Hello and welcome to this meditation to help you calm your nerves.
This is an ideal practice to do if you're feeling anxious or fearful or overwhelmed or even if you're just really caught up in thinking right now and you want to come back into your body and feel a bit more grounded.
This practice is going to help you release some stress and regain a sense of safety and a sense of inner calm.
And I highly recommend grabbing one or more heavy blankets that you can use during this practice today to help you feel a little bit more secure in your own body.
And if you're sitting for the practice you could wrap a blanket around your shoulders or over your lap.
If you're lying down you can just cover up your entire body with your blanket and feel free to add extra weight.
Add some pillows,
Some cushions over the body to really just begin giving your body a bit of extra weight to encourage it to start releasing with gravity towards the earth.
And also if you are lying down consider putting a pillow underneath your head so that your eyes are elevated above the level of your heart.
And then if you choose to close your eyes you'll be gazing downward maybe even towards the belly or towards your hips.
And likewise if you're sitting you can just simply let your chin drop slightly.
This can be very subtle but just enough so that your gaze is down.
When our gaze is looking a bit more downward into the belly or down towards the legs it just allows our mind to quiet down with a bit more ease.
And then just tune into your breath here.
And feel the breath flowing in through your nose and as you breathe out you might even let your jaw release and some of the air could even leave through the mouth if that feels okay for you.
And then take a moment to notice where your hands are and see if you want to adjust the placement of your hands.
For instance if your palms are turned up maybe you'd experiment with turning your palms down.
Sometimes that can allow our energy to become a little bit more grounded.
Additionally if you are resting on your back it might be really easy for you to just take your hands and rest your hands on your back.
Or over your hips or maybe even over your rib cage.
Wherever you end up placing your hands just make sure it feels good to you and then see if you can just let the hands become a little bit soft and a little bit heavy.
And if your hands are not quite ready to release and relax you could even make fists with your hands for a moment you could just give a little squeeze.
Maybe take a breath in and then as you exhale just letting the hands relax and then let your hands relax and then let your hands relax and then let your hands relax and then let your hands relax and then let your hands relax and then let your hands relax and then let your hands relax and just letting the hands soften.
You may be able to release a little bit more easily after you've tensed them up.
Then just come back to your breath.
And notice your body.
And as you're beginning to tune into your body here notice if there's any part or parts of your body that feel stressed out right now.
Maybe the part of your body that you're noticing is feeling tense.
Maybe it doesn't quite want to release.
Maybe it doesn't quite want to release towards the earth.
Maybe there's a lot of energy pulsating through that part of the body causing it to feel restless.
Just noticing what part of you right now,
What part of your body is a little stressed and needs a little comforting.
And when you discover that part,
If there's more than one part just choose one to start with.
If you're able to easily bring your hands over that part of your body please do so.
But if that part of your body is out of reach,
See if in your mind's eye you can imagine someone who you really trust imagine their hands just gently coming to rest over that part of your body.
And if that image doesn't work for you maybe it's just a warm heavy blanket wrapping up that part of your body.
And as you hold that part of your body,
Acknowledging the stress located right here,
And at the same time acknowledging your breath,
And at the same time acknowledging the rest of your body,
And at the same time acknowledging the rest of your body,
And at the same time acknowledging the earth beneath you or whatever it is that you're resting on that feels stable and secure.
So holding the part of you that's stressed,
Letting your hands hold this part of you gently,
Tenderly,
But also securely,
Feeling the breath moving in and out of your body.
And without losing connection to this stressed out place inside of you,
Acknowledging the rest of your body,
And again acknowledging mother earth beneath you.
Often when we become stressed out,
Our focus becomes really zoomed in and becomes really focused on the rest of your body.
Often when we become stressed out,
Our focus becomes really zoomed in on what's causing us to feel stressed out.
And we forget the big picture and we may forget that there is support here for us.
So in your own way right now as you honor this part of you that is diligently holding stress,
Potentially trying to keep you safe or protect you from some perceived threat,
Is there a way for you to let this part know that there is support here for it?
Maybe this part of you doesn't have to hold this stress all on its own,
And you can lean into the support of your breath,
The support of the rest of your body,
The support of the earth.
And then you may even want to offer this stressed out part of you words of affirmation.
And then you may even want to offer this stressed out part of you words of affirmation.
You could say to this part of you,
I'm here for you.
I've got your back.
I'm not going anywhere.
See what comes.
And then when that feels complete just come back to your breath.
As you're breathing you might choose to stay with that part of your body or maybe there's another part calling your attention that you want to go be with.
Maybe you want to just spread your awareness out to your entire body and just feel the breath flowing in and flowing out.
If possible,
Slowing the breath down,
Especially your exhalation.
Taking about five more of these slow down breaths.
Breathe slowly to help regulate your nervous system.
And then to bring closure to this practice,
To affirm the entire body by giving the body a little compressive touch.
So just using your hands,
Maybe starting by holding one hand with the other and just giving a little squeeze to each hand.
And then walking your hands up your arms and just pressing down,
Maybe squeezing in.
And just be intuitive here.
Maybe you rest your hands over the shoulders,
Pressing down.
Pressing the hands against the chest,
The belly.
Or if you can reach even letting your hands brush down your legs,
A weighted heavy stroke down your legs.
Release your jaw,
Maybe even breathe out through an open mouth as you do this.
Affirming your body that you are here in this moment,
Helping the muscles and the nerves release.
And finding that sense of grounding,
Being in your own body,
Feeling a sense of calm,
A sense of safety in your own body right here,
Right now.
Taking another breath in through the nose,
Again maybe you just gently,
Slowly sigh it out.
Thank you so much for choosing to take care of you today with this practice to release some stress,
To calm down your nervous system and to hopefully feel a bit more at ease on the inside.
And I hope that you feel a bit more at ease in finding you peacefulness for the rest of your day.
Thank you for joining me.
