Hello and welcome.
If you've chosen to listen to this track,
You may have just noticed a sensation in your body that feels bewildering or unsettling.
Maybe there is a sudden tightness in your chest,
A strange pain somewhere,
A flutter in your abdomen,
Or a sense of pressure that suddenly grabbed your attention.
And almost without thinking,
You give in to the urge to grab your phone and research your symptoms,
Hoping to find answers and relief for your anxiety.
If this is what you are experiencing,
You are not alone.
And I want to tell you right from the start that there is nothing wrong with your behavior.
The need for safety is part of being alive.
In this practice,
I'm not going to tell you to stop searching for answers.
What we'll do instead is to practice pausing before going into research mode so that your nervous system can settle and help you meet this moment with clarity instead of fear.
And you don't need to be perfect at this either.
You don't need to stop your thoughts.
You don't need to make the sensation go away.
And you don't need to convince yourself that everything is fine.
All you need to do is be here,
Now,
As you are.
Find a comfortable position sitting or lying down and let your hands rest where it feels easy for you.
If it feels okay,
Close your eyes or simply lower your gaze a bit.
And take a moment to notice that you're here,
Breathing,
Alive,
And safe enough for this moment.
Begin by feeling the rhythm of your breath.
Not to observe it,
But to feel it from the inside out.
Feel the air moving in.
And moving out again.
You don't have to change anything.
Just feel your body breathing.
Now bring awareness to the sensation that triggered you to go into research mode.
Not to fix it,
Just acknowledge it.
Silently tell yourself,
Something is happening in my body.
Not,
This must be dangerous.
Not,
I need to figure this out right now.
Just,
Something is happening.
Take your time.
Stay with this thought,
Something is happening in my body.
And notice if,
Over time,
The sensation stays the same or if it begins to shift even slightly.
Just maybe there is a bit of warmth,
Maybe a bit of a softening,
Some movement,
Pulsing or tingling or some other change.
Sensations are not static.
They continuously move.
They come,
They change,
And then they fade,
If we let them.
If worried thoughts appear,
Like,
What if this is something really serious?
Simply label them.
Worrying or thinking.
Then,
Return to your breath.
In and out.
And with each out-breath,
Allow your body to soften just a little more.
Your shoulders,
Your face,
Your arms and hands.
You're not fighting the sensation.
Instead,
You're giving your nervous system a chance to come home to calmness.
The urge to research symptoms comes from a place of fear.
But fear doesn't always mean danger.
Our nervous system is designed to respond to perceived threats as much as to real danger.
That means it also reacts to our interpretation of sensations,
Not only to immediate threats.
But you can feel a sensation without assuming the worst.
You can experience uncertainty without rushing to solve it.
And you can let the body speak without immediately searching for an explanation.
This practice teaches your nervous system that not every sensation is an emergency.
That not every question requires an immediate answer.
You can pause.
You can breathe.
You can wait.
Now let your awareness widen and go beyond the sensation and beyond your breath.
Experience all that is here now.
Experience you being here now.
Your body being supported.
The air moving around the room.
Sounds meeting your ears.
Smells meeting your nose.
The stability of the ground holding you up.
Even with uncertainty,
This moment is safe enough.
Now notice how you feel now as compared to when we started the practice.
Maybe you are feeling a bit calmer or a bit more grounded.
Maybe everything feels about the same.
All of this is okay.
What matters is that you paused before acting on your fear.
You gave your nervous system a bit of space and time to settle.
You can return to this track anytime you feel the pull to search for answers online or anywhere else.
And if you want to go even deeper,
You're welcome to join my course,
Finding Peace with Uncertain Bodies,
Calming Health Anxiety.
In it,
You'll find a variety of mindfulness and system tools to calm fear of illness and health anxiety.
Thank you for practicing with me today.
