Anxiety Rescue Self-Compassion Practice for Sleep

Listen to this mindful practice when anxiety or panic arise at any time, including while you're trying to sleep. You will be guided to accept your feelings rather than fight with them, and send love and compassion inward, where you need it most. This practice will not guide you back to a wakeful state, but will let you rest in slf-compassion or fall asleep.

Transcript

Taking some long,

Slow,

Deep breaths in and out.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Just breathing deeply,

Detaching from your thoughts and bringing all of your attention to the here and now.

Focusing on the breath.

You might be tempted to try and fight with or push away your anxiety,

But your objective here is simply to allow it,

Notice it and let it be.

Breathing.

Saying to yourself,

I notice the feeling of anxiety.

Staying present.

If you're having troublesome thoughts,

See if you can separate yourself from them,

Even if it's only slightly.

Imagine yourself taking a big step back from the thoughts in your mind,

So that now you can watch them as they come and go.

If you become entwined in a thought,

Then separate yourself as soon as you can and then let the thought drift away.

Now taking another deep breath and observing your sensations of anxiety or panic within your body.

Scanning your body from head to toe and identifying where in your body you feel this anxiety.

Imagine that you can peer inside of your body and see that feeling of anxiety and get a sense of what it would look like.

Spending a few moments taking in as much detail as you can about how this anxiety appears.

Observing this feeling curiously,

As if you're trying to learn everything you can from it.

Noticing its color,

Texture and shape.

Noticing its density and imagining what it might be made from.

Breathing deeply and now using your mind to trace a line around the edge of this feeling.

Noticing whether the edge is hard,

Soft,

Sharp or fluid.

Just tracing it without judgement.

Accepting this feeling within your body,

Allowing it to be there.

Noticing if you have any strong urges to fight with your anxiety and gently saying to yourself,

Right now in this moment I feel anxiety and I allow it to be present.

You don't need to like it,

You simply need to drop the struggle with it and allow it to be there.

You might even say to yourself,

I don't like this anxiety but I accept it.

I don't want this anxiety but I allow it to exist without the need to fight with it.

Ensuring that you're standing back from your thoughts as they travel through your mind.

Reminding yourself,

This is just a thought.

I am having this thought right now.

I can choose to send this thought away and focus on my breath and my body instead.

You may have thoughts that are repeating over and over in your mind.

Stand back and watch these thoughts from your state of pure awareness.

Seeing them for what they truly are.

Just pictures and words that your mind is creating on repeat.

Keep sending them away,

Allowing them to come and to go without force.

Taking some deep breaths now.

And see if you can visualize your breath as it comes into your body.

And then flows around the feeling of anxiety within you.

Bringing that breath in deep.

Seeing it gently moving around the outside of your anxiety before you exhale.

Bringing your breath in,

Around your anxiety and then out.

Your aim isn't to try and reduce your feeling but just to use your breath to make space around it.

Imagine that your breath has a color or a light to it.

And with every breath that you draw in,

You just make a little bit more room around this feeling.

Making space for it to exist within you.

You may notice that the expansion continues outside of your body as you create more and more room for the feeling to exist.

Allowing your thoughts to arise and float away.

Using your breath to make space for your anxiety.

Continue breathing around your feeling.

Be sure to consciously relax any points of tightness in your body.

Your jaw,

Your shoulders,

Your tummy,

Your face.

On your next out breath just let them all go loose.

Anxiety may still be present and that's okay.

Unhelpful thoughts may also still be there and it's important not to fight with them.

By peacefully accepting what is happening in your mind and body,

You release the fear of it.

Now it's time to offer yourself some love and compassion.

It might help to imagine the compassion you would feel for a person that you care deeply about if they were experiencing this anxiety.

Place your hand onto your heart and tap into that compassion that you have for the people in your life.

Breathing in and feel that love and understanding within you grow and open up.

Accessing that warmth and tenderness in your heart and see if you can direct it towards the discomfort in your body.

