Make Peace With Yourself In Anxious Times

"The safest, most nurturing and reassuring guided meditation I have ever experienced." (Feedback) I wanted to make a track in which my voice and presence and words could hold space for someone going through the kind of inner disturbance, shame, and self-fighting we can experience when anxiety takes over. This meditation is a little different from some, in that it has perhaps more talking - for people who would like the steady, comforting support of a reassuring and peaceful voice.

Transcript

Hello,

How are you feeling?

I know anxiety can really take a toll on our bodies and our feelings,

Can't it?

It's okay.

So in this space,

There's an invitation for you to find peace with yourself again.

Peace is here,

You can find it.

And kindness and love and compassion.

In all the things your sweet dear being is craving to feel better,

To feel at ease and to feel okay.

That space is here.

Give yourself all the time you need.

Hope you found some uninterrupted time and space.

And no matter how nagging or busy your mind feels,

How jittery or tense your body feels,

Don't worry about that.

We're bringing all these feelings into this space.

We're allowed to be here so that we can bring them in and look after them.

This is a kind,

Tender,

Welcoming healing space.

It's okay to bring your whole self here.

After all,

We can't make peace with these parts if we don't let them in.

Just make sure you've got a nice,

Quiet space and time for yourself to be able to find this sanctuary.

Let the outside world spin for a while.

It really can.

And this is precious and important time.

And I'm here alongside you as a guide and as an ally and as someone who understands.

And I'm here to encourage you.

You're not alone.

I want to remind you that sometimes we can be really hard on ourselves and we can beat ourselves up or hold a grudge against ourselves.

And for a long time,

And sometimes that's at such a deep level that we don't even notice.

We don't notice it's there all the time.

We don't notice that on some level it's speaking to us in a voice that says that perhaps we're a disappointment or we've let people down or we are too much for the world or too little for the world.

All these sorts of voices are the inner critic.

You may know some of them.

And they can do us harm when there's no need for harm.

When there's no need for rebuke,

No truth in these thoughts.

It's not true that you're too little or too much,

You know.

We are just right.

Just right.

Even when we are changing,

Even when we are flowing through feelings or moving through challenges,

We are just right.

And we will always find things in life that challenge us.

That doesn't mean we're bad or we're doing anything wrong.

That is the nature of being.

But at these times,

There is inside of us an inner advocate that we can reclaim,

An inner caretaker,

A nurturer right inside of you that is always on the side of our peace and our happiness and creating and inviting a warm and compassionate safe space that we can come into any time to find that peace,

Find that kindness,

Find that love and know that we are okay,

That we are valuable always.

And to breathe deeply into the benevolent energies of life,

The nature all around us that loves us and is glad we're here and feel at home again.

If you're feeling down,

If you've been down on yourself,

If you're feeling anxious or out of sorts,

I want to be with you now,

Inviting you back into a space where you can very gently and spaciously offer yourself that compassion,

That love that you're longing for and restore peace and harmony inside you.

Please don't worry if you feel anxiety coming up at any time or the stress of the things you may be dealing with.

We don't want to chase these away.

We want to flood them with a beautiful energy that says,

It's okay,

It's okay,

It's okay.

Every time a worry comes up,

Every time a thought of someone else's displeasure perhaps comes up,

That bigger,

Deeper voice,

Warmly reminding you,

You're okay,

It's okay,

It's going to be okay.

An energy that just says love,

Love,

Love.

Peace,

Peace,

Peace.

And again,

I remind you,

We may be feeling bad,

But that does not mean we are bad.

This is a feeling.

We are not.

And we can offer ourselves good feelings of peace and love and kindness,

Which we are.

So let's begin right now to drop in to these beautiful spaces that are waiting to welcome us home.

We might start by taking three long,

Slow breaths in through our nose and then out through our mouth.

And begin to feel some clearing.

Just from doing that tender,

Self-caring action,

Feel how your body knows what to do as it sighs completely out.

Action on the wave of the out breath.

And any time you can bring that breath back in through the nose and out through the mouth to release another layer.

So let your breath take its own rhythm now as you tune into your body in a way that feels spacious.

So find space for yourself.

Find space to feel better,

More roomy,

Lighter.

Take spacious,

Relaxed breaths.

Don't need to force or over effort.

And if being with your breath feels like that,

Then you can let go of any trying at all.

But just find a way of finding pleasure in breathing.

Your body makes no demands on you when it breathes,

Your breath makes no demands on you.

