Opening The Narrow Spaces

Because of nervous system response, the experience of anxiety often brings a narrowing quality. This meditation offers support in calming the nervous system, broadening the inner space. The listener is guided to create more spaciousness with the breath, with the body, and with thoughts. The track begins with a short talk followed by the meditation. The meditation practice begins at 4:18.

Transcript

I heard an interview with Benedictine monk,

Brother David Stendhal-Ross,

Recently,

And he said the root word of anxiety means narrowness and choking,

And I thought this really encapsulates what happens when anxiety is activated.

A sort of tunnel vision kicks in,

And really,

This is very adaptive of the nervous system when we're under extreme threat.

In those circumstances,

It really helps to filter out things and just have this laser focus on whatever the threat is and whatever the escape from the threat may be,

But in our modern lives,

When we're just dealing with day-to-day stressors,

This same system can activate,

And during these times,

When we don't need to flee or go into battle,

It's not so helpful to filter out this bigger picture awareness,

And considering the narrowing that happens with anxiety,

It manifests in many different ways.

One might be a sensation of constriction,

Of being trapped or contained,

Perhaps a sensation of tightness or heaviness,

Shallow breathing,

Tense muscles.

Another way it can manifest is in this narrowing of view,

This tunnel vision view of being consumed with a particular thing and awareness of all other things filtered out.

Along with the narrowing view is a narrowing of thoughts and beliefs.

These are times when old narratives can get very present,

Things like,

I can't handle this,

I'm not worthy,

I'm not capable,

I'm stuck,

I'll never be okay.

So a wide range of ways that this narrowing happens,

And in these times,

And in these times,

It supports us if we can create more spaciousness,

More openness,

More room.

This meditation aims to support broadening the inner space,

And it can be challenging to participate in such a practice when anxiety is activated.

Anxiety may tell you there's no time to do such a thing,

Or anxiety may tell you that you've got to stay in motion,

That stillness and slowing is not okay right now.

Struggling in the midst of the narrowing,

It's hard to consider that there can be an opening,

Be an opening,

But anxiety isn't always a truth teller.

So I invite you to see for yourself if there might be an opening created in the midst of the narrowing to see if you can come into a broader place.

So inviting a finding of a comfortable posture,

A posture that allows a sense of ease,

But also wakefulness,

Alertness,

And closing the eyes or just softening the focus,

Knowing that at any time,

If there's a feeling of overwhelm or not being safe,

The eyes may be fully opened and the present space brought into awareness.

And inviting a few cycles of deep,

Slow breaths.

On the inhale,

Breathing in fully,

Allowing purifying oxygen to permeate deeply into the lungs and diaphragm and bloodstream.

And on the exhale,

Slowly,

Fully breathing out,

Releasing carbon dioxide from the body,

Intentionally slowing and relaxing the breath and allowing it to make more space in the body.

Inhaling deep into the belly,

Opening,

Broadening,

And from the belly,

Slowly allowing the exhale,

Releasing,

Clearing,

Continuing with a couple of more slow,

Deliberate,

Deliberate,

Deep cycles of inhaling and exhaling.

Knowing that this slow and full breathing is sending a message to the nervous system,

Allowing it to relax and calm a bit and opening in the narrowing and allowing the natural rhythm of breath to resume.

Breathing in ease,

Breathing out tension and resting awareness in a place where breath is most noticeable or most pleasant.

As thoughts arise and attract attention,

Gently guiding attention back to this place of breath awareness,

Knowing that this can be the anchor to the present moment at any time.

Bringing attention to the body and noticing the places of narrowing and tightness and offering an invitation to release and relax.

Starting with the top of the body,

The head,

The house of the brain,

Where so many signals of narrowing originate.

Noticing any physical tension in the region of the head and seeing if there might be room to release a bit.

The forehead,

The eyes,

The temples,

The jaw,

The face,

A smile releases muscles in the face.

Might a slight smile be possible in this moment?

