Welcome to this session to help you through high amounts of stress.
When we are presented with situations in our life that are very high stress,
It seems impossible to get past the stressful feelings to see clearly.
The best way to tackle high stress situations is through full and conscious breathing.
When we are not present in our bodies,
Our thoughts can carry us away,
Making stressful situations almost debilitating.
Luckily,
When we have awareness to focus our breath and body on,
We can bring ourselves back into the present moment,
Bringing us clarity.
So let's honor our breath now and how it brings us in the present moment by taking five significant and purposeful breaths.
Close your eyes,
Sitting upright in your chair or lying flat.
Exhale all your breath out and take your first fully deep inhale,
Expanding your belly and your chest as much as you can.
And when you get to the top of the inhale,
Exhale slowly,
Feeling a wave of relaxation wash over you.
Inhale deeply,
Filling your entire breathing system with fresh oxygen.
And now exhale,
Again allowing the wave of relaxation to gently sweep over you.
Breathing deeply for the third time so that you're brimming with air,
Soaking in the oxygen.
And exhale slowly.
Your body relaxes in different areas without any effort.
Breathing deeply for the fourth time,
Feeling these breaths purifying your entire body.
And as you exhale,
Just noticing how you're feeling.
This is our fifth breath,
Breathing deeply,
Chest expanding,
Stomach rising,
A beautiful breath coming in,
Feeling invigorated from oxygen.
And now exhaling completely,
Allowing deep relaxation to wash over you.
Allow your breath to come to its natural rhythm and take a moment to notice how you feel at this very moment.
You now have an abundance of oxygen.
This is how we are created to feel.
Breathing deeply and fully is an expression of self-compassion.
Let the flow of your breath become natural and notice how abundance feels.
Now visualize yourself standing in a big field and no one else is around.
Everything is calm and peaceful.
You're surrounded by nature.
Sit down in this meadow and look around,
Noticing the beauty all around you.
You are fully relaxed.
Breathing,
Settling.
Starting in the distance,
You see dark clouds closing in as the sky grows a little darker.
You see that a small storm is forming and you feel some raindrops falling down.
Imagine that this storm is your stress.
It could be a mild stress with just some rain and a little wind.
Or it could be very high stress with extremely strong winds and a very heavy rain pouring down.
In this visualization,
We're going to face a very strong and powerful storm to make ourselves stronger within.
So as you feel the storm getting even stronger and the wind is blowing harder and harder,
You sit there in the meadow,
Completely unfazed by it.
The storm cannot hurt you here.
You have a choice to react to this storm with fear or with love and compassion,
Knowing that this storm is harmless in this visualization that you're creating.
This is our reaction to fear,
Worry,
And even high demands.
Whether the fear is real or not,
We have to learn the proper reaction to all these things.
If your mind has wandered,
Come back to the breath.
Sometimes you can't help it and the stress will take over in a matter of seconds and we must handle it properly or it will handle us.
Just like sitting through the storm in the field,
Stress cannot harm you if you know that it simply passes you by.
What matters is your own reaction to the events around you.
Really embrace this stress now,
The storm that you're visualizing,
And let it fully exist without fighting it.
You are safe here.
You will see this storm of stress in front of you.
It looks very dark and as the storm gets thicker,
Rain comes down in a fury.
You decide to get up from where you're sitting and you slowly start walking towards it without fear nor worry,
Just pure confidence that you are safe and in control.
You get closer and closer as the storm draws near and the wind blows with tremendous speed.
The winds and rains have no effect on you.
It is really easy for you to step forward and only your clothes are flopping around.
As you look forward,
You see the eye of the storm and around that eye,
The winds and the rain are extremely powerful and strong.
But you have zero worry as you step inside of the eye.
You are standing now inside this center and everything is calm and peaceful here.
Take a deep full breath,
Knowing you're safe,
Allowing your body to soften and relax,
Exhaling all the breath out,
Feeling safe and secure.
As you breathe naturally now,
You look around from within the eye of the storm and can see all the chaos around you.
But inside here,
It's calm and cozy.
This is your space,
Your safe spot.
And so,
When the stress has fully taken over you,
You have a choice to let it blow over without a fight,
Just sitting right in the middle of it,
Realizing that it cannot hurt you here.
Witness your body as the center and any stress is just a storm surrounding you that comes and goes.
You are in control and can always come back to your safe space.
And now notice the storm is losing its power.
Dying down,
Now slowly,
The rain is easing up and now it's only drizzling.
You see the clouds drifting away as the sky gets brighter.
The sunlight peaks through the clouds as they pass by,
Then eventually bursts out with a great intensity,
Shining a beautiful light all around you.
You see birds coming out and start singing.
You see butterflies and bees buzzing around the flowers that are now blossoming after the heavy rains.
Everything is beautiful now.
This moment represents you being in a beautiful state of mind where stress had no control over you as it passed you by.
Now we're going to take three nice deep breaths in,
Slowly bringing ourselves back to the present moment.
Exhaling all your breath out,
Inhale deeply a nice full breath of fresh energy,
Letting it all go,
Releasing it.
Take a second breath,
Taking in all that you learned here today and releasing it and letting go completely.
One more time,
Inhale deeply,
Sipping in the oxygen,
Letting your chest and stomach rise.
And with this final exhale,
Sigh it out,
Make some noise,
Let it go.
Allow your breath to come naturally now.
Open up your eyes,
Wiggle your fingers and your toes,
Feel confident that you have a tool to help you weather any storm.
And thank you so much for allowing me the precious gift of your time.
Until next time.
