Find a comfortable seated position,
Either on the floor or in a chair.
Allow your body to relax and your breath to deepen.
Whenever you're ready,
Gently close your eyes.
Take a few moments to settle into stillness.
Feel the support of the chair or floor beneath you.
Notice the gentle rise and fall of your chest and belly as you breathe.
Soften any tension in your body as you exhale.
Bring your awareness to your mind.
Without judgment,
Notice whatever thoughts and feelings are present.
Anxiety,
Frustration,
Joy,
Whatever arises,
Simply acknowledge it.
See your thoughts as passing clouds in the spacious sky of your mind.
Now begin focusing your attention on your breath.
Feel the gentle inflow and outflow of air through your nostrils.
Pay attention to the changing sensations in your abdomen as you breathe in and out.
Follow the rhythm of just one breath at a time.
When your mind wanders from the breath,
As it inevitably will,
Gently guide your attention back without self-criticism.
Use the breath as an anchor,
Returning to it again and again.
Now for a minute,
Follow along a story.
Imagine you are a baby elephant living in the wild.
You spend your days playing and exploring freely with your herd.
You feel safe,
Loved,
And confident in yourself and your surroundings.
One day,
Humans capture you and take you away from all that you know.
They chain your leg to a post dug deep in the ground.
Day after day,
You strain against the chain,
Trying to break free,
But you just can't.
As time passes,
You grow bigger and bigger,
But at the same time,
You try less and less to escape.
You begin to believe the chain and post are impossible to break.
You start to doubt your strength,
Even though you are now stronger than ever before.
You could easily break the chain,
But since you focus on what you were capable of yesterday,
You don't.
We all carry some chains that are holding us down.
It might be something you were told long ago that you now carry with you,
Or a story you tell yourself about who you are.
Maybe you're saying to yourself,
I'll never be successful,
Or I'm just not smart enough,
Or bad things always happen to me.
Whatever it is,
Know that it's just a story you are telling yourself,
Like an elephant convincing themselves that the chain is too strong to be broken.
Once you realize this,
Then you have the power to break free.
As you breathe deeply,
Visualize a chain that is attached to your leg,
Falling away,
Linked by link.
With each breath,
Silently say to yourself,
My past mistakes do not define me.
I am capable of learning anything.
I am open to growth and change.
Each time you breathe in,
Repeat to yourself,
I am open to growth and change.
As you exhale,
Imagine yourself growing stronger and stronger,
Capable of breaking even the heaviest of chains.
Take a deep breath in,
Embracing these affirmations.
As you exhale,
Feel a sense of commitment to these new beliefs.
Silently begin to bring your awareness back to the room.
Wiggle your fingers and toes,
Stretch if you need to,
And when you're ready,
Open your eyes,
Returning to the world with a renewed sense of growth and possibility.
