Welcome to this guided meditation intended for those who suffer from anxiety and overthinking.
If you are prone to anxiety and overthinking,
You'll know how challenging it is to get off of a train of thought once you are on it.
So,
In this guided meditation,
We are going to practice a technique that will help you to not get on board the train of thought to begin with.
In time,
This will make it far,
Far easier to recognise when you are about to become lost in overthinking and anxiety,
And will allow you to remain fully grounded,
Fully centred in the here and now.
Begin by simply becoming aware of the sensations of breathing.
Just allow yourself to breathe,
And notice how it feels to breathe.
Do not force the breath in or out.
Do not try to force deeper breaths.
Just be aware of the sensations of breathing,
And you will notice that in time the breath will naturally deepen itself.
Bring your awareness fully into the present moment.
Simply the here and now.
There is no future.
There is no past.
These things are simply imagined.
Just be aware of now.
Use the sensations of breathing as the anchor point into the now,
And just be now.
Very good.
Now visualise that you are stood on a train platform.
You can vividly imagine this.
What does this platform look like?
What is the temperature on this platform?
What are the sounds?
What is the scent on the air?
It's a perfectly peaceful day on the platform,
And you are just standing there by yourself.
Now the only task in this practice is to remain on the platform.
Do not get on board any train that arrives.
It's as though none of these trains are for you.
Your only task is to simply remain on the platform,
Fully at peace,
Fully centred,
Fully grounded in the here and now.
Any thought that arises in the mind is a train that pulls up to the platform.
These thoughts can take many forms,
But for this practice we will visualise each thought to be like a train that just pulls up to the platform.
It opens its doors,
And remains there with its doors open,
And your only task is to simply not get on board.
In time,
The doors close,
And the train pulls off from the platform,
And sails safely off into the distance,
And you simply remain on the platform.
Reconnect to the breath.
Allow the sensations to rise and fall.
Remain fully here and fully now,
And reaffirm this visualisation.
Standing on the platform,
And begin to practice watching these thoughts,
No matter what thoughts they are.
Thoughts about tomorrow,
Thoughts about yesterday,
Thoughts about later on,
Thoughts about people,
Thoughts about work,
Thoughts about health,
Thoughts about money.
Each one of these thoughts is just a train that pulls up to the platform.
Simply remain stood where you are.
The train is free to be there as long as it wishes to be there,
It doesn't matter.
It can be quite inviting with its doors open,
And you may feel a strong urge that you somehow need to get on board.
But this is the practice now,
This is the discipline.
Just don't engage with a single thought,
Just observe,
And notice that the doors close,
And the train pulls off,
And disappears over the horizon.
And you can do this with any thought that arises within your conscious awareness.
Even those persistent thoughts,
Those intrusive thoughts,
Those darker thoughts,
They are just thoughts.
They are just trains pulling up to the platform.
You are perfectly safe and secure to simply stay where you are,
And not get on board.
Reconnect with the breath.
When doing this practice you will find at some point you accidentally got on board a certain train.
That is okay,
Do not be frustrated,
This takes practice,
This takes discipline.
If you notice that you have gotten lost in a train of thoughts,
Just get off at the next platform,
And you will find that you are on the same platform that you left from.
The present moment,
The here and now.
You can do this practice anywhere,
At any time.
It is particularly effective to practice this during those periods you ordinarily would be lost in thinking,
Overthinking,
Anxious thoughts,
Intrusive thoughts,
And rumination.
This could be early in the morning,
Or driving to work.
Just try practicing this instead.
Remain on the platform,
And simply do not get on board a single train of thought.
Thank you for doing this meditation with me today.
Take care,
Be well,
And stay present.
