Welcome.
This meditation tonight is simply for relaxation.
And before we jump in,
Just know that this is your space.
It's curated specifically for you,
Nurse.
This is your time where there's no patients,
No call bells,
No answering to doctors,
No one asking you for anything,
At least the next few minutes or so.
For this meditation,
It's beginner-friendly.
And even if it wasn't,
It's important to know,
At least I want to share with you,
And that you don't have to do this perfectly.
We're not here to clear the mind or stop our thoughts.
And so if your mind is running through the practice,
Maybe thinking about work or things that you still have to do,
Just know that that's normal.
The moment you notice,
Just simply come back to your breath,
To the sound of my voice,
To the present moment.
All we're doing here is simply giving us a brief moment where we can slow things down a bit,
Take a few deep,
Intentional breaths,
Check in with the body,
And put down some of the stress that we've been carrying.
Even if it's just for now.
So take what you need from this.
Just know that you deserve this.
You've been giving so much of yourself to your job,
To your family,
To your responsibilities.
You deserve this moment,
This space.
You deserve to be here.
You deserve to relax.
So at this point,
Hopefully you're in a space where you feel comfortable,
Where there's minimal distractions.
You're not driving.
You're not operating any heavy machines.
Just throwing that in there,
Because if you are,
Please do not participate in this practice.
Please only do so if you are safe to do so.
Yeah,
So you can sit down for this practice.
You can lay down.
You can sit down in a chair.
You can sit down on the floor,
Crisscross,
Applesauce.
You can sit down in your car,
As long as you're parked.
Somewhere where you feel safe.
And just getting yourself into a position that feels comfortable for you.
So you can be sitting,
You could be leaning back,
Or standing,
As I mentioned.
It all counts.
And then just let your hands rest by your side,
Or on your lap,
On your thighs.
And then soften your gaze,
Maybe looking downward,
Not really staring at anything,
Just listening,
Participating.
Or you can close your eyes if that feels good for you.
And then taking a slow breath in through your nose.
And then letting it out your nose,
Breathing out.
In this moment,
You're not charting.
You're not answering to doctors,
Orders,
Call bells.
You're not waiting for the next admission,
No.
For the next few minutes or so,
You're away from all of that noise.
And you're simply going to be here,
Giving yourself permission to be here,
Now.
Breathing in,
And breathing out.
And as you continue to breathe in and out,
See if you can start noticing your body,
Like you would notice your patient's body during an assessment.
But this time,
The focus is on you.
And so bringing your attention down to your feet,
Just noticing that you have feet.
The feet that allow you to walk through your shifts,
To get your job done,
To care for your patients.
And breathing down into your feet,
Breathing out any tension,
Any tightness,
Any feelings that feel dull or painful.
Relaxing your feet.
And bringing awareness to your legs,
Breathing life into your legs.
Breathing out any tension,
Any tightness.
Relaxing your legs.
And bringing your awareness up to your lower back.
And again,
Sending a breath down to your lower back.
Breathing out any pain or discomfort.
And if you notice pain or discomfort,
And and it's still there,
Not gone,
Not going anywhere,
This is a reminder for you that it's okay.
You don't necessarily need to judge the pain or the discomfort.
For this practice,
We're simply noticing what's here.
And giving ourselves grace,
Permission,
For whatever is here to be here.
And just as we don't judge our patients and what they're going through,
We can offer ourselves that same type of respect.
And then continuing up the body,
Noticing your shoulders,
The area where we rest our stethoscopes.
It's also the area where we hold much of our stress.
And so breathing into your shoulders,
And as you do,
Lift your shoulders up as if you're shrugging.
So breathing into your shoulders,
Lifting your shoulders up.
And on the breath out,
Relaxing your shoulders.
Letting your shoulders drop just a little.
And scanning your jaw,
Loosening your jaw.
Relaxing your face.
Just noticing your entire body.
Noticing if anything feels tight or tense.
And noticing,
Breathing,
Inviting,
Calm,
Ease,
Relaxation.
Remembering that there's nothing to fix here.
Just simply charting awareness.
And then for a moment,
Bring to your mind everything that you've picked up in your last shift.
This week,
This past month,
This past year.
Perhaps the emotions of your patients.
The conversations you've had with family members,
Providers,
Your team.
Bring to mind the stress,
Perhaps,
That comes from being short-staffed,
Not having enough resources.
Perhaps bring to mind that one moment,
Maybe,
That won't leave your mind.
And all we're doing here is simply taking into account all that we go through as nurses.
And now for a moment,
Imagine taking all of that and setting it down to the side.
Not forever,
Just for now.
Breathing in,
Pushing all of that away further and further with each out breath.
Because you do not have to carry all the weight.
You don't have to carry all the experiences,
Every outcome,
Every feeling,
All at once.
It's okay to let it go.
One breath at a time.
And now,
See if you can shift your awareness inward beyond the role of a nurse,
Beyond the title,
Beyond being the nurse that everyone depends on.
When you strip all of that away,
There you are,
The human,
The human with capacity,
The human with heart,
The human with strength and resilience.
The human who cares deeply,
The human who keeps showing up even when things feel hard.
That's you.
Giving yourself a moment here to be with you.
And again,
If any thoughts come up,
If you notice yourself getting distracted,
It's okay.
You're not doing anything wrong.
It's what the mind does.
Thoughts come and thoughts go.
The moment you notice that you're in your head,
The very moment you notice,
You can simply bring your awareness back to this moment,
Back to your breath,
Back to my voice,
Back,
Breathing in and breathing out.
And now,
Seeing if you can ask yourself,
How do I want to show up for the rest of this day?
Not to be perfect,
Not to be a superhero.
How do you,
The human,
How do you want to show up today?
And seeing if a word comes up for you or a phrase,
Present,
Protected,
Grounded,
Whatever it is,
Letting that be enough.
And now,
Bringing awareness back to your breath,
Noticing as you breathe in through your nose,
Noticing as you breathe out,
Starting to feel your body again,
The contact of your body to the surface that you're in.
Sitting on or laying on,
Bringing your awareness back to the room that you're in,
The space that you're in.
Maybe you can even start to wiggle your fingers,
Wiggle your toes.
If your eyes were closed,
At this moment,
You can now begin to open your eyes.
Okay.
Thank you so much for meditating with me.
Thank you,
Nurse.
Have a beautiful rest of your day.
