Hello,
My name is Connor and this is Meditation for a Hangover.
When I first came to meditation I was a bartender and it was a bit of an occupational hazard of being a bartender that you had a lot of hangovers throughout the year.
So I discovered meditation as a pretty good technique for dealing with hangovers and I didn't realize at that stage that meditation would also deal with my drinking.
But wherever you are,
If you've got a hangover right now,
Just lie down or sit down or prop yourself up against a wall,
Against the bed,
Against the sink,
Whether you're in your living room,
Your bedroom or the bathroom,
Whatever you can manage right now,
Just try to move your body into a comfortable position.
And then place your hands on your stomach or on your chest so you feel held by yourself.
We get the opportunity to hug ourselves in this life and that's what you can do right now,
You can give yourself a hug.
And then allow your shoulders to drop.
So very simply just feel where you're holding the tension in your shoulders and just let it drop.
The same with your head,
Any of the tension that you're feeling in your neck right now.
Just see if you can let it drop away.
And let's start by taking a deep breath through your nose or through your mouth.
And just become aware of how that breath feels moving through your body.
And then quietly or out loud depending on how you feel about it,
Just say the next few things.
I am not a bad person.
And this is not a step backwards.
This is just an experience.
The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard used to say life is not a problem to be solved but a reality to be experienced.
So right now wherever you are,
You're a human experiencing a hangover.
And this,
Like all experiences,
Will pass.
Let's just take another deep breath again.
And just really begin to feel this breath moving through your body.
Yes,
You're a little sluggish,
Maybe you're a bit nauseous,
But you're still breathing.
And when you're breathing,
You're capable of smiling,
Of dreaming and of opening your heart to the world.
So follow your breath.
And as you notice it coming in,
You can just say to yourself,
Breathing in.
Breathing in.
Breathing in.
And as you follow your breath,
Maybe you could even feel a little bit of gratitude towards it.
Maybe you could even find the courage to say thank you.
Breathing in.
Breathing in.
And then just one more time,
Just say to yourself,
I am not a bad person.
This is not a step backwards.
This is just an experience.
And then you can say thank you to yourself and open your eyes and go get a big cold glass of water.
Thank you.
Bye bye.
Feel better.