Just let it be what it is.

Take the pressure off.

Let it come naturally but begin to see if there's any holding on anywhere,

Perhaps in your belly.

And see if you can let go of that holding.

Drop your belly.

Drop your shoulders,

Let your neck relax.

Release your jaw.

Let go of your cheekbones and your eye muscles.

Soften your whole face.

And breathe from your belly all the way up through your heart,

Your head,

Your neck and shoulders.

And slowly,

Slowly,

Slowly pour it back down.

Slow,

Sweet,

Gentle breaths.

Rolling from your belly through your heart to your neck and shoulders.

And then sweetly and slowly rolling back down again.

Don't worry if at first you can't reach all these places.

There's no need to force it.

Simply enjoy sweet waves of breath,

Giving yourself space and time.

Giving things a chance to settle and whatever feelings are coming to the surface,

Be assured they love,

Love the stroking of this rolling breath in your being.

Rolling up,

Rolling back down.

And if you feel anything coming up in your body that's nervous or tense,

Perhaps put a gentle hand on it and label it for what it is,

Allowing it to be felt.

You can say,

This is my tension,

Receiving the balm of my breath.

These are energies of anxiety.

They are here to receive the balm of my breath.

That's all they are.

Just a tiny part of what's going on.

Not the whole you.

And now they are receiving love and kindness and understanding.

You might keep scanning your body like that for a few breaths.

Finding a place that needs your hand and your breath so that you can say,

This is my,

And name the feeling,

Receiving the balm of my breath and healing.

Everyone has doubt.

Everyone has feelings of regret and everyone has insecurity.

And that makes you human,

Not bad.

Keep offering yourself to this breath and this awareness that is kind and deep and spacious.

Rolls up and you fill up.

Expanding your belly and your chest and filling your neck and shoulders.

And then very slowly rolls all the way back down and you feel the release.

There's a nice moment,

A lovely moment at the top of the breath when we're completely full and sudden and sometimes it's wonderful just to really feel that moment of stillness at the top of the breath.

That moment of suspension before allowing the natural out breath to roll it all out again.

You might explore with that pause at the top of the breath and engage with its power and light.

Allow your awareness to spread.

You have space.

Perhaps allow your body to spread out a bit more to really feel the earth underneath you and the gaze of the sky.

You are in fellowship with the earth,

The ground,

The seeds and roots.

You can breathe through your own roots up and down from the earth.

You are a part of the earth.

You are home exactly where you are.

Just like everything that lives and grows and has roots.

Feel the welcome.

You are always welcome.

Let yourself land back again and as you feel that connection also can you feel that you can release into the earth and spread out more.

There's plenty of space for you.

The earth loves you.

Take a few more breaths from your body to the earth finding your sacred space.

Breathing in,

Feel her love rising up into you and breathing out,

Give your love back to her.

Feel how your skin can melt and spread and soften like syrup into the space that holds you.

All of you in totality.

Drawing from the earth's nature her love,

Her kindness,

Her nurture and her desire for the life inside you to be restored beyond any blame or shame.

Receive.

Receive that love and kindness.

You might say to yourself,

This is my body receiving myself in love and peace and kindness.

This is the earth welcoming me.

And the space around me offering its tender gaze.

Allow yourself to drift,

To melt,

Feeding from all these nourishing energies.

Give yourself more time to take your rest if you need.

You won't hear my voice again until it's time to come back.

You won't hear my voice again until it's time to come back.

You won't hear my voice again until it's time to come back.

You won't hear my voice again until it's time to come back.

You won't hear my voice again until it's time to come back.

You won't hear my voice again until it's time to come back.

You won't hear my voice again until it's time to come back.

You won't hear my voice again until it's time to come back.

Now,

Feeling that love and peace and kindness continuing to deeply nourish you.

And getting ready to return.

I want you to give yourself the biggest,

Most beautiful bear hug inside and outside in a big affirming embrace.

Hold yourself dear.

Hold yourself close.

Give yourself a deep smile from your deep being.

You may feel a voice of gratitude inside you saying,

Thank you for bringing this back.

However you're feeling now.

And continuing as you go out into the world to receive yourself with love,

Peace and kindness in all your thoughts and choices.

Take it easy on yourself.

You are restoring peace.

And that is sacred.

Reviews

This was very comforting and soothing. It helped a lot. Thank you!

Very powerful, thank you 💕

This is a wonderful meditation to restore peace to oneself. Thank you Alison.