Connect With Stillness

Connect with Stillness is an 11 min guided meditation that invites both adults and children to gently move past restless thoughts on the choppy surface of the mind and rediscover a sense of stillness and calm within. This soothing guided meditation combines a body scan and gentle visualisation, and can be practiced sitting upright at any time of day or lying down before sleep — helping to settle the body and quiet the mind for deep rest and inner clarity.

Transcript

Hello and welcome. I am so delighted to have you here with me, Dr. Anna Young-Ferris, For this guided meditation. This can be practiced at any time of the day, Sitting up, Or even before going to bed, Lying down. It's suitable for children and adults alike. So let's begin by taking some deep breaths in and out, In through the nose, Out through the mouth, In through the nose, Out through the mouth, In through the nose. And if you haven't already, You can shut down the eyes and just fully arriving into the space wherever you are, Being fully present, Letting go of anything that was happening just before, A few minutes ago, An hour ago, Today, Tonight, This week, This year, Letting any of the thoughts of the past or thoughts about the future dissolve and coming fully into this moment. Now we will do a body scan. We are so grateful for this physical body and just allowing our awareness to move around the parts of the body to help us relax and connect. Let's start by bringing our awareness to our lips, To our nostrils, Awareness to our ears, Our eyes, The top of the head, Gentle awareness to the whole head, To our neck, Our shoulders, Our upper back, Our lower back, Gentle awareness to the whole back, Gentle awareness to our belly, To our hearts. Let's put some extra attention on our heart space. Now awareness to our arms, Our hands, Gentle awareness to our legs, To our lower legs, To our feet, To our whole legs. Now bringing gentle awareness to our whole body, Our whole body, Our whole body. Now you're probably here because your mind has been very busy, Busy thinking and doing, Perhaps even feeling some overwhelm or stress. So we're now going to do a beautiful visualization to help us get some relief from what I call the monkey mind and help us find that place of peace and stillness within. So I like to describe the mind by using the analogy of the ocean. So of course on the surface of the ocean there are lots of waves, It's very busy, It's very choppy, And this is how our mind is often. We have a lot of demands, A lot of things that we have to do, A lot of expectations to meet, And not a lot of resting. So the choppy surface of our mind can get very noisy and very busy. Often we are on that surface of our mind and we're always looking outside of ourself for our happiness. We're looking at happiness in an object that we desire or wanting a behavior of a person that we are in relationship with, Or maybe we are desiring something new in our life. No matter what, We're constantly searching for our happiness and delaying our happiness into the future. On the choppy surface of the ocean there is also what we call the stormy rain cloud of our ego. This is that voice that narrates our daily existence, Telling us that we're good, We're bad, That she's good, She's bad, Or he's good, He's bad. So it's a voice of judgment, Of comparison, And it's often quite negative. It does have a reputation for wanting to keep us separate, Wanting to keep us small, And in fear. So this is also adding to that choppy surface by raining down on it and making it even more busy and heavy and noisy. So it's no matter that we're feeling some overwhelm and some stress when all we know is hanging out on the choppy surface. But the great news is, Underneath every choppy surface there is a place of deep stillness, Calm and peace. This is the bottom of the ocean. So every ocean has this place of stillness, Calm and peace, As do you. And you can access this place every day with the right technique and tools, Support and guidance. So let's now visualize that we're dropping a pebble through that choppy surface of the ocean and we're just watching it gently, Effortlessly, Gliding down, Down, Down, Down, And then very gently, Eventually resting on the bottom of the ocean. That place of bliss, Of being, Of calm, That's right within you. And as we're here visualizing the pebble, We can gently witness our breath, Watching it ebb and flow in this still, Calm place within us. We're not trying to control or force the breath, We're just witnessing it like we're witnessing the pebble on the bottom of the ocean. Let's just rest here for a while, Nothing to do, Nowhere to go, Just being, Enjoying the sweetness, The stillness, The calm. Remember we're just gently witnessing our breath, It's an anchor for us to rest in this place of peace and stillness, Not trying to force or control, Just gently being. Now if you have the time, You can stay and continue with this breath awareness and calm. Perhaps you've even drifted off to sleep, Or if you need to go about your day or your evening, Let's again take some deep breaths in and out, In through the nose, Out through the mouth, In through the nose, Out through the mouth, And ever so gently opening up the eyes a third of the way, Two-thirds of the way, All the way, Taking a moment of gratitude for gifting yourself this space for peace and calm. I thank you so much for joining me and remember you can join back anytime that you need to be reminded that the of bliss and stillness is right within and you can find solitude and rest at any time away from the busy choppy surface of the mind. Thank you.