Stress Release Meditation

Our daily lives are fast paced and full of things that take their toll on our mind and body. Often the stress of everyday life manifests in physical signs in our body and mental exhaustion. Spend some quiet time with this meditation designed to slow down the pace, acknowledge and release the stress in your body and reset into peace.

Music credit: Chris Collins, Indie Music Box
Image credit: Elina Sazonova on Pexels

Transcript

Allowing yourself to settle now,

Settle in to a comfortable space,

Somewhere your body can relax,

You may like to lie down,

You may like to be sitting upright in a chair or sitting with your legs crossed on the floor,

Any position you choose for this practice is entirely up to you,

Whichever position that you're in,

Ensuring your back is straight,

Not too stiff in it's natural curve,

Supported by whatever you need to feel comfortable,

Choosing where your hands are positioned,

By your side,

In your lap or perhaps placed on your belly or your chest,

If you're needing some extra comfort and starting to notice how your body has arrived in this meditation,

Is it feeling heavy or weary perhaps,

Maybe light,

Tuning in and noticing how your body is feeling,

Where perhaps you may not have had a moment to do so earlier today,

Noticing any physical signs in your body,

Not trying to change them,

Simply acknowledging where there may be tension or stress,

Observing as you start to wind down and starting to ground your body in the present,

By observing with your eyes open to begin with,

Noticing the room you're in,

Where there are shades of light and darkness,

Allowing the eyes to just gently wander,

Taking objects,

Textures,

Colours,

Simply noticing and when it feels right,

Gently closing the eyes down or shifting them into a downward gaze and tuning in to any scent you can detect with your nostrils that may linger in the air,

You may smell fragrance,

There may be lingering food smells or there may be nothing at all,

Any observation is fine,

Moving that attention to your ears and what you can hear close by or in the distance,

Subtle sounds,

Even loud sounds,

Sounds may seem distracting and encourage yourself to shift into seeing them from an observer's perspective,

Do they fade in and out,

Simply notice what they are and allow them to filter into your ears and rest there,

You may sense traffic noise or simply the sound of your own breathing and observing now,

Your mouth and your sense of taste,

Noticing whether any taste lingers on your tongue or perhaps whether your mouth is dry,

Even exploring the ridges of your teeth with the tip of your tongue and now taking a moment to notice where your hands are placed and wherever they may be,

Draw your awareness to your fingertips and be curious,

Noticing what they can touch and how that feels,

Smooth or rough,

Soft,

Dry,

Your fingertips as your guide and centering your focus now on your breathing,

Not trying to control it,

Observing its natural rhythm,

Whether it may be shallow or steady and counting a few breaths out loud,

The rise and the fall of your breath before taking a moment to tune into how the breath filters into your body with its movement and is expelled back out again,

Feeling the lungs and the belly flowing out through the mouth and as you continue breathing naturally,

Starting to again notice where in your body there may be signs of tension or stress,

Perhaps some clenched muscles,

Clenched muscles around your forehead or your shoulders,

Your tummy even,

Anywhere at all,

Simply noticing and encouraging,

Release,

Observing whether you feel light-headed or have tension in your head,

Whether your heart feels heavy or in fact whether your heart may be racing,

Whether your breathing is unusually shallow or even whether you feel your mind is chaotic at this point in time,

Maybe the thoughts are coming thick and fast from the stress of your day,

Anything at all you can notice,

Provide it with some space and some acknowledgement and some understanding that your body has a stress response,

But you can slow the pace down and aim to provide it with some peace for a few moments in time,

It is normal for our body to absorb the stress from our lives and for this stress to manifest in physical signs in the body and it is equally normal for your heart and your soul to feel weary,

To simply feel like you don't have the energy in this very moment and that is okay,

Allowing yourself some compassion and awareness of what is going on in your body will help as you have acknowledged what is presenting in your body,

Allow yourself allow yourself to scan through and invite in an energy of relaxation,

Beginning at the top of your head,

The crown,

Allowing yourself to see a pure white light cascading over your head,

Over the back of your head,

Over your hair,

Your forehead,

Your eyes,

The length of your nose,

Highlighting your cheekbones,

Your ears,

Your mouth,

Your chin,

Down the back of your neck,

Washing through the throat and over your shoulders,

As white light cascading over and through,

Cleansing and washing through any pain or tension that you've noticed,

An encouraging release,

A muscle at a time,

One by one,

The white light continuing over the length of your arms,

Washing all the way into your fingertips,

Cascading through your chest,

Your heart,

White light shining through every chamber of your heart,

Shining brightly down to your belly,

The place where you store a lot of stress and emotion,

The white light hovering and swirling through the area,

Moving with ease and comfort,

Washing over your hips and buttocks,

Down into each leg,

One at a time,

Continuing to feel muscles relax and let go,

Encouraged and supported by the white light,

The white light moving over your knees,

Down into your ankles,

Pulling at your feet and swirling down all the way to your toes,

The light washing everything through into the earth,

Anything that is unwanted,

Anything that is no longer needed,

Is attracted to the white light and is washed downward into the earth,

Supporting your body to feel more at ease,

More at ease,

Cleansing your body and beginning to notice now whether your body feels any different,

The experience is different for everyone and there is no need for judgment,

Simply respecting the body and how it wishes to be,

You may like to name how you're feeling,

The emotion,

Whatever comes to mind and just for today,

Acknowledge it and breathe it in and then let it go as you breathe out,

Consciously releasing and letting it go from your body,

Breathing it in as you acknowledge and name it and then letting it go,

Knowing that you are more than your thoughts,

You are more than any pain or stress and that you deserve peace and as you allow the body to just be,

You may like to visualize yourself lying comfortably in a hammock under the shade of trees on a sunny day and as you lie there comfortably,

You can see the expansive blue sky and a few white clouds moving slowly,

Effortlessly,

You can sense the breeze as it brushes against your skin,

The warmth of the sunlight on your toes and the strength of the taut fabric,

The strong hammock holding the weight of your body,

Allowing yourself to let go and sink into the hammock now,

Sinking all of your weight into the fabric and allowing it to hold you,

To cocoon you.

In this moment,

Allow the thoughts to come and glow like the clouds you can see before you,

They may try and hook you in so that your mind begins to overthink again and when they do,

And when they do,

Gently remind yourself to return your focus to your breathing and continue to enjoy the warmth and the safety and the relaxed air of nature that you are visualizing before you in your mind's eye right now,

Repeating the phrase,

I am here,

I have this moment and that is all I need right now.

Now taking a few moments to rest in silence,

Starting to gently reawaken the body by wiggling your fingers and toes,

Bringing that awareness back,

Noticing any sounds you can hear and centering your focus on them for a minute,

The birds in the distance or the sound of your breathing,

Any sounds at all in your focus as you gently awaken again and noticing your breath,

Placing your hand on your belly and allowing the rise and fall of your belly to focus your attention in and out when it feels right,

Slowly opening the eyes again to let light back in,

Blinking a few times and only moving your body when you're ready to do so,

Moving slowly and gently,

Knowing that you have brought awareness and compassion to your body and mind in these few moments,

You have given your body the chance to reset,

Taking a deep breath in now,

In and out,

In and out,

Returning to your natural breathing and when you feel centered and ready,

Returning to your day.

Reviews

Perfect at the end of a very busy day❤🙏❤

Extremely good, very soothing.