Hi,
I'm Emily and welcome to this series on managing transitions with grace.
For most of us,
Transitions are very stressful because we don't give ourselves the space or time we need to process everything that we're going through.
We expect to be able to have a new baby,
Transition to a new phase of life,
Or move to a new country without missing a beat or without taking off more than a few days of work.
So we resist it all and struggle through feeling overwhelmed.
In this fourth session,
I'm going to walk you through an essential tool in navigating transitions,
Which is resting.
Finding a place for true inner rest is not the same thing as sleeping,
Although that's needed too.
In fact,
There's a place inside all of us where we can intentionally handle what arises during a transition and also find rest and comfort.
So let's start by just getting comfortable and preparing for this meditation.
You can either lie down or stay seated,
Whatever you feel most comfortable with.
Be sure that your body feels comfortable and it doesn't have any tension.
Now close your eyes gently and bring your attention to your breath and just be aware as it enters and then leaves your body as you breathe in and breathe back out.
Let your breathing slow down a little bit when it feels relaxing and comfortable to do so.
You can do a quick scan of your body,
Bring your attention to your face and relax it.
Then move on to your shoulders,
Your arms,
Your torso,
Hips and legs and make whatever adjustments or shifts of position that you need to in order to relax.
Now begin to deepen into your awareness.
Bring your attention to the energy that runs through and extends out around your body.
You can identify this energy,
Which is your awareness,
By putting your attention on what's holding and encompassing both the mind and the body.
Your awareness is the place where both your mind and body are resting and being experienced.
So just take a moment to focus your attention on your awareness.
You can rest and just be at ease in your awareness.
There's no effort involved.
Because awareness is the place where the body sensations and the mind are registered,
It's natural that you will notice those things.
But notice too that there's a lot of extra space in awareness.
If a sensation arises in your body,
Just watch it and let go of the temptation to label it or think about it.
Just let it go.
And you can do the same for the mind.
If any thought arises or if the mind starts on a chain of ideas,
Just let go of being interested in them and watch them leave.
There's no need to focus any attention on the mind or on the body right now.
Let all of your attention rest in the space in your awareness that's not your mind and not your body.
It's just a vast,
Open,
Beautiful,
Restful space.
Let it register for you that this is a place where you are safe.
You are always safe in your awareness.
And with practice,
You can be intentional about what you let in and out of that awareness.
So let's practice being intentional about this now.
If you've let your mind carry away,
Just very gently and very slowly come back to this safe place in your awareness.
Now once you're in this space,
Gently just let a little bit of the struggle of the tension in.
And as you hold it in mind in your awareness,
Become a witness and just observe it.
What's the response of your body?
Are there any sensations?
Does your breath shift or change at all?
Now look at what's the response of the mind.
Does it become full of thoughts about the transition or does it get carried away with the story about the experience?
Whatever's coming up for you,
Just observe it and whatever your experience is,
It's absolutely okay.
Now we'll be a little bit more intentional.
The truth is that energies,
Thoughts and sensations can be overwhelming,
But it doesn't have to be this way.
We can choose to put those experiences on hold while we rest and we can open back up to them once we've rested.
So we'll practice this.
Bring your attention back to the transition for a moment.
And now very intentionally and slowly,
Gently move the transition over outside of the safe space that you have in your consciousness,
In your awareness.
It might take a minute to get there,
But just stick with it.
This is not the same thing as avoidance.
We are just intentionally moving all of the energies related to the transition to a sort of parking lot just so that we can rest.
Just observe as everything related to the transition slowly and gently gets parked in the parking lot.
Once it's there,
Come back to your resting space.
Feel how big it is,
How soft,
And how perfectly safe.
What needs to be processed has been parked temporarily in the parking lot.
It's resting there and you're resting in this safe space.
This is the place where you will be rejuvenated.
There's no rush here.
It's a place where you can take your time,
Go at your own pace,
And even explore how you're doing.
In this place,
You're always resting,
Always being held.
It's completely peaceful,
Totally comfortable,
And you can rest here for a few more moments.
Slowly and gently begin to emerge from this rest.
You can go at your own pace and just gently start to come out of it.
Let your breathing remain gentle and your body can stay relaxed.
Take a moment now to observe your breathing.
Deepen it a little bit and take a breath in and slowly exhale out.
Tune into your body a little bit and see how it's doing.
You can move gently if it feels good as you breathe,
As you come out of your resting place.
When you feel ready,
Let things be really,
Really light.
Take a deep breath into your body and let it out and bring your attention to a feeling of having deeply rested.
Now come fully back to my voice and gently let go of your focus and just drift.
And think of someone or something that you love and let yourself smile.
As we finish up this session,
I want to remind you that you can take some time to integrate this type of practice.
We just worked on resting in the safe space of our awareness and being really intentional about it.
You can support this practice of resting in your awareness on the physical level by making sure you have plenty of downtime and plenty of sleep.
And mentally,
You can support this practice by making time for daydreaming.
And you can always come back to this meditation and to this session if you need to do so.
Thank you so much for sharing this experience with me.
And if you enjoyed this or whatever came up for you,
I would love to hear about it.
I hope to see you back here soon.
