Working With Anxiety & Fear

How are you meeting anxiety and fear? In this gentle guided meditation with Jeremy, we guide our curious awareness to the present moment and observe sensations and emotions. We practise meeting them with compassion and allowing the presence of our breath to help us feel more grounded and calm. When overwhelmed with challenging moments, we can regain control of the steering wheel by bringing our focus back to the present.

Transcript

Find a comfortable position that supports you to be awake and yet relaxed for this practice.

Perhaps seated on the ground or on a chair.

Perhaps you are choosing to lie down on your back.

Observe where your hands and feet may like to be.

As you gently close your eyes.

Take a few moments to check in with your breath.

Notice each inhale and each exhale.

As you inhale,

Be aware of breathing in.

As you exhale,

Be aware of breathing out.

Breathing with awareness.

Riding the waves of the breath moment by moment.

Breathing in and breathing out.

Welcoming yourself to this present moment.

Open your mind's eye into your inner landscape.

Checking in with your mood and how you are feeling emotionally.

Notice any thought that may come up.

Any sense of discomfort or unpleasant feelings.

Notice any worries,

Fear,

Frustration,

Irritation,

Jealousy or judgement.

With entities,

Thoughts and emotions.

Acknowledge what's being felt.

And allow them the space to be there without trying to change anything.

Just letting be.

Notice the sensations that may arise in the body.

Feel into this body.

Into the world of sensations,

Thoughts and emotions.

Mentally scan your body.

Looking for any tightness,

Tension or soreness.

Bring your attention to your feet.

Feel the sensations in your toes.

Feel all 10 toes.

Perhaps gently wiggle your toes for some feedback.

Feel your ankles,

Calves,

Knees and thighs.

Feel both legs.

Be aware of any sensation of holding,

Tension or tightness.

Acknowledge the sensations.

Allow them to be part of your experience without needing to change them in any way.

What sensations are here right now.

Feel your hips,

Lower back,

Mid back and upper back.

Feel your ribs,

Chest and belly.

Be aware of any sensation of holding,

Tension or tightness.

What sensations are here right now.

Allow them to be part of your experience.

Be aware of any sensation in your arms through to your fingertips.

Perhaps gently wiggle your fingers for some feedback.

Acknowledge the sensations.

Allow them to be part of your experience.

Tune into your collarbones,

Shoulders and neck.

All sides of your neck.

Feel the sensations in this region of your body.

What sensations are here right now.

Feel the back of your head,

Your crown,

Your scalp.

Bring awareness to your facial muscles.

Feel the space between your eyes.

The space in your eyes.

Notice your mouth,

Teeth,

Tongue and lips.

Observe your chin and jaw.

Notice the sides of your face and ears.

Be aware of any sensation of holding,

Tension or tightness.

What sensations are here right now.

Allow them to be part of your experience.

Without needing to change them in any way.

Acknowledge what's being felt.

Let your attention expand to include the whole body.

Without trying to change anything,

Become aware of the sensations in your entire body.

Notice where the sensations of holding,

Tension or tightness are in your body.

Whatever arises in the body,

Mind and emotions.

Acknowledge that they are there.

Feeling be.

As you bring awareness back to your breathing.

Feel the gentle rhythm of the breath move fluidly through your body.

From the crown of your head to the soles of your feet.

Left and right side of your body.

Front and back.

Feel the space between your ribs and your spine.

And the surface of your skin.

Let's take some time to breathe into areas of the body where sensations of tightness and tension are experienced.

Perhaps you notice yourself easing,

Melting,

Softening as you breathe into these regions.

As though your body is made up of a solid that can be melted.

Notice your toes and heels melting.

Softening all the way through to your thighs and hips.

Upper back,

Mid back and upper back getting softer,

Relaxing.

Arms chest and belly melting.

Your arms through to your fingertips getting softer and more liquid.

Breathing smoothly and easefully.

Collar bones,

Shoulders and neck melt more and more.

The crown,

Scalp and face getting softer and more liquid.

The entire face softening and melting.

Feel the entire body unholding and easing into relaxation.

Perhaps you feel your body dissolving into the space that you are.

Know that there is no need to have things figured out with perfect clarity right now.

Everything needs to be resolved immediately.

