Let Go of Stress & Let Love In

Use this to relax your body and open your heart to generate feelings of loving-kindness for yourself and others.

Transcript

Welcome to Let Go of Stress and Let Love In.

I'm Victoria and tonight we're going to be doing two guided meditations.

The first to help relax your body and the second to open your heart and to just give the ability to let more love in for yourself and for others.

So mindfulness is simply being aware of your present moment experiences as they happen.

Just allowing yourself to be present in the here and the now.

Not drifting off into thoughts of the past and rehashing what's already happened.

And not drifting away into the future and worrying about what's going to come and rehearsing what you want to say.

Mindfulness is simply about being here now.

And you can do that in lots of ways.

The first way we'll start tonight by just getting comfortable in our bodies.

So I invite you to wiggle,

Move,

Stretch,

Do whatever you need and find yourself in a comfortable seated position or lay down if that's more comfortable for you.

I invite you to gently close your eyes or if you would like to keep them open,

You can have a soft gaze.

Taking a second to just settle into our bodies,

Into the here and now.

When we're being mindful,

We can do it in lots of different ways.

But one simple way,

One way that's always present for us is to be mindful of sound.

So we'll begin tonight by taking a few moments to just listen,

See what sounds come up for you.

Maybe you hear voices,

Cars,

People walking,

The buzz of electricity,

The air moving.

Whatever it is,

Just keep your awareness on the sounds that are around you.

Notice that they change.

They get louder.

They get softer.

They stop.

They go.

We often hear sounds in the background,

But we've learned to really tune them out.

And instead,

We usually just hear the voice in our head talking loud over everything else.

But allow yourself the freedom now to just be aware of what else is there.

What else can you hear?

Another constant in our lives is the breath.

For each one of us,

Our bodies,

Without us even having to think,

Just automatically breathe in and out on their own.

And when we're being mindful,

We can always come back to the present moment by just noticing our breath.

So we'll play here with different types of breathing just to let our bodies start to relax,

Let ourselves be at ease,

And just simply notice what comes up.

We'll start by just noticing our breath as it moves in the right nostril,

Breathing in through your nose,

And then breathing back out through your nose.

What do you feel here as you put your attention on your breath on your right nostril?

Notice the temperature of the air.

Notice the forcefulness as you breathe in.

See what happens in that brief moment between the in-breath and the out-breath.

Turning your attention now to the left nostril.

Breathing in normally,

Seeing if it feels exactly the same as the right nostril,

Or maybe it's congested,

Or maybe the temperature has changed.

Just seeing what shows up for you in this moment.

We can also be mindful of our breath in our chest.

So take a deep breath in through your nose and see what happens in your chest.

Does it tighten?

Does it expand?

Do your shoulders move?

Does your neck move?

And slowly release through your mouth and see what happens.

We'll take several breaths this way,

Breathing very slowly and deeply in through our nose and exhaling slowly out through the mouth.

Noticing what happens in your chest,

Allowing your body to soften.

Getting really curious.

Do both shoulders move exactly the same?

Does your chest expand in the same way with each breath?

Can you feel your breath all the way in your upper back?

If your mind begins to wander,

Or you're distracted by sound or noises around you or your own internal chatter,

Let go of critiquing or judging yourself or judging others.

And just know that the mind is meant not to hold still,

But to always be in motion,

To be taking care of you,

To be helping you.

But knowing that just because your mind wants to be wandering and moving doesn't mean that it has to.

Instead of pushing away those thoughts or judging them as right or wrong,

You can just simply notice them.

I like to say thinking.

And when you catch yourself thinking,

Notice that thought.

And then like a cloud floating across the sky,

Just allow it to go on.

Don't get caught up and run away with it.

But when you say thinking,

Bring your consciousness back into your breath.

Moving your awareness now down into your belly,

Into your abdomen.

If you'd like,

You can put one hand on your abdomen.

This often helps you to see the rise and the fall.

So we'll continue slowing and deepening our breath,

Paying attention now to the expansion of our abdomen and the contraction.

Breathing deeply in through the nose and slowly out through the mouth.

In through the nose and out through the mouth.

