You Are Not Your Thoughts

This gentle short meditation (without background music) is for anyone who feels caught in overthinking, self-doubt, or mental noise. Through grounding breathwork and compassionate awareness, you’ll be guided to create space between you and your thoughts - so you can observe them without getting swept away.

Using calming language and spacious pacing, this practice helps you reconnect with the quiet, steady presence beneath the mental chatter.

You don’t have to silence your thoughts or control your mind. Just notice. Allow. Breathe. And remember: you are not your thoughts. You are the one witnessing them.

Transcript

Welcome.

Let yourself arrive in this moment exactly as you are.

There's no need to push anything away or to try to feel different.

Here you are allowed to be just as you are and to be held in this space.

So as you're ready,

Settling yourself into a comfortable position,

You might like to gently close your eyes,

Knowing that if you wish to open them at any time,

It's okay to do so.

You can just instead maintain a soft gaze in front of you.

And now,

Bring your attention to the sensations of your breath.

Noticing the gentle rise,

The gentle fall.

Perhaps noticing the temperature of the air as it enters your nostrils.

And again,

As it leaves.

Simply noticing how,

Without effort,

Your body breathes.

Like waves coming in and going out in another of nature's patterns.

And maybe,

Just maybe,

You don't need to manage every wave.

And thoughts might come like clouds in the sky over the sea or like leaves floating past on a river on their way to the sea.

You can notice them float on by without needing to chase them.

Choosing to be here with your breath,

With yourself instead.

And even if the mind is busy,

Remember you are not your thoughts,

You are the one noticing them.

And as such,

You might even imagine stepping back,

Observing those thoughts from a little distance.

And from here,

With that distance,

You can see how they come and go.

Some fast,

Some slow,

But none of them permanent.

And you might even discover that in the space between thoughts,

There's something deeper.

Something steady.

There's a quiet presence that watches without judgment.

Simply watching.

And you can know that that presence is you.

And it's always been here.

And it will always be here.

Even when the mind is loud,

Even when the mind is tangled,

That presence is you.

And you can remember that simply by taking a step back,

Back into that quiet presence.

You can find the space.

And you might carry this knowing with you that you are not your thoughts.

You are the whole sky,

Not the current weather system.

Those clouds,

They'll move on by.

And the sky will remain.

So,

As this practice comes to a close,

Take another gentle breath in and out.

And on an exhale,

You can return to the room,

Noticing yourself within the space that you exist in here.

And bringing with you a little more of your own space and a little less urgency.