Transform COVID-19 Fear

A mindfulness meditation by Alexandra Freches Duque, Integrative Clinical Psychologist, to transform the fear of the challenges brought to mankind by the Coronavirus pandemic. Building awareness of the underlying emotions, tackling them by planning, reducing the panic contagion and discovering the underlining opportunities of self-transformation, taking ownership, and self-growth.

Transcript

Hi guys,

Welcome to this mindfulness meditation to unwind coronavirus anxiety.

I'm Alexandra Duke and I'll be guiding you through this exercise in a journey of self-discovery and self-healing.

So please find a comfortable position,

You can sit down or lie down with your back straight and take a few deep breaths.

And when you feel ready,

You can close your eyes.

And as you take your first deep breath,

Create your intention for this exercise.

Create your intention for this mindfulness meditation.

What do you want to achieve?

What is your why to connect with me and to connect with yourself?

And take a few seconds to really,

Really pay attention to your intention and to focus on it,

Putting all your energy into it.

And now with your eyes closed,

Take one more deep breath and let's start this journey together.

And as you breathe in,

Start to imagine the air going into your nostrum,

Down to your lungs and from there spreading throughout your body.

This is a special air,

Almost magical.

You can even imagine that this special,

Almost magical air has a color and if it did,

What color would that be?

So breathe in this amazing,

Almost magical color there filled with oxygen,

Filled with peacefulness,

Filled with love and compassion.

And imagine it going in through your nose,

All the way down to your lungs and from there spreading to each and every cell of your body.

As this beautiful,

Amazing,

Almost magical color there spreads throughout each and every one of your cells,

You can even see how each and every cell of your body start to gain slightly that beautiful color from that amazing color there.

Just deep dive into your body,

Just be curious of what's happening inside your body.

You can even imagine a powerful white light able to scan every single inch of your inner body.

So just pay attention now to that bright white light starting to go down from the top of your head showing you and focusing on every little part of your body.

And while you do this,

Just ask yourself,

How is my body feeling?

How is this part of my body feeling?

Is there something that it needs to tell me?

Is there something that I need to be aware or know about?

Just be curious and at the same time that you scan your body from the top of your head to the tips of your toes,

Just keep breathing this amazing,

This almost magical color there and taking it to each and every cell of your body.

So as you continue to scan down your body,

Just be curious of what's going on in that particular area and ask yourself,

Is there any part of my body that feels different than the rest?

So go back to your head and deeply scan your brain,

The muscles in your skull,

Your bones,

Your face bones,

Your eyes and way,

Way down,

Going through your face muscles,

Your nerves,

Down to all the structures in your neck,

Paying close attention.

Is there any feelings that come out from that area?

Are there any words,

Images or even sounds?

And continue to scan your body all the way down to your shoulders,

Your back and chest,

Going deep inside all the muscle cells,

All the organs,

All the nerves,

Paying close attention to your spinal cords,

Moving down to your chest,

Paying close attention to your lungs,

Your heart,

All the organs of your abdomen,

Your lower back,

Your reproductive system,

Your hips,

Your thighs,

Paying close attention to all your joints,

Your wrists,

Your knees,

Your legs,

Your legs,

Your legs,

Your legs,

Your ankles and feet.

So what did you find in your body?

Is there any part of your body that feels different?

Where does the anxiety of COVID-19 lie in your body?

Which part of your body is showing you the fear,

The stress,

The anxiety or simply the worry of the unknown?

So there it is.

So now focus your attention,

Your deep attention in that specific part of your body and as you breathe in,

Take this amazing,

Almost magical color there to that part of your body and pay close attention.

What's happening?

You know that when you take this amazing,

Almost magical color there to this part of your body,

Before it heals,

It's showing you the fear,

The worry,

The anxiety.

Are there any words?

Are there any sounds?

You can even maybe have some images,

Images that sustain your fear of the unknown,

That sustain at least your worry can be your own illness,

Your loved ones,

Even death,

Financial difficulties,

World change,

Uncertainty.

Pay close attention to what's building your fears.

All those images,

Words,

Sounds,

They are building your worries,

Your anxiety,

Your stress and all of them are based on the fear of the unknown.

So pay attention to that fear because that fear is your friend.

That fear wants to keep you safe.

That fear wants to protect you,

So really take a deep,

Deep breath and show your gratitude to your fear.

And now let's transform the fear into something more useful.

So imagine now in front of you a big white board.

Take a pen and start listing your fears.

Is it illness your main concern?

Is it your own illness?

Is it your loved ones illness?

Is it the changes that are happening in the world?