A final way to really be present,

To be here now in this moment,

Is to check in with your body.

Noticing the sensations that show up for you.

Not judging them or trying to make them stop or keep them,

But just simply being aware.

So we'll begin a body scan,

Starting at the top of the head.

Noticing the crown of the head.

Noticing where your head touches the floor or the back of your chair if it does.

Scanning down across your face.

Noticing your forehead,

Seeing if it's wrinkled or smooth.

Noticing your eyebrows if they're furrowed or smooth.

Seeing your eyelids,

Are they squeezed tightly shut or are they just softly and gently closed?

Or if they're open,

Are they just softly open?

Moving your awareness now down your cheeks.

Down your jaw,

Seeing if your jaw is tight and clenched or soft and relaxed.

Noticing the muscles around your mouth.

Breathing in to your face,

Breathing in gratitude for all it does for you.

And giving it permission to soften and relax.

Letting the stress,

The worry,

The anxiety,

The fear,

All the emotions you hold on your face,

Letting them soften.

Sweeping down,

Noticing your neck and your shoulders.

Letting me often hold tension here,

Tightness.

See what shows up for you in this moment.

See where you're making contact with the surface.

Notice both shoulders.

Is one raised higher than the other?

What do you feel?

Is there a clenching,

A pulling,

A burning,

A tingling?

Whatever sensation shows up,

Just allow it to be.

Breathing now into your neck and your shoulders.

Sending them gratitude for all they do for you every day.

And allowing them to soften.

Moving now down your torso,

Your chest,

Your abdomen,

Wrapping around to your back.

Noticing what shows up here.

Is your chest tight,

Loose,

Tingly?

Can you feel digestion,

Fullness,

Hunger in your belly?

Is your back loose,

Tense,

Tight?

Is there pressure,

Heat,

Coolness?

When a sensation shows up,

Don't run away with it.

Just name it,

Heat.

And then allow it to just be.

Giving your torso now gratitude,

Filling it up with air.

Seeing if you can expand your lungs fully,

Where your lungs are expanding in the back and in the front and down.

Fully expanding.

Sending gratitude.

And relaxing.

Letting go of the stress and the anxiety,

The worry.

Paying attention now to your arms.

Going from your shoulders all the way down.

Your elbows going down to your wrists.

Making your way to your hands,

All the way to your fingertips.

Just seeing what's there.

Are they tingly?

Are they falling asleep?

Are they cold?

Clammy?

Hot?

Allowing whatever feelings that are there to just be.

Breathing in gratitude for your arms and your hands that help you and support you every day.

Giving them permission to soften and to relax.

Noticing now your hips and your glutes and your pelvis.

Seeing where you make contact with your cushion or the chair or the floor.

Noticing any clenching or tension,

Tightness,

Pressure.

Not judging it.

Not wanting it to go away.

Just being really curious about what's happening right now in this area of your body.

If you think,

I don't feel anything,

There's nothing there.

As you take your next breath,

See if you can feel the breath moving into and through that area.

Letting your attention go now from your right hip downward through your right leg.

Noticing your quad going down into your knee.

Going down into your shin,

Your calf.

Going down into your ankle,

Your foot,

And all the way to your little toes.

Just noticing your whole right leg that carries you every day and bears your weight and supports you in everything you do.

Notice if it's tight,

If there's tension,

If it's hot or cold.

Just allowing yourself to just be here with your right leg.

Breathing in and sending gratitude down your leg.

Allowing it to soften and relax.

Noticing now your left leg and just seeing if there's a difference in the way that your right leg feels and the way that your left leg feels.

Sweeping your attention down your left leg,

Through your quad,

To your knee,

To your shin,

Your calf,

Your ankle,

Your foot,

And your toes.

Seeing if they're warm or cold,

If they're falling asleep,

If they're tight,

If there's tension or pressure.

Sending gratitude now to this leg for all it does to support and carry you every day.

Breathing in and giving it permission to soften.

Letting your whole body now,

From the bottoms of your feet all the way to the crown of your head,

Feel heavy and relaxed and at ease.

For the next few moments you can continue scanning your body or you can go back to noticing sounds or focusing on your breath.

