Time-Out For The Inner Critic

It's possible to turn to your inner critic and say - "Thank you, but I got this!". Combat the stress caused by your inner critic by slowing down your breathing and lengthening your exhales. Do this short breathing exercise often to soothe your nervous system and down-regulate the stress response.

Transcript

Time out for the inner critic,

A short meditation.

Combat the stress caused by your inner critic by slowing down your breathing and lengthening your exhales.

Do this short breathing exercise often to soothe your nervous system and downregulate the stress response.

You might find that in a few short minutes you can connect with a little bit more calm and then it might be possible to turn back to your inner critic and say thank you but I got this.

So allowing your body to settle in the chair.

Feeling the weight of the body where the body contacts the chair along the back,

Along the seat,

Along the back of your thighs and then feeling your feet firmly evenly on the ground.

If you wish you can close your eyes or have them looking downwards slightly.

Bringing the attention to rest on the sensations of breathing.

You might feel the air moving in and out of your nose,

Your throat or maybe sensing the rising and falling of your chest or your tummy.

You might find it helpful to place a hand on your tummy connecting with that sense of rising and falling with each in and out breath.

Taking your time,

Breathing naturally,

Allowing the breath to be just as it is.

Seeing if you might release any tension around the area of the face,

The shoulders,

Chest or the tummy.

Allowing the breath to perhaps slow down.

And if you found yourself in a comfortable rhythm of breathing,

You might experiment with slowing the breath a little bit or lengthening your exhales.

Not forcing the breath to be any way other than it is but where it feels comfortable allowing,

Relaxing,

Slowing it down.

Breathing in and as you breathe out relaxing.

Breathing in and again breathing out letting go slowing down releasing.

Then one more time breathing in softening the chest and belly and breathing out letting it go.

And when you feel ready,

Releasing the focus on the breathing.

Slowly blinking the eyes open and reconnecting with the space around you before getting ready to return to the rest of your day.

Reviews

Your voice is wonderfully calming without being too crystal healer-esque. The steady pace & gentle instruction was exactly what I needed today. I feel like I can breathe now & I feel more grounded in my body rather than 100% in my head as I was before this meditation. Thankyou!