The back of the head,

The neck,

The throat,

Releasing,

Relaxing,

Loosening any tension or tightness that's possible.

Noticing any openings in the narrow spaces.

And again,

If thoughts arise that captivate attention,

Tenderly releasing the grip of the thought and escorting awareness back to the top of the body,

Back to the top of the body,

Releasing areas of tension or bringing attention to the breath.

Bringing attention now to the middle part of the body,

The house of the heart and the spine,

The gut and the arms,

And many of the organs that support life.

This area of the body where tension and narrowing is often felt,

Bringing awareness and softening to the tops of the shoulders and down the arms,

Through the elbows,

Out into the fingers.

Noticing any sensations of narrowing or tightness and relaxing where possible.

Noticing the chest and the area of the heart and the area of the upper back.

Allowing a release of tension in this region of the body where possible,

Opening space and bringing awareness to the abdomen and belly and to the lower back.

Noticing if there's a tension and constriction in any of these areas and loosen where possible,

Softening.

Thoughts may be emerging,

Taking awareness away from the body.

Again,

Just noticing if this is happening and kindly bringing the observation back to this middle part of the body and loosening places of tightness where able or bringing attention to the breath.

Noticing the lower part of the body,

The house of the legs and feet that support balance and movement.

This lower part of the body where the narrowing and constriction might make this part of the body want to move or not be still.

Bringing attention to the hips,

The thighs,

The hamstrings,

Knees,

Calves,

Shins,

Through the ankles,

Into the feet and out to the toes.

Noticing any tension or tightness throughout these parts of the lower body and seeing if a loosening,

A relaxing is possible.

Sensing the whole body and noticing what the body might need to create more spaciousness.

Might certain parts need a stretch.

Might something need to shift with the posture to allow more openness.

Allowing the wisdom of the body to speak and accommodating it where possible.

Inviting now awareness to land on the experience of thoughts.

What is the mind believing right now?

Though thoughts are mental events,

There may be a tension and tightness,

Constriction and narrowing sensed in the quality of thoughts.

Sometimes old thoughts are like old injuries and they flare up at times of stress.

We can tell when thoughts and beliefs have more of a narrow and constricted quality.

If they speak in absolutes,

Always,

Never,

Or if they're centered around judgment,

Judging self or judging others.

Judgment tends to put us into a reactive space and this reactive space tends to be more narrow.

So just noticing if the running narrative has a narrowing,

Tight quality or more expansive and spacious quality.

And if more narrow,

Then the narrative has a narrowing,

Tight quality.

And if more narrow,

Might there be a loosening and softening around thoughts too?

Might there be space created around the tight,

Constricted thoughts?

May these thoughts be invited into a broader place.

And perhaps the thoughts have already got more spaciousness than they had when this practice began.

Because when we intentionally allow slow,

Deep breaths and bring awareness to the body,

Noticing tension and softening and releasing,

We create a clearing.

We create an opening in this narrow space.

So gently releasing the focus on thoughts now.

Just allowing the thoughts and beliefs to recede into the background,

Turning down the volume on this inner narrative and returning attention back to the body.

Sensing again the whole body,

Noticing again areas of tension or tightness and again,

Offering this release and softening,

Allowing any movement,

Shifting,

Stretching that will offer more spaciousness and returning again to the anchor of the breath,

Allowing the natural rhythm of inhaling and exhaling,

And exhaling,

Breathing in ease,

Breathing out tension,

Breathing in openness and spaciousness,

And breathing out,

Creating a clearing.

And noticing now the opening created in the narrow spaces.

Even if a little opening,

It's an opening.

Noticing the quality of being in a broader place rather than a narrow place,

Like emerging from a tight,

Obstructed pathway into a wide open clearing with big sky,

With big sky,

Sunshine,

Broad,

Expansive view.

And before this meditation ends shortly with the sound of the bell,

I want to thank you for your practice and offer hope that this meditation will be a resource for opening up a broader place in the midst of the narrow space of anxiety.