This meditation helps you to tackle worry and regret,
Anxiety and stress.
So we'll think about worry and regret and anxiety and stress as suitcases that we can put down,
As things that we are often carrying with us that weigh us down.
So to help you reduce anxiety,
Start by taking a moment to relax your body.
Soften any unnecessary tension in your belly and your shoulders,
Your neck,
Your chest,
Your legs,
Your feet,
Your hands,
Your temples,
Anywhere in your body at all.
And find a relaxing posture that feels good to you,
Allowing you to settle into a moment of peace.
Now close your eyes or look downwards or unfocus a little bit and rest your hands in an easy,
Effortless way.
Take a few moments to scan your awareness through the sensations of your body and wherever possible soften and release any obvious areas of physical tension.
So being aware of your body and becoming aware of your body breathing,
Your chest or your stomach rising and falling with each inhale and exhale.
Now I'd like you to move into a visualization,
Keeping your breathing full and deep into your chest and your belly,
Allowing your belly to be relaxed as you breathe in,
Allowing to expand and gently allowing your breath to exit your body on the exhale and allowing your stomach to fall down,
No contracting,
Just allowing,
Surrendering.
So in this visualization,
I'd like you to imagine standing in the street or on the sidewalk outside your house with two heavy suitcases.
And I'd like you to focus on one of the suitcases.
One of these suitcases is full of worries about the future,
About things that have happened or things that will happen or things that didn't go well and things that you want to be better.
And now I'd like you to consider the other suitcase.
And this suitcase is full of regrets,
Full of things that you might be sad about,
Things that didn't really go as planned and that you're still feeling a little bit hurt about.
So take a moment standing there in the street holding these two heavy suitcases and reflect about each one.
Reflect about the future and how it will come on its own accord whenever it comes and that most of what we worry about will never happen.
Standing out there in the street,
Reflect about the past,
The other heavy suitcase.
Consider how the past cannot be changed.
All we can do in the present is to learn from the past.
We can put in whatever corrections that make sense using whatever resources we have available.
We can become more skillful or become a little bit better in the way that we interact with others and with ourselves.
And we can move on.
So standing there in the street,
Feeling the weight of these suitcases and absorbing the wisdom of your own reflections right now.
Make a conscious decision.
Do you want to drop the suitcase of worry about the future?
If you feel that you are ready to do so,
Simply put it down.
Simply put it down.
Then standing there in the street with the other suitcase so heavy about the past,
Make a conscious decision now.
Do you want to drop it?
All of these regrets?
If so,
Just put it down.
Just drop the suitcase.
And as soon as you have dropped the two heavy suitcases about the future and the past,
Walk back into your home.
Visualize yourself walking back,
Your shoulders lighter,
Your hands less sore,
Relief throughout your body and take a seat.
Just plop down.
So relaxed.
Like someone coming home from a long trip,
Dropping the suitcases and just relaxing.
Rest in the present.
Focusing on just breathing.
Resting in the natural well-being that comes from having weights lifted off of your shoulders.
Weights lifted off of your life.
Rest in the fundamental well-being of the awareness that you do not need to worry about every possibility for the future.
And that you do not need to continue carrying the regrets of the past.
Each breath that you take,
Deep and full into your belly,
Into your chest,
Reminds you that you are here now.
You are present.
You are not in the past.
You are not in the future.
Your breath reminds you that you are here now.
With that weight out of your hands and off your shoulders,
Allow a natural happiness and contentedness,
A relief to settle within your body.
That is your true home.
The present home where there is no past and there is no future.
There are no heavy suitcases of worries about what will be and there are no regrets about what has been.
Simply rest here in your body right now with total relaxation throughout your body and your mind.
As you prepare to release this practice,
Take a few more deep breaths.
As you carry on in the day,
Remembering that you are not in the past,
You are not in the future,
You only ever exist right now.
Namaste.