This is your chance for your own practice to just play and explore,

Just allowing yourself to be here in this present moment with whatever shows up for you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

If your mind begins to wander,

You can always bring it back by labeling,

Thinking,

You can even say wandering.

Just giving it permission to let go of those thoughts and to come back into your body,

Into this moment.

Thank you.

We've generated gratitude for our bodies,

For all the parts that work together so seamlessly every day to support us.

From there,

We can now go into a practice of loving kindness and gratitude where we'll start with loving kindness for ourselves.

Many of us are our own worst critic.

We're quick to judge,

To find our flaws,

To believe we're not good enough.

We get held down in fear and in shame and guilt and doubt.

And we often don't take the time to truly open up and generate feelings of friendliness to ourselves.

So in this moment,

Visualize yourself seeing yourself in the mirror.

Just seeing the pure joy and love that you have,

Maybe calling to mind a memory where you were very happy,

Where you felt the most yourself,

The most at peace.

And just really seeing yourself.

Noticing all of those judgments,

The critiques and everything.

And breathing in.

And letting them go.

And with your next in-breath,

Filling your heart space up with feelings of friendliness and warmth and love and gratitude for who you are and for all that you are.

Because you are loved.

You are loved.

You are enough.

You can generate these feelings through phrases.

You can use mine.

You can create your own.

I like to send wishes to myself saying,

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be safe.

May I be at peace.

And may I be ruled by love.

You can use these again,

Beating after me in your head.

But you can create your own.

Just allowing yourself to really feel the emotions that come up when you send these wishes to yourself.

Allowing to the degree that you are able,

Your heart to open and expand and be filled.

May I be happy.

May I be healthy.

May I be safe.

May I be at peace.

May I be ruled by love.

It's taking a moment to sit in this space of gratitude and love for ourselves.

Calling to mind now.

Someone who you love and who loves you unconditionally.

A person or animal who lights up your life,

Brings you so much joy.

Visualize them in front of you.

And all of their joy and goodness and love.

Really look at them,

Really see who's there.

And call to mind all the reasons you love them.

Because they're kind.

Because they're generous.

Because they're funny.

Because they love unconditionally.

Notice how your heart feels in this moment that you're visualizing this person you love and who loves you dearly.

Check in with your body.

Notice your face.

Is there a soft smile on your lips?

Does your heart feel a little more open,

A little more free?

Just allow these feelings of friendliness and loving kindness and gratitude to penetrate into your heart space.

Sitting with them for a moment.

Still visualizing that person.

And we can send them the same wishes.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you be at peace.

May you be ruled by love.

Really visualizing and sending your most heartfelt wishes to this person you love.

Either using mind or creating your own.

Just allowing these feelings of loving kindness and warmth and openness to flow through you,

Through your words,

Into this person.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you be at peace.

May you be ruled by love.

Taking a moment to just check in with your body.

Notice how you feel physically and emotionally.

Taking a few slow,

Cleansing,

Calming,

Deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth.

It's easy for us to generate feelings of warmth and friendliness to people we love.

But part of the practice is to expand those feelings to people you don't have strong feelings for.

People you see every day but don't really notice.

Your barista,

The janitor,

The secretary,

The guy at the cubicle next to you.

Whoever comes to mind,

Who you see regularly but you don't often engage with,

Call that person up and visualize them in front of you.

Imagining them right here,

Right now.

And really seeing them,

Maybe for the first time.

Taking those feelings that you generated towards yourself and towards the person you love and opening your heart a little more to the degree that you're able to share this loving kindness practice with this person who you have neutral feelings for.

Realizing them in front of you and you saying to them,

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you be at peace.

May you be ruled by love.

Really feeling into how it feels to share those wishes with this person.

Noticing what emotions come up for you.

You can repeat the phrases after me or perhaps you can come up with your own wishes for this person who's very neutral in your life.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you be at peace.

May you be ruled by love.

Realizing what happens in your heart space when you share these feelings of warmth,

Open,

Friendly,

Loving kindness.

Just sitting with your feelings physically and emotionally.

Taking a few deep breaths in through the nose.

Letting your breath be calming and soothing as you breathe in the nose and out the mouth.