Perhaps you find yourself practice meeting these anxious thoughts,

Worries with compassion and gentleness.

You allow yourself to be with things as they are.

Allowing sensations to just be.

Allowing sensations you may be experiencing to ripple and resonate wherever they need to go.

Letting be.

Your thoughts and emotions.

Letting be.

Bring attention to the feelings and acknowledge what's being felt.

Listening with your sensations,

Thoughts and emotions that you may perhaps continue to experience.

And letting be.

Just listening with such compassion.

No need to push yourself more than you can handle right now.

Letting your toes and heels be.

Your thighs and hips.

Allow your lower back,

Mid back and upper back to just be.

Your ribs,

Chest and belly.

Your arms through to your fingertips.

Letting be.

Lower bones,

Shoulders and neck.

Your crown,

Scalp and face.

Entire face,

Letting be.

Feel the entire body.

Allow what's being felt to just be.

Letting these anxious thoughts,

Worries and fears with compassion and gentleness.

Listening with your sensations,

Thoughts and emotions that you may perhaps continue to experience.

And letting be.

Letting yourself to be with things as they are.

Observe your thoughts and emotions passed by like clouds in the sky.

Perhaps the clouds are like images projected on a cinema screen and you are watching them play like a film.

Observe your thoughts from a distance.

Just notice them like an impartial observer.

Let them all pass by.

Just mental events that come and go.

Observing the mind,

Thoughts and noticing the ever changing nature of thoughts showing its impermanence.

No rush at all.

Allow your breathing to settle into a natural,

Easeful rhythm.

Let your body take over the breathing for you.

Natural,

Easeful rhythm.

Place one hand on your chest and the other hand on your belly.

Notice the feeling of your breath beneath your hands.

Feel the nourishing breath flowing in and out of you.

Breathing for you.

Before ending this meditation,

Take a few moments and bring to mind all those who are being challenged with these feelings at some point in your lives.

All those leaving with fear,

Anxiety and worry.

Let's extend the wishes of well-being,

Of peace to all those around you.

Congratulate yourself for doing this practice.

As we acclimate ourselves to our fears,

May we not be so challenged by them.

May all beings,

Wherever they are,

Be free from fear.

May all beings be at peace.

As you prepare to transition to your day-to-day life,

Notice the space around you.

Bring your awareness to the support beneath you.

The sounds in the space.

Your sense of smell.

Sense in your body.

Perhaps gently awaken your fingers and your toes.

If you like,

Take a full deep inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth.

And when you feel ready,

Slowly blink open your eyes.

And when you feel ready,

Slowly blink open your eyes.

Reviews

Wonderfully connecting - thank you.

This is my go to meditation when I feel building up of anxiety and worries start to dominate my thoughts. It helps me to come back to my body and calm my mind. Thank you and I appreciate you!

Beautiful. I really appreciated the awareness and blessings to all those suffering from fear and anxiety at the end of this meditation. Thank you. Your voice is so gentle and peaceful.

How wonderful! Voice, pace, music, guidance. I am so glad I stumbled acrosss this meditation here, will definitely be a favorite! Many thanks 🤩

Very helpful meditation to release physical tension and stress. I especially appreciated the repetition of the body scan and how there was no assumption that I would feel relaxed after a certain point. Lovely gentle delivery and music, my pain was very significantly reduced by the end and I feel much better. So thank you!

Very effective at calming the fear and anxiety I was feeling. Thank you.

I was really wound up and on the verge of panicky before and this meditation was so calming and soothing to my mind and body. Thank you!

Awesome. Great relaxation comes with this practice. Soothing background music. Many thanks for bringing this meditation

Thank you. Sending good wishes with gratitude.

Beautifully guided.

Very calming. I will listen to this again.

Amazing 🤩 thank you 🙏🏻

Really what I needed

Thank you

Excellent!

Thank you for sharing, very calming 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Really helped calm me when I was feeling anxious. Thank you 💛

Excellent!
I can say no more as the relaxation first had me asleep for 2 hours and on waking I am calm; clear headed and relaxed.
Thank you!

This really helped me focus on the present, acknowledge my feelings and calm down so much from my anxiety attack. Thank you Jeremy 🙏🏼🙏🏼

Thank you for this! Your voice is soothing and relaxing.