Hi there,
This is Olga Lucia from IKINAS and today I would like to share with you the meditation we did during our first session of our live program Becoming a Hero.
In this meditation we will explore tools that will help us during our decision making process when we want to make changes and they also will help us to keep our motivation up.
We will select something we want to change or work on.
If this is your first time try to select something that is not very emotionally demanding in a scale from 1 to 5,
Something around 2 and 3 and when you become more familiar you can select other type of things that are more complex or that would require more of your emotional energy.
You can do this exercise as a paper and pencil task or keep it as a meditation.
Let's start doing some mindful breathing to arrive in the present moment,
Calm the body and the mind.
Find a comfortable posture with your spine straight,
Shoulders relaxed,
Chest open and chin slightly down.
Once you are ready close your eyes.
Become aware of your body.
Notice your posture.
Notice the contact between your body and the surface supporting you.
Take two deep,
Slow,
Relaxing breaths.
With the inhalation feel the fresh air inside your body opening space and with the exhalation release all tension.
Notice if there is still tension in your body or if you feel some discomfort in some areas.
If this is the case instruct this area to relax in a gentle way.
Now pay attention to the quality of your mind.
Take two deep,
Slow,
Relaxing breaths.
With the inhalation allow this air to open space in your mind and with the exhalation let all those thoughts to calm down.
Continue breathing normally.
Stay connected to your breath.
Bring to mind a situation you are not happy with in your life,
Something you would like to change.
First of all let's reflect on what is motivating this change.
Is it really something you want to change,
Something you need to change?
Or is something or someone else influencing this decision?
If you reach the conclusion that this is partially due to external sources,
Meaning that someone else or something important to you is prompting you to do this change,
Allow yourself to fully connect with these reasons,
Since you thought about this situation clearly part of you think this is important but it is essential that you feel that you want to make this change because it is your choice.
Really embrace why making this change is good.
If on the contrary this motivation comes from within you,
Notice the people around you supporting you in this decision.
When we do this,
We satisfy two basic psychological needs,
Our need for autonomy and our need to feel connected.
Now take one deep and slow breath and allow this breath to take you to that region in you where this motivation is rooted.
This is the center of your being,
Source of all loving-kindness and self-compassion.
Each time you decide to make something good for you,
It comes from your self-compassionate resources,
It is your inner wisdom wanting you to be free of that suffering.
From that point of connection,
Take two deep and slow breaths and with each inhalation feel space opening inside and with the exhalation release all tension.
Now silently say to yourself in a short positive phrase,
What is this thing you want to change?
If for example you want to lose weight,
You can say I would like to reach a healthy weight because I want to have a healthy body or because it is good for my health.
Now take one deep and slow breath and let it rest for a short while.
Notice the positivity that brings to your life this change,
Not only how you say it but also how you phrase the reasons to do so.
Now imagine that you have achieved this thing you want,
That the change has happened and that everything is well inside and around you.
All stress and difficulties have passed.
Pay attention to the emotions you feel.
How does it feel in your heart?
Notice how it feels in your body.
And now observe how it feels in your mind,
What type of thoughts come to your mind once you have achieved this goal.
In a scale from 1 to 10,
How positive you feel.
Sometimes it is easy to lose our momentum,
To go into action for several reasons,
And it is difficult to find the energy to continue or to restart.
One strategy to help ourselves to continue is using a technique called contrasting.
Let's practice that.
Bring to mind again the situation you want to change.
But now imagine that time has passed and nothing has changed.
Things are exactly the same,
The same old patterns,
The same old situations,
The same old people.
How would this be?
How would you feel?
Connect with the emotions that this situation makes you feel.
Notice how it feels in your body.
And what type of thoughts are going through your mind?
In a scale from 1 to 10,
This is a negative scale,
How negative you feel.
Now let's train our brain's flexibility.
Let's teach our mental muscle to be flexible.
Take two deep breaths slowly and with the in-breath feel the body expanding and creating space.
And with the out-breath imagine that all negativity leaves your body.
Manage.
.
.
Bring to mind again that moment when you have already achieved your goal.
Mind again with the positive sensations that it brings,
How it feels in your heart,
How it feels in your body,
What thoughts are going through your mind.
Can you notice the contrast between the previous experience and this one,
The difference between changing and not changing?
Slowly breathe in and allow the positive emotions and sensations to grow inside you,
To feel all your inner space.
And when you breathe out,
Let yourself go fully relaxed and totally confident,
Enjoying this achievement.
Keep that image of you achieving your goal in mind.
Make it powerful,
Make it vibrant,
Make it count.
When we do this,
We are connecting with our third basic psychological need,
Our need to feel competent.
Repeat these two more times and then continue breathing normally.
It's time to come back.
Take one last deep and slow breath and at the end of the exhalation,
Feel your body.
Notice the surface supporting you.
Become aware of the sounds around you and slowly,
Slowly open your eyes.
Thank you.
