Relaxed Body, Relaxed Mind (With Introductory Talk)

In this meditation, I share an incredibly simple, yet profound daily practice to help you live a calmer, more easeful life. This track starts with an explanation of the practice, followed by a guided meditation to relax your mind and body deeply.

Transcript

Hello friend,

Welcome to this meditation.

I'd like to share an incredibly simple practice with you here.

Despite its simplicity,

Cultivating this habit can have incredibly profound benefits in your daily life.

We're learning to check in with our body as often as we remember,

To notice where we're holding tension and to persistently soften back into a relaxed muscle body.

This meditation is designed to help you build this habit during your practice in the hope that it eventually becomes your normal way of being in the world in your day-to-day life.

What we're doing in this practice is developing our interceptive awareness.

Interception is the ability to sense,

Feel and interpret what's going on in our body at any given moment.

Having good interceptive awareness has many clinically proven physical and mental health benefits.

It can help with managing stress and anxiety,

Regulating the nervous system,

Calming a busy mind and enhancing our overall well-being.

Although it's an incredibly simple practice it's not necessarily easy.

In our busy mind-centric culture so many of us are disconnected from our bodies and the messages they're constantly giving us.

Through no fault of our own and often without even realizing it many of us have chronically dysregulated nervous systems and we're dissociated from our feelings.

I know it can be really challenging and even scary to bring awareness into the body for many people.

Please know that it's really common and quite normal to feel numb,

Dull or perhaps feel nothing at all at first.

This doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with either you or your meditation practice.

You simply can't get this practice wrong.

If you feel nothing or numbness that is an experience in and of itself.

Allow yourself to feel nothing or numbness fully.

In this meditation we're not looking for or trying to generate any particular or specific feeling but we're growing our capacity to relax into what's already actually here moment by moment.

When we feel numb it's often a defense mechanism.

It's the intelligence of our body protecting us from stored and repressed emotional energy that it felt unsafe or too painful to fully feel at the time.

The body communicates with us in feelings and sensations and if we've been pushing down and containing our emotions for a long time or expressing them in dysregulated ways this language will be unfamiliar to us at first.

I invite you to be really kind and patient with yourself.

Cultivating inner and outer relaxation takes time.

If we've spent years possibly decades in a chronic state of inner tension that's become so normalized we don't even realize it's there.

The good news is that interception is a skill we can learn and develop and with practice and patience your body will wake back up.

As this process unfolds it's normal to encounter intense emotions.

Feelings like irritation,

Agitation,

Restlessness,

Boredom,

Anger,

Sadness,

Grief,

Fear or other emotions might come up during your meditation practice.

Please don't let this put you off as this is a sign the meditation is working and that layers of stuck emotional energy now have space to move through and be integrated in your system.

If it feels safe to do so see if you can stay fully present with whatever arises and allow your experience to unfold naturally without analyzing it or getting involved.

If you do feel overwhelmed at any point please just stop,

Open your eyes and give your system some time to settle back down.

The more we practice getting out of our heads and into our bodies the more our interceptive awareness grows.

As this happens it's normal to feel a wider range of emotions more intensely not just in our meditation practice but generally in our everyday lives.

This can be confusing or misinterpreted as negative or wrong because most of us have never been taught how to be with our emotions and most of us have been conditioned to avoid discomfort at any cost.

However these are just normal natural human emotions and there's absolutely nothing wrong with you for feeling them.

It's not just the so-called negative or uncomfortable feelings that we've shut down in our system.

We also cut ourselves off from our innate joy and bliss.

This journey we're taking together here is one of learning to feel what we feel,

Expanding our emotional literacy and breaking through dissociation from our bodies.

These are all keys to healing,

Freedom and feeling more alive and at ease in our lives.

In this meditation I guide you to notice where you're taking tension in the body and to repeatedly soften back into relaxation.

With practice this noticing and softening of tension spills over into our daily lives and we start to catch the tension in the moment it's triggered in the body.

