Welcome to this guided meditation called Choosing Peace.
Take a minute to find a comfortable position either sitting or lying down.
You can slowly close your eyes or feel free to cover them with a cloth or with an eye mask if you're lying down.
Give your body a few seconds to get settled to star welcoming stillness.
Bring your awareness to your breath.
Allow yourself a few moments to go from breathing automatically to breathing in a conscious way.
If possible breathe in and out through your nose.
Notice your muscles releasing tension with each inhalation and each exhalation.
Notice your jaw letting go,
Releasing its tension.
Your neck slowly becoming more loose,
Letting go of all tension.
Notice your shoulders dropping,
Releasing.
Feel your head already starting to feel lighter and lighter.
With every breath your body slowly surrendering to the stillness.
To this moment,
This exact place.
Nothing for you to do.
No need for any movement.
Just keep witnessing the power your breath and your awareness have over your body.
With your exhale notice your arms feeling more loose,
Releasing any tension in them.
Your wrists and your fingers letting go,
Releasing.
Continuing to breathe at this calm pace.
Notice your chest start to feel lighter and lighter,
Like a weight has been lifted off it.
Your belly rises and falls with each breath without you needing to make any effort.
Observe your body breathing by itself.
Nothing you need to do.
Just keep witnessing.
Your body taking care of you from within.
As you continue breathing this way,
Notice the tension in your hips releasing.
Your hips feeling lighter and at the same time grounded to the surface beneath you.
With your next exhalation,
Observe your legs releasing tension.
Immediately feeling lighter.
Finally arriving at your feet.
The feet that hold you all day long.
Take a deep breath in and with your next exhale,
Notice how tension leaves them too.
Keep breathing naturally.
Nothing for you to do.
Your body is taking care of you without any effort from your part.
You are safe in your body.
Safe.
Your body taking care of everything.
Keeping you alive and grounded with every breath.
This peace is always there for you.
Every time you choose to see it and every time you forget about it too.
It is always waiting for you to return to feeling safe in your body.
But it doesn't only remain inside of you.
It also radiates all around you when you choose to focus on it.
When you choose peace over worry,
Others get to feel it too.
Feeling calmer around you.
Safe.
Finding their own peace even if only for a little while.
What if you could make the world around you a little bit kinder by sharing your inner peace with everyone who crosses your path?
What if all you needed to do was keep coming back to your breath?
To feeling safe in your body?
What if we all did that?
Wouldn't it have a ripple effect?
So now take a moment to simply be here.
Resting in this stillness.
Feeling the steadiness of your breath.
And when you're ready,
Gently begin to bring your awareness back to the rise and fall of your chest with each breath.
Feel the support of the surface beneath you.
Notice the sounds around you.
Take a slow deep breath in and a full breath out.
Take another slow deep breath in and another full breath out.
One more time at your own pace.
And when you feel ready,
Invite small movements into your fingers and toes.
Now stretch in any way that feels good.
Maybe bringing your arms over your head.
Or slowly turning your head side to side.
And as you gently open your eyes,
Carry with you a sense of peace,
Soft and steady.
Available to you anytime you choose it.
