Welcome to this SOS meditation exercise for your anxiety.
Be thankful that your mind and body have brought you to this exercise today.
Hopefully this exercise can break the chains of anxiety that we are often stuck in.
And most importantly,
Always remember to spend some time in taking care of yourself.
Before we begin,
Find a position that you are comfortable in.
Listen to how your body is feeling today.
You may be seated on a chair or lying down on the floor.
It's completely fine.
And if you are in a seated position,
Be sure to keep your back straight and shoulders relaxed throughout the exercise.
Now gently close your eyes.
Feel the contact with the surface beneath you,
The sense of grounded and supported by the gravity.
Let's begin our practice by taking some deep breaths to reconnect with your own body.
A deep inhale.
And exhale.
One more time inhale through your nose.
And slowly exhale through your mouth.
On the inhale,
Feel that you are breathing in joy and peace.
On the exhale,
Breathing out all the stress and anxious thoughts in your body.
When you inhale,
Lift up the chest a little bit more.
And when you exhale,
Drop the shoulders down and relax the body even more.
Now return to your normal breathing and continue to feel your breaths.
Throughout this practice,
We will use our breaths as an anchor to bring our awareness back to the present moment.
Our mind often shifts away during our practice,
So as soon as we realize it happening,
Bring it back to your breaths and continue to follow my instructions.
It is often that as a natural response to stress and anxiety,
We tend to play back on the events that have caused these emotions as a way to improve ourselves.
So today,
We will just be the observer for your emotions and thoughts.
Allow any thoughts to come up during this exercise and we will just observe and watch as they come and go without any judgment or exploring into it.
Now bring the awareness to your body as your mind and body are all connected.
Any emotions that you might be experiencing are shown in your body as well.
Check your head and see if your brows are cringed.
Relax your eyes,
Your jaw,
Drop your shoulders down and notice if there is any other tightness in the body.
Just simply noticing any tightness in the body or anything that comes up in your mind can bring softness and peace to your body.
Move your awareness onto the sensation of the body during each breath.
Just simply noticing.
It could be the feeling of the temperature of the air of each breath,
The coldness of the air on the inhale and the warmth of the air on the exhale.
Or it could be some subtle movements in your upper body,
The feeling of your chest expanding and rising on each inhale and falling on each exhale.
Now we will try to prolong and hold our breaths for a bit longer than usual.
On each inhale,
I will count to 4 and on the exhale,
I will count to 6.
Let's begin.
Inhale 2,
3,
4.
Exhale 2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
Inhale 2,
3,
4.
Exhale 2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
Inhale 2,
3,
4.
Exhale 2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
Inhale 2,
3,
4.
Exhale 2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
Inhale 2,
3,
4.
Exhale 2,
3,
4,
5,
6.
Well done.
Return to your normal breathing.
Notice if anything comes up in your mind,
Just observe and let them go.
It's towards the end of the exercise.
Bring the attention to the whole of your body.
Check in one more time to see how your body is feeling right now after the practice.
Do you feel any lighter?
Slowly bring the awareness back to this present moment.
Feel the temperature in your room or is there any sound in the surrounding?
Take one last deep breath to finish this practice.
Inhale through your nose.
And then sigh it all out on the exhale.
When you are ready,
Gently open your eyes.
Whenever you feel that you are stuck in a chain of anxious thoughts,
You may come back to this exercise.
Exhale 2,
3,
4.
Exhale 2,
3,
4.