These contractions can be triggered by any situation,

Event,

Person,

Thought,

Image or feeling that activates old wounds within us causing us to react based on painful past learning.

In time we notice ever more subtle and deeper layers of this tension.

It can arise as a sense of holding,

Gripping,

Tightening,

Clenching,

Bracing,

Flinching,

Contracting or any number of other sensations.

Relaxing the body in this way eventually becomes a habit.

Each time we recognize and interrupt the tension by softening back into a relaxed muscle body we're letting our nervous system know it's safe and we're building our capacity to self-regulate and be present even in the midst of stressful or emotionally charged situations.

The more we practice the more our awareness expands.

We respond to life rather than react and new ways of relating to others open up.

During this meditation I guide you to notice any tension you feel then to release it down and out of the body.

It's important to note that we're not doing this to get rid of,

Fix or change what you feel.

Quite the contrary.

In this meditation all feelings and sensations are welcome whether they're comfortable or uncomfortable,

Pleasant or unpleasant.

If you find it hard to connect with the tension or you don't feel much at all just focus on the idea or sense of it and imagine releasing it away from the body.

I called this meditation Relaxed Body,

Relaxed Mind because sensing the body directly is one of the best ways to calm a busy mind.

The mind follows the body so the more we learn to relax the body the mind will eventually follow suit.

During the meditation it's normal for your mind to wander and whenever it does see if you can let that be okay and without any judgment just keep coming back to the guidance and the sensations you can feel in your body.

The great spiritual teacher Krishnamurti said,

To pay attention means we care which means we really love.

Your body loves your presence and this meditation is an invitation to give your body the gift of your full attention and care.

For so many of us it's become normal to berate,

Abuse or punish our bodies in various ways but this practice encourages us to approach the body with respect,

Reverence,

Curiosity and a light touch free of any expectation or agenda.

We aren't imposing our will on the body but giving it space to open up in its own time and to bring through whatever it needs and wants to in its own way.

Your willingness to befriend your body is enough.

Trust that life will take care of the rest and that whatever insight or shift is meant to happen will take place of its own accord.

The more we learn to trust our bodies and our bodies begin to trust us they become wise allies and guides.

This meditation can be done lying down or sitting.

If lying down make your body comfortable and place a bolster or cushion underneath your knees if your lower back needs some support.

I recommend practicing this meditation daily to really begin growing your interceptive awareness and to start seeing true transformation and healing.

Take the practice into your daily life.

Every time you notice your body tensing up as you go about your day,

Keep softening back over and over again.

Keep asking yourself where am I tensing in my body right now?

Thank you for being here friend.

I look forward to meditating with you regularly and I sincerely hope this meditation serves you well.

Please just pause the recording if you need time to prepare.

Welcome to this meditation.

Make any adjustments that you need to now so that your body can drop into a deeply relaxing healing rest whilst you remain awake,

Present and aware.

Let your body receive and feel these words by the poet Nayira Wahid.

And I said to my body softly,

I want to be your friend.

And it took a long breath and replied,

I have been waiting my whole life for this.

As the energies of your mind and body start to settle down,

I invite you to call forward your willingness to befriend your body.

Your willingness to give your body your full presence.

And your commitment to being a compassionate witness for whatever wants to be seen,

Heard and felt.

Take a moment to check in and notice,

With no judgement,

How you feel right now.

Not thinking about how you feel,

But feeling how you feel directly.

Let your body answer the question,

How do you really feel right now?

All feelings are welcome.

Nothing to change or get rid of.

Allow yourself to feel however you do right now.

Notice that your body is breathing.

Feel the subtle sensation at the tip of your nostrils as the breath comes in and leaves.

Let your breath go just a little deeper into your belly than normal.

And let the exhalation go with a long,

Soft,

Audible sigh through the mouth.

Take a few of these really slow,

Low,

Gentle breaths.

Without overstretching,

Forcing or pushing.

Your breath like a current of love,

Nourishing and massaging all the places within you that just need to breathe.

The breath creating space for each moment just as it is.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Inhaling and exhaling.

