Shifting Anxiety To Peace

Today we will talk about a very familiar subject nowadays: anxiety.

Through this beautiful meditation, we will see that the key to leaving anxiety behind is to connect with our emotions and our being, to find in gratitude the pillar of that shift in the way we see life.

As Cicero said: "Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues but the parent of all the others".

Photo: dmonje

Transcript

So let's see how we can relax and not take life so seriously.

And if we do and we feel anxious,

How we can come back to balance.

Okay,

So we can always start with some deep breathing.

Connect inward.

Let the breath come in and become aware of the breathing.

How it enters,

Where it goes.

Pay attention if there is any resistance in the body for the breath to come free.

And when you breathe,

Try to breathe with the attitude that you are blessed,

Very blessed to be here with like-minded people,

With brother and sister on the community of spiritual community.

Doing something that maybe it's the one thing we're supposed to do on this planet is to connect and to understand who we are.

So pay attention to the breath,

How it comes in,

How it goes out.

And we do it with gratitude,

We're feeling blessed to be able to be here together and to breathe.

And we try to feel that the quality of the air is divine.

We try to feel that when we breathe,

It's like a nectar of the gods.

And the breath carries us with it so much bounty,

So much wellness that is discharged in our body and gives us vitality.

Allow this vitality that comes with the breath to spread everywhere to each and every part of your body,

Cell molecule,

Atom,

To your toes,

To your fingers,

To your hair,

Everywhere.

And when we exhale,

We exhale with gratitude.

Only giving gratitude already is a major shift from being anxious to being peaceful.

So the first thing when we feel diseased,

Uncomfortable,

Anxious is to acknowledge.

That's how I feel.

I don't feel good.

I feel anxious.

And then the next thing is,

Okay,

I feel anxious and I know I don't necessarily have to feel like this and I can change it.

And there's different tools I can go about and utilize to feel much better.

So just this acknowledgement and knowing that I can do something about it is already 50% of the transformation.

Because normally when we are anxious,

The reason we are anxious is because we're completely identifying with a story that our mind tells us and we're completely going deep into it and we're losing completely the space between me,

The truth of who I am,

Which is pure infinite being,

And the story that life presents through the mind.

And we get completely entrenched and inside it completely.

So when we're practicing tonight,

Let's first clarify what is space.

Acknowledge space.

So when we are out of space,

Meaning the mind is completely overwhelmed,

We know where we should come back to.

So ask yourself right now,

Do you have space within you?

Now space is kind of not clear.

What is space?

But if I need to answer this question,

For me space is very similar to happiness,

To joy,

To love,

To a sense of space in my heart,

To lightness,

Physically I feel the breath has a lot of space to move in and out.

So for this,

All those sensations,

Some of them represent space.

And the contrary is tension,

Anxiety,

No space like I cannot breathe well,

My mind is crazy busy,

All that is no space.

So just check for yourself how much space you are feeling within you.

And then the other aspect of space is between the observer and the observed.

So the awareness that gets completely hooked into thoughts and anxieties.

Right now we use it to observe,

Even to observe thoughts,

To observe space,

To observe breath,

Whatever.

But the awareness is the trickier.

As much as our mind is more in the awareness and not identifying with what it is aware of,

We are safe,

We are good.

So let's just take a minute to increase space.

And we are increasing space by observing what's happening,

But not entangling with what we see.

Okay?

So when we feel anxious,

Normally there is no space at all.

And when we start to work with anxiety,

We need to apply wisdom,

And like I mentioned earlier,

I know I can feel better.

I don't necessarily have to feel anxious right now,

So I'm starting to do something about it right now.

This is already 50% of the healing.

Second step is being aware of what's happening.

I'm aware that my mind is racing.

I'm aware that I feel emotional.

I'm aware that the breath is not going well within,

And maybe I have also physical symptoms.

Okay?

So,

Number one,

We are acknowledging.

Number two,

We start to tell ourselves what's happening.

That's putting yourself in the observer,

Starting to create distance.

What's happening within me?

And as much as you are more aware of symptoms,

You are creating more space.

So for example,

If you feel anxious and you pay attention to your breathing,

And you feel that the breath is very short and shallow,

You just pay attention to that,

And it will start to harmonize.

If you feel emotional,

Sad,

Fearful,

Angry or anxious,

Which is also a form of emotion,

Just stay with the feeling.

Just observe it without getting involved in what you're seeing,

Feeling.

It will start to soften.

If you feel that your mind is moving really fast,

You can work with the breath,

And guiding the mind to be aware of the breathing process.

Like this,

Instead of being aware of the anxious thinking,

It will start to become aware of the breath,

And it will calm down and slow down.

Okay?

