Feel Stress Drain Away in an Imaginary Grounding Bath

Take a 10 minute imaginary bath in beautiful stress-releasing warm water. As you let the water drain away, let it drain any tension from your body and any overthinking from your mind, leaving the muscles relaxed and the mind relaxed ready to carry on with your day or to get ready for bed.

Transcript

So in this grounding meditation,

We're going to use the relaxing imagery and sensations of having a nice bath to get ourselves grounded and to let go of any overthinking,

To let go of any excess effort in the mind.

And at the same time,

We're going to let go of any excess effort in the body,

So any holding in the muscles.

Because as we do this,

As we relax the body,

Even in the small muscles,

In many subtle ways,

The mind also relaxes with the body.

So take a moment to get comfortable.

Don't worry too much about holding the posture.

Feel free to move at any point and then come back to stillness.

So you're not fighting with this stillness.

You're not trying to make the body completely still at all times.

You're free to move,

Yawn,

Stretch and sigh,

And then come back to stillness,

Coming back to comfort.

So letting the eyes close and taking a deeper breath in,

Breathing into your abdomen or the belly,

Holding for a second or two,

Feeling the air in the body and letting it go slowly,

Giving it a sound,

Perhaps a sigh.

And then let the breathing do what it wants for a few moments.

Step back and observe the breath,

Just letting it do what it wants.

And once more,

Breathing deeply into the belly,

Holding for a second or two,

Feeling that breath in the body,

And letting go of the breath,

Letting the muscles start to relax,

Let the shoulders drop.

And then let the breathing do what it wants,

Stepping back from it,

Just noticing what it does,

Whatever it does,

Noticing whether it wants to yawn or sigh or go a bit deeper or whether.

.

.

The breathing is very subtle now and just gentle.

And we'll do one last breath to settle in.

So taking a deep breath in,

Breathing into the abdomen,

Filling the belly,

Filling it all the way up the shoulders,

Filling up to the top of the head,

Feeling the air in the lungs,

But letting the body relax,

Let the shoulders relax around it as you hold that breath,

Letting everything relax as much as is possible,

Before then releasing the breath,

And let go of the muscles even more,

Let go of the eyes,

The face,

The shoulders,

The neck,

The back,

The legs.

And imagine now that you are lying in a bath of beautifully warm water.

So you can feel yourself supported by the bottom of the bath and the sides of the bath.

Feel that on your body and you can feel the warmth of the water.

Perhaps that warmth feels like it's moving around the body,

Around the legs,

The stomach,

The back.

Maybe you've got the water up to your shoulders and you can just feel the air on the top of the shoulders and the surface of the water against your shoulders moving slightly.

And you're just noticing that temperature change between the air and the water below.

And get that feeling like the water is taking some of the effort,

Some of the weight of the body,

So you're floating.

And just take a breath in,

Imagining you're breathing,

Filling the body under the water.

Pause,

And then when you exhale,

Let the body just float in the water,

Let go of that breath,

And float.

Let go of all the muscles,

Let them just relax deeper.

And imagine now you gently remove the plug or you start letting the bath water drain and it's very slow.

And you can hear the sound of the water draining away slowly.

And there's a certain peace to that constant sound of that water taking away.

And it's as if it's taking away any effort from the body and mind.

A bit like when you're sitting next to a stream on a mountain and that constantly bubbling stream has a very peaceful sound to it.

And as the water very slowly lowers,

Just feel it going from your shoulders.

As it lowers,

Just let the shoulders feel heavy now,

As if the water has drained away any excess effort from the shoulders.

And as the water goes down the arms,

Down the chest,

Slowly switching off the muscles from excess effort as it goes.

So the water is draining away any overthinking,

Any excess effort.

It's being pulled down by gravity,

Taken deep into the earth to be reused,

Recycled.

And as the water passes the heart,

Let the heart relax.

As if the water has pulled away any holding or tension in the heart space.

And let the heart be peacefully relaxed.

And as the warm water lowers past the solar plexus,

Crossing the stomach,

Just imagine that as it goes muscle by muscle,

It is relaxing away any tension or effort.

So the muscles just relax into a peaceful state.

And it's draining away any tension from the stomach,

The abdomen,

Hips.

Draining,

Pulling away,

Gravity pulling away any excess effort down into the earth.

And as the water passes the lower back,

Let the lower back muscles relax now.

As if you're sighing out any excess effort,

As if the water is pulling away any excess trying or doing and allowing you to just float in being.

Feel the water moving down the legs,

All the way to the end of the water.

And even when the water is drained and you can hear it being pulled down towards the earth,

Taken away,

You can still feel like any excess effort is being relaxed away from your body and mind.

And as the water gurgles,

Perhaps allow a little smile on the face,

That funny sound.

And allowing that peaceful smile as a little congratulations that you've allowed relaxation to happen.

You've got out of your own way and just allowed yourself to be in this natural peaceful state.

And it's as if you're enjoying that feeling of heaviness in the muscles.

As the water has gone,

It's left the muscles feeling a bit heavier and you've just gone with that feeling to let the body and mind relax.

And it's as if gravity is holding you safe,

Gently pulling you into the present,

Away from any thinking.

And just rest in this state as long as you need.

In this state of peace,

Of being,

Where the mind and body reconnect,

Where the mind and body rebalance.

Coming back to a more natural state of being,

Until when you're ready,

Slowly just move the fingers and toes.

And find that you can keep that relaxed heaviness in the muscles,

But move them.

And you start to play with that feeling of having really relaxed muscles,

But moving them,

So you start moving the arms and legs a little bit.

Moving,

Wiggling from side to side.

And a tiny bit,

Open the eyes and just let the light be blurry.

Let the eyes be defocused.

A millimetre at a time,

Slowly opening them up.

Bringing that relaxation with you,

So you're carrying that peace,

That heaviness in the muscles,

That not doing with you into your day.

As you open the eyes fully,

And stretching if you need to,

Yawning.

And feel that you're reconnected now,

You're carrying that groundedness,

That profound peace with you now,

As you stretch.

Feel a bit more energised,

Really breathing into the chest.

Opening the chest up,

Stretching the arms out,

And waking up fully and carrying that peace with you into your day.