Meditation For Releasing Stress

Meditation to release stress or anxiety, using water as a medium to release whatever it is that isn't serving you at this time. Please find a comfortable place to lie down for this 20-minute meditation.

Transcript

This is a meditation for releasing stress.

So please find yourself in a comfortable reclined position with this lying on the ground,

Sofa,

Bed,

Wherever you feel comfortable.

And just starting to notice your breath.

So as you inhale,

That awareness of that breath coming in through the nose and then passing back out through the nose.

Maybe you're hearing the sounds around you,

Including my voice and whatever else you can hear in your surroundings.

But still that awareness of the breath,

Just feeling that breath as it comes in through the nose,

Maybe inflating belly,

Inflating ribs.

And then that contraction of your chest and belly.

Now bringing a visualization of your favorite place that is near the water,

And ideally still water.

It doesn't matter where it is or even just imagining a place that you feel calm,

Comfortable,

Safe.

And bringing a picture into your mind of you lying beside the edge of that water,

The ground underneath supporting you.

The sun overhead,

Nice and warm,

Maybe just a very slight breeze.

And imagining the sound of the water gently lapping against the shore.

Noticing your back body,

Your backs of the feet,

The calves,

The glutes,

The middle back,

Shoulders,

Backs of arms,

And back of head,

All connected to the earth.

And then just starting to feel a slight coolness as the water starts to come up around the feet.

That level of the water just starting to hover the bottom of the feet or the back of the heels away from the shore.

And being suspended by the water,

Finding some buoyancy to the water.

A slight coolness at the back of the heels and the warmth from the sun on your front body.

And then starting to feel that water just rising slightly higher.

So now the back of the calves and the feet suspended in the water,

But the rest of the body still connected to the earth.

Still that feeling of being nice and warm and safe.

That water level now just rising a little further.

So starting to support the buttocks now.

The lower half of the body suspended buoyantly in the water.

The arms,

Shoulders,

Back of head still connected to the earth underneath you.

That water level now increasing,

Finding that suspension of the arms,

The back of the hands,

The forearms,

The elbows floating off into the water.

Just now the tops of the shoulders and the back of the head still connected to the earth,

Otherwise that water extremely buoyant,

Floating.

Just that gentle sensation of the waves,

Not even waves,

Just undulations in the water,

Caressing the lower part of the body.

That water level continuing to increase now,

Finding now just the back of the head still connected to the earth.

That slight coolness at the back body with that water keeping you afloat and the warmth of the sun overhead.

And finally now the water level increasing so that you are now floating safely and gently moving just slightly away from shore.

That slight breeze just taking you a few meters out.

But again that water supporting the back body,

Keeping you buoyant maybe,

Feeling that water about halfway up the sides of the body.

That coolness at the sides and back,

The warmth from the sun at the front body.

That light breeze just gently easing you a little further away from shore.

As you start to bring to mind whatever it is that is causing you the most stress at this point in time,

Whatever it is that is holding you back is creating anxiety,

Is creating something that is not serving you at this point in time.

And picturing whatever that thing is that is holding you back,

That is weighing you down as a weight that is congealing at the back body.

As a heaviness that's finding you just sinking slightly deeper into the water.

And then let that heaviness go.

Let whatever is holding you back,

Let whatever is stressing you out,

Be a weight that is dropping away from the back body and into the depths of the water underneath you.

Finding now a lightness,

An extra level of buoyancy into your body.

Still that slight coolness of the water underneath you,

That warmth of the sun above you,

That gentle breeze,

Still completely safe,

Completely comfortable,

Being supported with where you are now.

And then again,

Bringing something to mind that is holding you back,

That isn't serving you at this time in this moment.

It may be the same thing,

Maybe you're still feeling that heaviness in the body,

Maybe it's the same thing as what you let go of before,

Maybe there's still a little more there,

Or maybe it's the second most stressful thing that's happening in your time at this particular moment.

And again,

Finding that as a heaviness at the back body,

Finding that stress,

That anxiety,

That thing that's holding you back,

That is weighing you down,

That is finding you sinking just a little deeper into the water,

Still buoyant,

Still safe.

As we let that weight go,

Allowing it to sink down to the depths,

Allowing that lightness to come into the body,

And again,

Finding that extra level of buoyancy,

That extra level of lightness that exists in your body.

And then one more time,

Bringing to mind that thing that is the next most difficult thing that you're working with,

The next most cause of stress for you,

Or again,

Revisiting something that you might have let go of previously that might still be lingering there.

Funny again,

Whatever that thing is,

As a heaviness at the back body,

As a weight that is bringing you just a little deeper into the water,

Feeling that water coming up slightly around the side body,

Still supported,

Still safe,

But just feeling a little weighed down.

And then again,

Let that go.

Allow it to sink away from the back body.

That thing that no longer serves you,

That is no longer something that is holding you back,

Is now gone,

Is now released.

And again,

Feeling that lightness,

Almost a sense of levitating above the water,

The body now so light.

As we find that breeze coming along and just gently starting to ease us back towards shore.

As the back of our head softly comes to reconnect with the shore,

Finding the rest of the body from the shoulders all the way down to the feet,

Still supported by the water,

Still completely buoyant,

But just the back of the head now reconnected to the earth.

And then finding that water level starting to recede,

The back of the head still connected and now the shoulders connected to the earth,

The rest of the body still supported by the water.

As we find that water continuing to recede to let more of the body reconnect down to the earth,

Now finding the backs of the arms,

Even the backs of the hands connected to the earth underneath you,

Just the lower body now still supported by the water,

The upper body completely supported by the earth,

Maybe feeling or visualising that warmth of the earth underneath you,

Underneath that upper body and still that coolness of the water and the lower body.

As the water continues to draw away,

The body continues to reconnect to the earth,

Finding the buttocks now reconnected,

Just the legs still floating.

As we now find the back of the legs,

The calves connected to the earth,

Just the heels still floating away from the earth.

And then finally reconnecting the entire body back to the earth,

The heels now connected to whatever is supporting you,

Noticing that warmth of the back body,

Noticing the warmth of the front body as it's gently warmed by the sun overhead.

And checking in on your body,

Noticing from the feet to the back of the legs to the buttocks to the belly to the middle back,

Neck and shoulders,

Arms,

Back of head,

Front of face,

Finding a softness,

Finding a lightness,

Finding an easefulness.

And again,

Draw attention back to the breath.

So feeling that breath as it comes in through the nose and passes back out through the nose.

Feeling that breath as it expands belly,

Expands ribs and then contracts ribs and belly.

Starting to take a slightly deeper breath now as we take that deep breath in through the nose and then let it go through the mouth,

Maybe even a little sigh.

Bringing gentle movements back into fingers and toes as we circle wrists and ankles.

And then reaching hands overhead,

Nice big stretch,

Even pointing toes to the front of your space.

As you exhale,

Roll your way across onto one side.

One more time,

Take a deep breath in through the nose and let it go through the mouth.

Feeling free to stay here in your side position,

Your fetal position maybe.

Moving on with your day as you choose.

See if you can bring that sense of lightness,

That sense of easefulness,

Of the absence of whatever was holding you back.

Maybe it's just little moments,

Maybe it's extended periods.

Maybe finding if you do feel weighed down,

Just allowing that weight to come to the back body,

To come to the feet and then to just sink away from you,

Being absorbed by whatever is underneath you.

As we find lightness and move on with our days,

Namaste.