You can place your hands on the area you feel the anxiety most and visualize compassion and healing radiating from them.

Or you can simply visualize the feeling of love traveling from your heart to your anxiety.

Offering yourself the same love and compassion that you would freely give to others.

Once again not trying to reduce or get rid of your anxiety,

Just allowing it to exist,

Sending it all the kindness within you.

This is the opposite of struggling.

Breathing deeply once more.

Now seeing if you are able to visualize your entire body being supported by loving arms.

As if they are cradling a small child but you see yourself tucked into these big nurturing arms.

Holding you,

Supporting you,

Understanding you and loving you.

If your thoughts are still problematic taking another big step back from them.

Separating yourself from them as much as you can.

And every time you feel yourself being pulled into a thought,

Seeing a pair of scissors coming along and snipping it away from you.

Allowing you to detach fully and let the thought drift away.

Just focusing your attention on your breath.

If you like also noticing other sensations within your body.

Where it comes into contact with the surface underneath you.

Where your skin is the warmest and where your skin is the coolest.

And the feeling of any clothing against your skin.

Continuing to send love and compassion to yourself.

Thinking of what you might say to someone you care for deeply if they were experiencing this anxiety.

Saying these words to yourself.

Saying that you understand.

That you care.

That you are there to offer love and support.

Feeling your weight entirely supported by those big strong arms wrapped around you.

Just relaxing into them.

Your anxiety may still be there.

And just recognizing that you are capable of caring for yourself despite your anxiety.

And that you are capable of experiencing the present moment despite your anxiety.

If you're feeling tired and it's a good time for you to go to sleep then close your eyes.

Continue to focus on your breath and allow yourself to relax fully.

Feeling loved,

Supported,

Drifting off to sleep.

Train your body position lot more deeply.

And expect to feel them well.

You You You You

Reviews

Loved this meditation! The music, crickets, and your voice and guidance were all so relaxing. Thank you so much, Naomi. 🙏🏻💚

Self compassion is so hard for me and I feel safe there with you

I loved the scissors cutting away the thoughts!! Amazing technique will definitely be coming back to this one 🌸🦋🍋🪩

This worked so well for me, like magic. Allowing and accepting the anxiety helped me to release it. Thank you 🙏

Skilfully guided, thank you. Feeling more compassionate now towards my anxiety.

By far one of the best meditations. I’m learning how to use ACT both professionally & personally & this is perfect. Thank you!!!!

Very good. Helped me to relax, give myself some compassion and get to a better place of being able to handle the anxiety I was feeling at the time. I recommend it.
Thank you, Naomi 🙂🙏❤️

I’m glad I listened to this one before bed.. this was very effective! I also enjoyed the background music.. thank you! :)

This is a wonderful resource. It helped calm me during a cptsd flashback. Thank you so much!

This was a huge lifesaver tonight! Thanks!

Excellent

Very helpful, thanks very much:)

Really nice. I like the idea of making space for my anxiety rather than trying to force it away. Thank you🙏🏻

I love the rhythmic sound of crickets in the distant background of this piece. They highjack my brain and give me something to pin my anxiety to as I try to distance myself from it. This is a very thoughtful meditation with a number of various tools, which I really appreciate. Namaste 🙏🏻

Lovely voice. Nice meditation. I feel its a bit rushed at times and could do with more breaks just to let you take it all in. I would love another one of these though maybe at a slower pace ... but I am not expert so dont take me too seriously ... lovely voice ... thank you 🙏🏻

truly helpful when I was feeling rattled and anxious. thank you.

Really enjoyed this it could be used to sleep or to just move through anxiety with self compassion. Good background music too.

Needed that this morning. Thank you for sharing!

Thank you so much for this mediation! It was a Godsend for me today & helped relieve my symptoms immensely. I will be bookmarking. 💛🙏🏻✨

Beautiful meditation and very helpful, thank you!