Hope And Healing

This meditation focuses on creating hope, and using it as a guiding force to heal. Sometimes it can be difficult to find hope, especially during times of turmoil. But this meditation is designed to help you identify small hope-building memories or recent events, and use it to build up momentum towards feeling hopeful. If you're already elated and feeling hopeful, then get ready to expand it even further!

Transcript

Hello and welcome to today's guided meditation on hope and healing with self-love.

For this meditation you can be seated or lying down.

The most important thing is that you're comfortable.

Let's begin today's meditation by taking some slow deep breaths.

Breathing in through the nose and exhaling out through the mouth.

Intentionally slowing down the breath as we breathe in through the nose and letting go as you exhale out through the mouth.

And one more time breathing deeply and slowly in through the nose and letting go of something that no longer serves you as you exhale out through the mouth.

Using this breath as a cleansing breath.

You're welcome to do it as much as you like during your practice.

But for now let's do some slow deep breaths in and out through the nose.

Breathing slower than you'd normally breathe,

Deeper than you normally breathe,

And exhaling it all slowly.

Emptying out your lungs and starting your breath cycle again naturally when you're through.

Big deep breaths in through the nose and exhaling however is comfortable for you today.

As we continue to breathe deeply and slowly,

I invite you to relax your shoulders away from your ears,

Allowing them to sink towards the earth,

Surrendering to gravity.

Unclenching the jaw,

Relaxing the muscles in the cheeks and in the eyebrows,

Relaxing the forehead and the face completely,

Relaxing the entirety of our head as we slow down the body and begin coming to a state of rest.

Continuing to breathe slowly and deeply,

Opening up the muscles in the neck,

Allowing the neck to become totally relaxed,

Releasing any strain or tension with our breath,

Opening up our throat.

We relax the shoulders even deeper and as well our chest and our upper back,

Allowing all the muscles in these regions to simply rest.

There's nothing to hold,

There's nothing to do.

Breathing out any lingering tension by deeply breathing into the nose and letting that intention go as you exhale out through the mouth,

Releasing all tension from the body.

Moving our relaxation down,

I invite you to relax your arms completely,

Letting go in the biceps and triceps,

Letting the forearms come to a full stop.

Finally relaxing through the palms of the hands and extending that relaxation through your fingers until they become totally at rest,

Totally at peace.

Continuing down the body,

We relax the abdomen and the stomach,

Allowing yourself to breathe deeply but totally naturally without force as your stomach,

Core,

And lower back surrender to gravity and fully relax.

Traveling down again with our attention,

We relax the pelvic area and the glutes,

Breathing out any tightness,

Any tension,

Anything we're ready to let go of as we allow the muscles of the groin and the butt to come to full relaxation.

How deeply can you let go?

How much can you lean into the steadiness and the stillness of this moment as you breathe and relax?

Moving down again,

Relaxing your thighs,

Letting go completely,

Relaxing the calf muscles,

And finally completely relaxing your feet,

Allowing them to simply float naturally right where they're at.

With each breath,

Invite in deeper and deeper waves of relaxation,

Starting at the crown of your head and these waves traveling down through your body,

Calming you and healing you until they reach the bottom of your feet.

Each breath invites more awareness,

More relaxation,

And more peace in your body.

Taking this moment to take a big deep breath in through the nose and releasing any stagnant energy or any tension as you exhale out through the mouth,

Giving that energy back to the earth to be recycled into something new.

Using this breath as much as you wish and as you keep your jaw relaxed and your shoulders and the rest of your body fully relaxed and surrendering to gravity,

I ask you to ponder for a moment.

What is something good or cool happening in your life right now?

It could be something big or small,

Something happening right now or in the recent past.

What is something that has been really cool or just good in your life that is happening or recently happened?

Maybe it was a moment you enjoyed,

Whether alone or with somebody,

Or a small blessing that crossed your path.

What is one thing that you are happy to have in your life that recently happened?

Really allowing yourself to breathe into the reasons why you enjoy that,

The reasons why you're grateful,

Even if it's small.

As you continue to breathe deeply,

Relaxing the body with each breath,

I invite you to ponder another question and that is with everything going on in your life right now,

All of the things that may be up in the air or uncertain or happening quickly or even not happening at all,

What are you most proud of doing in the midst of all of this?

This could be something small,

Like a small act of kindness towards yourself or towards another and it could be medium or big,

But what is one thing that you're proud of doing during this time in your life?

