Hello,
And welcome to this guided meditation.
Today we're going to look at a technique to help you achieve peace.
We'll look at each of the letters of the word peace and learn the ways in which we can use them to help us remain calm and collected at times of stress.
Whilst this is fairly simple to learn,
It's not necessarily a technique that's easy to master.
I know I struggle to remember to apply it sometimes,
And that's okay.
Setting the intention to learn and practice is all you need to do right now.
Find yourself a comfortable meditation posture,
Sitting on a chair or on a cushion or lying down,
Whatever works best for you.
Allow your body to settle and let your eyes gently close.
Bring your attention to your breath.
Feel the cool air as it enters your nostrils and let the warm air be exhaled through your mouth.
Notice that cool air again on the inhale.
Where do you feel it most?
Is it on your upper lip or the very edges of your nose or inside your nostrils?
Wherever it is,
Let your focus rest there while your breath settles into its natural rhythm.
Now let's look at the word peace.
P is for pause.
When you recognise that a situation may become stressful,
As soon as this is clear to you,
Just pause.
Give yourself some breathing space.
Try not to react to anything in that initial moment.
Coming back to your breath,
Is it still cool on the inhale right now?
Spend a moment with it.
Once we've taken the time to pause,
We move to the next letter of peace,
Which is E.
And this is emotions.
Check in with your emotions.
You can do it now.
What are you feeling?
Just watch,
Take note,
Recognise what's going on.
And come back to your breath,
Gently riding the waves of the inhale and the exhale.
The next letter is A,
Which stands for ask.
Ask yourself if you're happy with the situation.
If you've paused,
Checked in with your emotions and you feel calm and peaceful,
That's great.
If you're not happy with the situation,
You can move on to the next letter,
Which is C.
C is for choice.
This is a reminder that you have a choice.
You can choose to remain in the practice of seeking peace.
You can choose to pause a little longer,
Choose to check in with your emotions again.
Ask yourself if you're happy.
This is your practice.
This has to feel right for you.
The final letter of the word peace is E.
And this is for equanimity.
When you feel ready,
And this will take time to get right,
It's likely that you'll need to return to this technique and practice it to master this last letter.
Equanimity is the goal.
It's to recognise the emotions that are coming up,
To see them,
Witness them,
But not react to them.
Allow the situation to wash over you without it affecting your state of mind.
If you can master even just the first two letters,
P for pause and E for emotions,
You'll be well on your way to being able to put all of the letters into practice whenever you need to.
Bring your attention back to your cool breath as we recap all of the letters.
P is for pause.
Take a breath.
Slowly count to ten if that helps.
E,
Emotions.
Check in with your emotions and note what's happening.
A,
Ask yourself if you're happy with how things are.
C is for choice.
You can choose to remain in the practice,
Remaining calm,
Pausing,
Checking in with your emotions.
And E is for equanimity.
Let the whole situation just wash over you without allowing your emotions to control your reactions.
There's no need to react to anything in this moment.
When you're ready,
Gently open your eyes.
Take in your surroundings.
I hope you find this technique useful.
Please come back and join me again when you feel ready.
Enjoy the rest of your day.
Thank you.