So slowly,

Slowly like this,

We're creating more and more space,

And the whole system and the nervous system start to calm down,

And we start to feel more comfortable.

After we're feeling more comfortable,

More spacious,

It's the time to acknowledge that we are not alone on this planet,

And we are not alone in the creation,

And in order to function in harmony and to be peaceful,

We must acknowledge our connection with all there is,

With infinity.

So for example,

We start to acknowledge the connection between infinity and the breath.

For that,

Let's widen our awareness to the whole creation,

And visualize that we're breathing from the whole creation into our body,

And exhaling back to the whole creation.

Every time we exhale,

We can use the image of infinite sun between the center of the creation,

And when we exhale,

The light which we radiate fills up the whole creation,

And makes the whole creation with a staggering light.

Remember that what you visualize is what you feel,

Is what you are.

When we're in the center of creation,

As the sun of creation,

Anxiety cannot affect us very much,

Actually cannot affect us at all.

But if we say,

No,

No,

No,

Actually I'm not the center of creation,

I'm me,

This little person,

Then the anxiety can do a lot of damage.

So give yourself the permission to acknowledge your infinity,

To create your infinity.

Inhaling from infinity,

Exhaling as infinity,

To infinity.

Beautiful.

The next step,

Or it's not the next step,

But to add,

Is to add gratitude and love.

So when we inhale,

We inhale to our heart,

With a deep gratitude,

And we exhale,

We exhale from our heart,

With a deep gratitude.

Thank you.

But stay all the time at infinity.

Love is so important to be able to feel and to connect to.

So make sure that your heart opens up,

Especially when you exhale,

You feel that love is streaming through you,

From you,

In you,

And uniting with the sense of love,

Being in the ocean of love.

Again,

Love and anxiety doesn't work together.

When you're in love,

Not with somebody,

Necessarily could be,

But not necessarily with somebody,

But in the ocean of love that your heart is open and acknowledging creation,

That is an ocean of love,

Then you're safe.

So as we continue to breathe with this awareness of the connection with infinity,

Breathe with the connection to infinite love,

Completely unconditioned.

And to go even deeper is completely to submerge your whole being in love and infinite consciousness,

Which is the same.

Yes,

So instead of I am in the center of the creation,

Breathing in and out,

Is creation am I?

It's like the drop of rain is ocean.

And you know you're getting into that state,

And you are that state,

Once you don't feel anymore a separation between your body and all there is.

You feel that you're part of the infinite energy called creation.

If you're sitting on a chair or wherever you sit,

Is also vibration.

The clothes you're wearing is also vibration.

Anything,

The house you're sitting in is vibration.

The stars,

The space,

The suns,

The galaxies,

It's all one vibration with infinite forms.

So as our body,

Energy body,

Is become more relaxed and wider,

We feel that we're synchronizing,

And we are one with all there is.

That state of unity allows us to relax completely,

Because it's a sense of complete connection with all there is,

No separation.

So now it's time for us to completely relax and feel that we are at home.

We never left this home,

But we've forgotten about it.

And this home is always here,

In the present moment.

When we surrender completely,

We're at home.

And at home,

We can be ourselves.

At home,

We can relax completely.

At home,

We feel loved,

We feel warmth.

Be at home.

Allow all the tension in your being,

Physical,

Psychological,

Emotional,

Energetical,

To soften completely.

So in complete peace,

Which is the opposite of anxiety.

Complete peace.

And then we can always feel help by acknowledging that we are a spiritual community.

A spiritual community made from spiritual brothers and sisters,

Forming the Sangha,

A spiritual community.

And we're opening our heart to each other,

To support with love,

With light.

Because it's normal that sometime we have a bad day and somebody else can be there for us.

And give us that light that we cannot see in that moment.

So let's acknowledge the unity between us that comes through opening the heart and acknowledging spiritual community.

That my breath comes from others and is given to others.

The light,

The love,

The same.

And then let's visualize that we're forming a net of light,

Of love,

Like a matrix of light,

All over planet Earth,

Uniting all humanity and all life forms.

Inanimates or inanimates.

It doesn't matter if it's a stone,

It's a flower,

It's a tree,

It's an ocean,

It's a dog,

Mosquito,

A human being.

It's all one energy with infinite forms and we're uniting to all that,

All around planet Earth,

Breathing together love and unity.

Reality is in our mind.

Only in our mind.

When our mind is quiet,

When our heart is open,

When we're acknowledging unity through light and love,

That's the best service we can give to the whole creation.

So it's our joy and our duty to be enlightened or to acknowledge our enlightened being.

Thank you so much for joining this beautiful meditation.

Have a beautiful evening,

A beautiful day,

A beautiful life.

Adiros,

Buenas noches.