Deep breath in,

Long breath out.

Deep breath in,

Long breath out.

As we journey around the body together now,

No effort or trying is required.

Let the sensations come to you.

Feeling each part and softening around any holding,

Tightness,

Clenching or any other sensations you feel.

Knowing that there's nothing you have to do or figure out.

Just noticing and feeling what's present is enough.

Feel where your body meets the surface beneath.

And let the weight of your whole body drop into that support.

Feel the weight of the head.

Let the weight go.

Whole face softening.

Skin releasing.

Eyes resting right back.

Space between eyebrows softening open.

The feeling behind eyes softening.

The muscle of your mind like a tight fist gently unfurling.

Expanding.

Forehead.

The outer ears.

The inner ears.

The inside of the mouth.

Jaw.

Back of the head.

Base of the skull.

Back of neck.

Shoulders.

The space between shoulders.

Shoulders.

Upper arms.

Elbows.

Forearms.

Wrists.

Palms of hands.

Fingers.

Tips of fingers.

Space between fingers.

Heart beating.

Lungs breathing.

The area behind the heart.

Feeling what you feel.

Above the navel.

Behind the navel.

Beneath the navel.

A softening deep in the abdomen.

The whole spine.

Pelvis.

Hip joints.

Buttocks.

Shins.

Soles of feet.

Tips of toes.

Space between toes.

The whole body at once.

Does your body want to soften just a little more?

Notice any remaining tension in the whole body.

Feel it directly.

Be with the immediate sensations present right now.

Give the tension space.

Give it time.

Let the tension expand in awareness.

Then giving it all up.

Handing it over.

Releasing it down and out of the body.

In the silent space that follows,

Let yourself just be here.

Feeling everything.

But doing nothing.

And see if you can stay just feeling your body.

Gently coming back any time you leave.

Ever deeper layers of tension welcomed to rise.

Be felt.

And fall away.

Welcome the feeling of your whole body once more.

The whole body alive with sensation.

Waves of vibration.

Whole body pulsating with life.

Muscles relaxed.

Skin relaxed.

Organs relaxed.

Whole body.

Within and without.

Relaxed.

Notice that your body is breathing.

And let your breath go just that little bit deeper again.

Inhaling down into the cave of your belly.

And letting the exhalation go with a long,

Soft breath out.

Breathing in.

And breathing out.

Inhaling.

And exhaling.

Deep breath in.

Long breath out.

Deep breath in.

Whenever you're ready to come back.

Give your body permission to move in whatever way it would love to.

And as you move forward into your day.

Keep feeling your body as often as you remember.

Keep noticing when and where you're taking tension internally or externally.

Notice when you're straining at the now.

When you feel an up and out energy arising within you.

Observe when your mind is re-running stories from the past or worrying about the future.

Notice boredom.

Anticipation.

Or a constant pull to what's next as these energies arise.

And keep dropping down and in.

Keep softening back into a relaxed muscle body over and over again.

Thank you for meditating with me.

I sincerely hope that this meditation is helpful in your life.

May you be well.

May you be happy.

And may you be at peace.

Reviews

Amazing. 🥰 What a lovely, relaxing, gentle and nourishing practice. I feel so peaceful grounded, present and connected to my body. It’s perfect timing for me as I am doing very intense energy healing work, and I need the extra support and extra grounding through the body. Love your soothing voice, gentleness and pacing. I am making this a daily practice. I also had an emotional release. I also feel renewed and reborn. Thank you so much for creating this truly heartfelt practice, it feels like a warm hug from a friend. 🙏🏻💖I will also be returning to your napping course.

Love the introduction material. So crucial to know and feel. The meditation is peaceful and softening. Thank you for sharing 🙏

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Brilliant 🙏❤️
I'll make subsequent comments on the track without the intro.
It was good to revisit the intro again Amanda. These wisdom teachings are so affirming 🙏❤️

I enjoyed this meditation, very calming and Amanda's voice is so soothing. It is worth listening to the introduction too.