Is it self-isolation or quarantine?

Is it the possibility of lack of food?

Is it the possibility of financial issues or even the reality of financial issues,

Unemployment,

Businesses shutting down?

List them all in that big white board in front of you and be very,

Very accurate.

Deep dive into your fears,

Each and every one of them and pay close attention to the words they are shouting to you.

And now next to that big white board add another one and together we will start to plan.

To prevent those fears from becoming real.

What can I do to prevent myself and my loved ones to become sick?

Which measures should I implement every single day?

Which measures should I implement every single day?

To even if I lose my job I can find an alternative way to survive.

What can I plan today for my shopping list in deep compassion for other people at the store in my town for other people in the world?

How can I plan today to prepare myself to a possible situation of lack regarding some daily products,

Essential goods?

Take a few seconds to really plan for each and every one of your fears.

And really,

Really pay attention to how your body is feeling when you do this planning.

And while you're paying that much attention learn how important planning is.

It's not about stopping the fear or ignoring the fear.

It's about listening to the fear.

Listening and planning.

Because when you plan your fears gold is done.

You paid attention,

You're listening and most importantly you're taking action.

So take a deep breath.

Hold both whiteboards and deeply store them in a part of your body that you feel is the right one to continue this ongoing tackle of your fears.

And now take a few more deep breaths.

And after clearing your mind and body of the overwhelming emotions of fear ask yourself what is the world saying right now?

Take a deep breath of this amazing almost magical color there filled with peacefulness,

Oxygen,

Love and compassion and see how it spreads again to each and every cells of your body.

And ask yourself what is the world saying?

What does the world want me to know right now?

Are there any words,

Any images coming to your mind?

Pay close attention.

And ask yourself what is the learning opportunity in all this challenging situation?

What's really the challenge here?

What can mankind learn from all of this?

But most importantly,

What can I learn?

Where do I fit in?

What piece am I in this humongous puzzle of life?

What's my role?

What can I do and learn?

How can I challenge myself to grow into the unknown?

Take a second now to remind yourself of the intention that you created for this meditation.

And add to that the question,

What is the underlying opportunity for learning and change for myself and for mankind and what's my personal quest?

What's my personal role?

And as you breathe in again this amazing,

This almost magical color there and you see it spreading to each and every one of your cells,

Pay close attention now.

How is that amazing,

Almost magical color there filled with peacefulness,

Oxygen,

Love and compassion and clear understanding?

What's that air doing in your cells?

Zoom in to one of your cells.

And as you pay close attention,

You will notice the air going inside the cell,

Pushing out everything that the cell does not need anymore,

Pushing out every single waste that that cell does not need anymore.

All the doubt,

All the stress,

All the fear,

All the carbon dioxide,

Every single waste.

And as this magical color there pushes out all the waste,

Just allow yourself to breathe out deeply all the wastes,

Expelling them from your body.

And watch this different color there filled with waste from each and every cell of your body transforming right in front of you and fading into the light of the universe.

So take a few more deep breaths,

Deeply healing and freeing your cells,

Reminding yourself of your new quest,

Of your new mindset and all the learning opportunities you can create and pay attention in this challenging situation.

You see courage is not the absence of fear.

Courage is listening to the fears.

So take a few deep breaths and pay attention to a sparkle deep deep deep inside your heart and see as you are tackling your fears,

As you are making sense out of them,

As you are planning it,

As you are reminding yourself of the learning opportunities,

See how that sparkle is expanding and expanding and expanding until it fills all your body and all your cells with hope and with meaning.

What's the meaning?

What does it say?

Does you feel the warmth from that sparkle that expands throughout your body from your heart?

Find yourself of your quest and start to come back to here and now bringing to your everyday awake life all the self-learning,

All the self-discovery you created in this journey.

Take a few more deep breaths and when you feel ready you can come back to here and now open your eyes.

And now with your eyes open find the pen and the piece of paper and write down everything you learned from this journey that we just took together.

Make the list of your fears,

Write down a copy of that planning in that whiteboard and in another sheet of paper write down the meaning you perceived in this journey.

Write down the meaning that you discovered for this journey that the world is taking and then write your personal role.

Write the answers to the question what is the learning opportunity in this challenging situation and remind yourself that courage is not the absence of fear and if you listen to your fears,

If you pay close attention to your fears,

You will realize that those fears are really your friends just trying to protect you.

So don't try to shut them down but don't allow them to become monsters.

Tackle them every single day.

And until next time don't forget to live an amazing life even in a challenging situation push yourself towards an amazing meaningful life.

Thanks for taking this journey with me.