Taking a moment to breathe in those good feelings,

That feeling of love or pride for doing this and exhaling through the mouth any tension or any energy you're ready to release.

Taking another deep breath in through the nose,

Breathing in thankfulness for doing this and exhaling all those things you're ready to let go of.

One more deep breath,

Breathing in through the nose and letting it all go,

Remembering to relax the jaw and soften our muscles,

Bringing our attention back to this one thing that we're proud of ourselves for doing or more things that may come to mind,

Things that we're proud of doing amidst this time in our life.

I invite you to send yourself love for doing these things,

Recognizing that it's not easy to show up for oneself in big or small ways and thanking your past self for whatever they did amidst whatever they were going through.

Taking deep breaths in filled with gratitude and love and exhaling love towards this version of yourself that did whatever this action was,

Even if it was just accepting help or love or showing up today.

Taking another deep breath in through the nose,

Bringing in this love and gratitude,

This thankfulness and exhaling it towards that action of whatever you did that made you feel proud,

Continuing to breathe deeply and feelings of love and thankfulness.

Your ability to find something to be proud of yourself for doing and your ability to do whatever this is,

Is evidence of light at the end of the tunnel and more steps ahead for you to climb in a positive direction.

Imagine for a moment what the light at the end of the tunnel feels like for you in this stage of your life right now.

Does the light at the end of the tunnel metaphorically feel like peace?

Feel like peace?

What will you feel like when you arrive there?

Where will your emotions be?

Taking this moment to really imagine what that will look and feel like to arrive from where we are now to where we're going.

What kind of things would this version of you at the end of the tunnel be doing?

And what kind of things would they be saying?

What kind of advice do you guess or feel they would give this version of you today?

Continuing to breathe deeply in and out through the nose as we relax the shoulders away from the ears and relaxing the whole body and seeing what this version of ourself who has made it to the other end of what we're going through,

What kind of advice would they give to our present self?

Taking this moment to give ourselves love for being strong and resilient in this stage that we're in.

Breathing in love deeply through the nose and as we exhale it sending it directly to ourselves and to our heart for having the courage to be alive and the resilience to keep going no matter what that looks like for us.

Breathing love deeply in through the nose and sending it to our heart and anywhere that needs it as we exhale,

Continuing to breathe in this pattern,

Relaxing the body even deeper as we send ourselves love and whatever else we need in this moment.

And with love we ask ourselves what is that light at the end of the tunnel that we're aiming for?

Where is it that we're calibrating our compass towards?

In what direction are we moving?

For what?

Allowing yourself to arrive at a clear short answer for this that is concise and all-encompassing.

Ultimately in what direction are you moving?

And as we continue breathing deeply and defining that direction in what other way,

Whatever way best fits us,

Whatever way most resonates with us,

I invite you to set the intention to move in that direction from a position of self-love and self-care.

I invite you to make a promise to yourself that no matter how difficult or long the road is,

That you do your best to keep your well-being in mind and your peace in mind physically,

Mentally,

Emotionally,

And spiritually.

Knowing that you are capable of achieving your dreams and taking care of yourself while you do it.

Making this promise now from this relaxed state,

I invite you to breathe in whatever energy you need here and now through the nose and breathing out through the mouth,

Sending that energy to whatever parts of your mind or body you need.

Sending love,

Motivation,

Hope,

Or whatever your body needs directly to those places that could use it.

Breathing that energy deeply in through the nose and exhaling it through the mouth using your intention to send it where it needs to go.

Taking a couple last deep breaths,

Giving yourself the energy that you need,

Returning to a deep and full breath,

Returning to a state of relaxation.

I invite you to keep your promise and remember that no matter how difficult it may get or exciting it may get,

There's always room and time to take a deep breath and let go of all the tension.

Slowly and gently,

Whenever you feel called,

Taking as much time as you need otherwise,

I invite you to bring movement back into the fingers,

Taking the energy that you gave with you as you bring attention to the physical body,

Taking notice of how it feels to breathe deeply as air enters your lungs and your abdomen,

Inviting a little bit more movement into the body,

Maybe wiggling the spine or the toes,

Maybe gently and slowly rolling the neck,

Bringing in more and more movement very gently to the arms and the upper body and a little bit into the legs and whenever you feel called and ready,

Coming out of meditation and opening your eyes.

Reviews

Going through a very dark time in my life right now. Thank you for this beautiful meditation to remind me that there is life after this chapter.