowness,
A regenerative cycle is powerfully underway.
Carving six simple minutes to ground yourself and come back into your body will pay dividends later.
So let's begin.
Find a comfortable position.
You can be sitting or lying down,
Whatever feels supportive for you right now.
If part of you is whispering that you don't have time for this,
That there are a hundred other things you should be doing,
I get it.
Taking time out can feel almost rebellious when the world is telling you to sprint.
But here's the truth.
Your body doesn't need you to rocket launch into this year.
It needs you to listen.
So for just these next few minutes,
Give yourself permission to stop doing and simply be.
Close your eyes if that feels good to you.
Take a breath in through your nose and out of your mouth through a sigh.
One more time through the nose.
Now let's notice what's happening in your body right now.
Not to fix anything,
Just to notice.
Bring your attention to your feet.
Feeling them making contact with the ground or the surface beneath you.
Notice your sitting bones,
The weight of your body being held.
And now I invite you to place one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly.
Feel the rise and the fall of your breath beneath your hands.
You don't need to change it.
Just notice it.
Now we're going to practice a grounding breath technique.
This is well-being,
Not well-doing.
Though yes,
We're technically doing something here.
But this kind of doing is telling your body it's safe to rest.
We're going to breathe in for a count of four.
Hold gently also for four and exhale slowly for six.
This longer exhale activates something called the vagus nerve,
A nerve that runs from your brain down through your body like a communication highway.
When you exhale slowly,
You're essentially sending a message to your brain that says,
We are safe,
We can rest now.
And when your body receives that message,
It shifts from stress mode,
That frantic fight or flight state where your digestion might shut down and anxiety runs the show into rest and digest mode.
The place where your gut can actually do its job.
Where sleep becomes possible and where you can finally,
Truly relax.
So,
Let's try it together.
Breathe in through your nose for four.
Hold gently for four.
Tail through your mouth for six.
Again,
In for four.
And out for six.
One more round on your own.
At your own pace.
Notice how you feel now.
Maybe a little softer.
A little more here.
This is what your body has been asking for.
Not another diet and not another punishing workout plan.
And definitely not more control.
Just this.
Permission to ground.
To rest.
To come home.
And if this resonates with you and you're thinking,
I need more of this.
I want you to know I've also created a library of meditations just like this one on Insight Timer.
They're science-backed and I've engineered them with soul.
Specifically for women who've spent years living from the neck up.
Fighting their bodies.
Stuck in restricting and binging.
And chaotic relationships with food.
Now these aren't just pretty words or temporary coping mechanism.
They're actually neuroscience-backed rewiring tools.
Tools that my clients use all the time.
In other words,
It's cognitive behavioural change wrapped up in a guided meditation.
This is the kind of work that really shifts the needle with your food patterns.
You'll find me there as mind and plate.
And I'd love to guide you deeper.
But for now,
Let's bring you back.
Start to deepen your breath.
Again.
Let yourself give a big sigh out.
Wiggle your fingers and toes.
Maybe move your neck from side to side.
Really see any tension there.
When you're ready let your eyes flutter open.
Before you go back to your day to the emails,
To the to-do lists,
The noise,
The kids,
The expectations.
I want to leave you with something.
A grounding mantra for when life gets overwhelming again.
And it will.
Because that's what January does.
That's what life does.
And when it does,
Come back to this.
I am here.
I am safe.
I am grounded.
I am enough.
Say it with me now.
Out loud or in your mind if it's easier.
I am here.
I am safe.
I am grounded.
I am enough.
I am safe.
I am grounded.
I am grounded.
Write it down.
Put it on your phone maybe.
Whisper it to yourself when the world is yelling at you to do more,
Be more,
Shrink more.
You are here.
You are safe.
You are grounded.
And you are enough.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
