So hi there,
Welcome to the session today.
So today I thought we could try a little technique,
Which I'm thinking about,
Of reflective meditation,
Which is basically the idea is that one begins to meditate,
One gets in the sort of meditative state,
Focusing on the breath,
Focusing on whatever,
And then uses that space as an opportunity to think about the mind,
Something that's troubling the mind.
So in this case I thought we could try out thinking about worry.
So whatever it is that's worrying you,
Maybe it's in life,
You're thinking about work and jobs,
Studying,
Maybe it's something in relationships or in family or friendships or something like this,
Or maybe it's something completely different.
Either way,
In this session we can start our meditation and find that meditative space,
That meditative frame of mind,
And use that as a way to think about this worry,
Analyze it a little bit,
Pick it apart in a way,
And just to see what that can uncover.
So with that said,
Make sure you're sitting semi-comfortable and just beginning your usual meditation.
If you're not familiar with this,
Maybe just a soft focus on the space around you,
On the sounds around you,
Awareness of the body,
Taking a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth,
Just a few times until you,
With another out breath,
Just gently close the eyes.
Drop the breath back to its normal rhythm,
Its normal pace,
When you're ready,
And just letting the attention rest on the breath there,
In its natural rhythm.
Letting any thoughts come and go as they wish,
Without judgment.
Continuing this just for a moment,
And then when you're ready,
Just like a little water droplet in a pool,
Just dropping the idea of that worry,
Anything about it,
The first thing that comes to mind,
Dropping that into the mind,
And just straight away standing back and observing how the mind reacts,
What sensations do you feel,
Maybe physical,
What thoughts do you notice in the mind,
Are they slow,
Are they fast,
Big or small,
Shocking,
More comfortable,
Is there a cascade,
Or is it just a small trickle of thoughts,
Or maybe just one,
And then allowing the mind some space,
Bringing the attention back to the breath again,
As before,
Getting ready to do it again,
But for now just focusing on the breath.
Now you know what to do,
Let's just try that again,
Dropping like a little water droplet into a pool,
Just dropping the idea of that worry in,
What happens,
What thoughts,
What sensations,
Just letting that run its course,
And as soon as it has,
Just returning again the focus just to the breath,
And now I want you to think,
While in this meditative space,
Just thinking,
What is this worry about,
What does it center on when you feel it,
What thoughts arise,
And do they have something in common,
Is it about nervousness about getting a job,
Is it about nervousness about studies,
Nervousness about seeing a particular individual,
Or is it something completely unrelated,
Worry about bad things happening,
How exactly does this worry manifest itself,
And just remembering this is just worry,
It's solely in the mind and it's there ultimately to help,
To make sure you're prepared for anything that might go wrong,
But sometimes it just oversteps the mark a little.
So what is it that this is focusing on,
And once you feel you've got somewhere with this,
Let me frame it differently,
Think about your daily life at the moment,
Still in this meditative space,
If you need to take a moment just to focus again on the breath to get back in there,
Feel free to just do that,
So just thinking about your daily life,
What sort of things go on,
What sort of people do you see,
Do you meet,
Are there some people you see every day,
Some people you only see occasionally,
What activities do you engage in,
What does your daily life look like at the moment,
Just thinking about this for a minute,
And then once you think you have a good picture of this,
I'd like you just to think,
Is there anything that's pressing,
Maybe you know it already,
Maybe you're not quite sure yet,
Maybe you need to think a bit more,
Or maybe it's obvious straight away what it is,
Is there anything that's pressing,
Anything that's causing you stress,
Anything that when you do it,
You don't enjoy it,
Or when you know you're gonna have to do it,
Or you know that it's coming,
You feel anxious,
Worried,
Scared,
Nervous,
Is there anything like this,
And once you think you've found something,
Whether that's now in today's session,
Or whether that's in a day's time,
Or a few day's time,
Or a week's time,
Once you think you've found the answer to this,
Once you think you've found something pressing like this,
Just thinking then,
How can that be resolved,
What can be done to alleviate that,
And maybe there isn't an easy way to alleviate it,
In which case in the meantime,
Maybe try just being aware of how it makes you feel,
How the mind,
How the body reacts to it,
While you're doing it,
When you're expecting it to happen,
After you've done it,
Just noticing these things,
Noticing how it makes you feel,
But also noticing when it makes you feel that way,
When it comes up,
Noticing how much it makes you feel that way,
Just coming to a place of understanding of this worry,
But as I always believe,
And always think,
And always say,
To deal with the worry in the mind that this is causing,
It's always best to try and remove the thing that's causing it,
If possible,
Or improve it in a way that it no longer causes that worry,
Or causes less worry,
And once you're happy with this,
If you've found those conclusions today,
Which I hope you've been able to,
But it's okay if not,
Just coming back to the breath again,
Bringing that focus back,
Giving your mind some space,
Allowing thoughts through wherever they want to go,
And then just becoming aware again of your surroundings,
Of the sounds around you,
Of the space around you,
The sensations of the body,
The feeling of the body,
And just deepening the breath again,
In through the nose,
And out through the mouth,
Continuing to breathe deeply like this,
And when you're ready,
With the out breath,
Just opening the eyes,
Soft focus,
Still aware of those sounds around you,
Space around you,
Sensations around you,
And then just allowing yourself to relax,
And I'd just like to remind you,
Like I say,
You might not have found anything today,
You might need to come back and do this again,
Or you might need to think on it more in your daily life,
As you go about your business,
As you go about your day,
So don't worry if you haven't found that yet,
If you have,
That's excellent,
Great,
Well done,
And if you haven't,
Look forward to that time when you can,
Remember that this is a long process,
It can be,
And it's not necessarily going to all happen in a day,
In one session,
Even necessarily in a week,
But like I say,
If you can identify how the worry manifests itself,
And if you can identify what it is that's pushing,
That's pressing,
That's causing this stress,
This worry,
And if you're able to alleviate that,
Then it should be able to help a lot with that worry,
With alleviating the worry itself,
And so with that,
I hope today has been of use,
Good luck on your journey with this,
Because it's difficult,
You're doing really well just to be here,
So that's good,
And thank you for joining me today,
And I hope to see you next time,
Bye!