Continuing to feel this warmth,

This openness,

This generosity,

This kindness,

This love.

Whatever feelings are showing up for you.

Just basking in them.

Letting them fully embrace you.

And now,

Only to the degree that you feel able,

I'd like for you to call to mind a difficult person in your life.

Perhaps it's a co-worker you have a conflict with or a micromanaging boss or a controlling parent or a frustrating spouse or a wild child or an animal.

Someone who you find it difficult to work with,

To love,

To be around.

Visualize that person to the degree that you're able.

And know that just like the two people you've already visualized,

This person too just wants to love and to be loved.

Letting go of any judgments or commentary that might show up.

And instead,

To the degree that you're able,

Share your feelings of loving kindness and friendliness and openness and warmth.

Share these feelings with this difficult person.

You might even envision yourself holding their hands,

Looking them in the eye and saying,

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you be at peace.

May you be ruled by love.

Allowing your own heart to remain open and if possible,

To open a little bit more.

As you visualize this person,

Knowing that they too just want to love and to be loved.

And you can send them your own wishes.

Or you can repeat after me.

May you be happy.

May you be healthy.

May you be safe.

May you be at peace.

May you be ruled by love.

Just allowing yourself to sit in this moment,

In these feelings.

To the degree that you are able to open yourself up to a new perspective on this difficult person.

To share with them the love and kindness that's always been inside of you.

Staying with these feelings for a few more moments.

And now visualizing in front of you our beautiful planet Earth.

All seven billion of us.

Essentially having the same essence.

All of us wanting to love.

To be loved.

To give love.

Imagining all of us here on Earth.

Or maybe just a community that stands out to you.

But knowing that we can all benefit from more loving kindness.

So letting these feelings you've cultivated in you expand and open now as you send wishes out into the world.

May we all be happy.

May we all be healthy.

May we all be safe.

May we all know peace.

And may we all be ruled by love.

Just really letting yourself feel the expansiveness,

The presence,

The openness of the love and the kindness and the warmth and the generosity that you have inside of you to give.

Sending our gratitude and our wishes one more time out to the world.

May we all be happy.

May we all be healthy.

May we all be safe.

May we all be at peace.

May we all be ruled by love.

Staying with these feelings for a few more moments.

Just relaxing the body.

Allowing yourself to bask in these feelings of loving kindness and gratitude.

Letting a soft smile come to your lips.

Sending out any more kindness to yourself or anyone else in your life who you think could use it.

Beginning to come back into your body.

Dear breathing.

Just noticing as your breath shallow,

Deep,

Long,

Slow,

Fast.

Not trying to change it,

But just seeing what's there.

Beginning now to invite movement back into your body.

Taking your thumb and running it slowly over your fingertips.

Noticing each fingertip on the right hand and each fingertip on the left hand.

Waking your body up very slowly.

Wiggling your toes.

Beginning to roll your wrists,

Roll your ankles.

And when you're ready,

You can give a nice big stretch.

And we'll finish with the sound of the bell.

Thank you.

Reviews

Lovely practice
🏵💕❤️🧡💛
Namaste 🙏🖤
💚💙💜🤍✨️🤎🍂

Thank you. At a time of great shock in my life this has been a beautiful and gentle panacea. Much gratitude and blessings to you.

I’ve just had the most relaxing meditation and love the self love and love for others mantra, I could listen to your voice Victoria Angel all day.

Thank you, thank you, thank you 🙏🏻💕💫💕

Very calming voice! I love the practices! Thank you!

Loved this VERY relaxing

Put me in a wonderful mood!

Soothing and peaceful

This meditation gave a feeling of love , peace and kindness to oneself and others. Loved it. Thank you 🌷

So calm and peaceful thank you

Thank you so much-comforting,uplifting and challenging. "May we all be ruled by love" namaste

Lovely two part meditation, body scan transitions to loving kindness

Heartfelt and relaxing! Self care!! Grateful for loving me and others!❤️🙏🏻🌺😇🎁 Nice way to start the day! Thank you!!

Real sense of the practitioner practicing what she teaches. Nurturing gentle and fulfilling. An hour well spent. Thank you.