20 Minute Relaxing Guided Meditation For Stress Relief

This is a guided practice aimed to bring you into a state of total relaxation and surrender. Whether you’ve had a busy or stressful day and are looking to unwind, or are feeling overwhelemed by the things you need to do, take these next 20 minutes to practice self-care and come back to your breath and inner essence. Enjoy.

Transcript

Hi this is Gemma from Bea Tystell and today I'll be taking you through a guided meditation aiming to bring you into a state of total relaxation and surrender.

So whether you've had a busy or stressful day and are looking to unwind or if you're feeling a bit overwhelmed with your endless to-do list,

You're feeling anxious that there's not enough time in the day to do everything that you need to do,

I invite you to take these next 15-20 minutes to practice some self-care.

Allow yourself this time and this space to come back to your breath and come back to your inner essence,

Come back to who you truly are.

So we'll start by finding a comfortable position that may be seated with the legs crossed or sitting on the heels with the knees together.

Alternatively if you feel like a seated position isn't going to work for you today feel free to lay down,

You can also take this meditation laying down or in bed,

Wherever you are.

And if you're sitting down relax the shoulders away from the ears,

Let the hands rest gently onto the knees.

And closing the eyes,

Just start to become aware of your natural breath.

Noticing how your breath feels in this moment,

Each inhale and each exhale.

And if you're feeling particularly stressed or anxious you may notice that the breath feels a bit rapid or a bit uneven.

So in the meditation today we'll work with regulating the breath,

Balancing the breath out a bit and using the breath to bring more calmness and relaxation into our minds and our bodies.

So to begin just noticing your natural breath here.

And then noticing any physical tension or stress that you feel in your body.

When we're feeling stressed or anxious sometimes we start to hold that tension and stress in our shoulders,

Our neck,

The upper body.

So if you do notice any tension around these areas with each exhale just consciously relax the muscles here.

See each exhale as a chance to let go and surrender a little bit more.

And as you start to breathe in,

Say into yourself,

Breathing in,

I welcome relaxation.

As you breathe out,

Say into yourself,

Breathing out,

I let go of stress.

Breathing in,

I welcome relaxation.

Breathing out,

I let go of stress.

And we'll begin this a few more times with each breath.

And keeping the eyes closed and keeping your awareness on your natural breath,

Start to visualize yourself in a safe,

Peaceful,

Serene environment.

That may be a certain room in your home or in the home of a family member,

Somewhere where you feel safe and at peace.

Or it may be sitting on a secluded beach,

Maybe somewhere you've been before,

Maybe somewhere you've never been,

Maybe sitting at the top of a mountain,

Feeling a sense of serenity.

Whichever environment works for you,

Imagine yourself sitting in that very spot,

This secluded spot where there's no one else around,

No distractions.

There's nothing to do there except just be.

All you need to do in this space is just sit,

Connect with your breath and just be.

Where there's no work,

No deadlines,

No to-do lists,

No responsibilities.

Just this time and space for yourself.

And feel the air coming into contact with the skin in this environment that you're in.

Whether that's the air if you're outside or the air and the warmth if you're inside.

Become aware of any sounds around you that you may hear in this peaceful environment that you've took yourself to.

Any smells in the air there.

And reach each time you exhale,

Knowing that you are at peace here,

That you are safe,

Secure and at one.

And we'll start to deepen the breath and then we'll just relax.

Lengthen the breath a little.

So releasing your current breath,

Start to inhale through the nose for two,

Three,

Four.

Exhale through the nose for two,

Three,

Four.

Inhaling two,

Exhaling two,

Three,

Four.

Continuing this rhythm of breath,

Breathing in for a count of four and then breathing out for a count of four.

And if four feels like too long,

Maybe try to breathe in for a count of three and out for a count of three instead.

Find a rhythm of breath that works for you.

Balancing each inhale with each exhale.

And as we start to consciously lengthen and deepen the breath in this way,

Sending signals to the brain that we're okay,

We're safe,

That we can relax.

The mind will start to calm and the muscles of the body will start to soften and relax.

One,

Two,

Three,

Four.

You As You continue to keep your awareness on your breath breathing in for four and breathing out for four You may notice that your awareness starts to drift to your mind thoughts start to enter the mind maybe you're thinking about Things that happen today or things that you need to do in the future If this happens,

That's fine without judging or getting irritated By this just see each fault like a cloud in the sky Allowing the fault to enter and Then allowing it to pass and to leave just like clouds in the sky they come and they go the same with the thoughts in our mind Without jumping onto the fault and Investigating it running away with it or trying to push it away It's practicing that sense of allowing Allowing and accepting Surrendering to whatever is happening right now in the present moment And then once the fault has left the mind just bring your awareness back to your breath continuing Breathing in for four And breathing out for four You You You And if this breathing in for four and breathing out for four feels okay for you This may be a good time to deepen the breath a little further So To invite a sense of relaxation into the mind into the body You can start to focus a bit more on the exhalation The inhalation is known to be the energizing Yang part of the breath and the exhalation is the the calming yin part of the breath so when we Focus more on the exhalation.

We're inviting that sense of calmness and relaxation So continuing to breathe in for a count of four just starting to deepen and lengthen the exhale So you breathe out for a count of six?

Breathing in two three four Four Breathing out two three four five six Inhaling two three four Exhaling two three four five six Six continue in that rhythm of breath inhaling for four Exhaling for six You You You And then after your next exhale Let the breath turn return back to its natural rhythm Natural inhale and natural exhale no longer lengthening or controlling the breath I'm bringing your awareness back To the present moment and your physical location wherever you're sitting or laying right now To the present moment and your physical location wherever you're sitting or laying right now So feel yourself grounding into the floor the bed the chair wherever you are And then the contact of the sit bones the legs maybe the hands resting on the knees Notice any differences any shifts in your mind from these last 20 minutes And then whenever you're ready you can gently open your eyes begin to wiggle your toes your fingers to invite some gentle movement back into the physical body reawakening yourself And take your time here to transition back into your day moving slowly and gently

Reviews

Your meditations are pure depth and serenity Gemma.

Wonderful 💕 your voice is so soothing and lovely hun. Namaste 🙏

Very nice meditation - simple yet powerful! I really appreciated the open space to really connect with my personal experience throughout 💚💜✨

Cleared head so I can calmly plan my morning. Thank you

This was very soothing to my nervous system, thank you!

Lovely voice, background music and guidance.

That was so lovely. My levels of stress and anxiety are pretty much through the roof at the moment and this meditation definitely helped me come back to my centre and to feel more grounded. Thank you. 🙏💕