Accessing Your Resources

This is a guided imagery based exercise, starting with a body scan relaxation and visual imagery providing you with an area to soak up resource energy which you need in order to manage any difficulty in your life right now. Get yourself comfortable and please enjoy this time.

Transcript

You you you so just starting to get yourself comfortable in the chair or on the bed starting to feel the points of contact with the body and when you're comfortable and ready just let your eyes close gently now I want to take your focus to your breathing and just take three nice deep slow breaths all the way into the body and each time you breathe out just feel yourself letting go a little bit more letting the body sink into the surface that you're sitting or lying on and after the third breath just breathe naturally at the right rhythm and pace for you and you won't need to think about this the body knows how to breathe and now I just want to take your attention all the way through the body from the top of the head to the soles of the feet just starting to notice any areas of tension and to let these go so starting at the top of the head maybe imagining a white healing light that's going to flood through the body from above the top of the head all the way down to the feet taking away tension and discomfort leaving behind calm and healing that lights going to continue to flood through the body whilst you take your focus to different areas and just noticing any tension in the scalp or forehead and just releasing those muscles a little letting the tension drain down into the face noticing tension in the jaw muscles and the cheek muscles and letting this go letting them soften relaxing the eyes behind the eyelids and just feeling that tension draining down into the neck and shoulders where we tend to hold a lot of our stresses and strains just feeling the shoulders drop a little and the muscles starting to relax and feeling that tension drain all the way down the arms into the hands and out through the fingertips into the air around you just feeling lighter more comfortable more at ease and then I want you to take your attention from the top of your spine all the way down the spine getting a sense of each vertebrae creating space between each joint allowing it more room to move freely to be at ease releasing any tightness held there and just imagining that tension draining all the way down the spine into the pelvis area and the legs all the way down into the lower legs and out through the feet through the soles of the feet into the ground or through the toes into the air around you just feeling freer letting go now we'll bring your attention down the front of the body into the chest area feeling any tightness in the chest just allowing this to open out a little more allowing the heart to open and open in the chest will make breathing more easy less restricted deeper so just releasing any tension there letting it drain down into the abdominal area where you hold a lot of discomfort just letting that area soften and imagining that healing light that's flooding through the body focusing on this area really targeting healing and soothing working to create space reduce pressure just imagining the flow becoming calmer through your digestive system adjusting the flow to being right for you not too fast or too slow perhaps like a river flowing gently to the sea calmly smoothly and just leaving behind healing in the area releasing any tension or pain releasing that all the way down through the pelvis into the legs relaxing the leg muscles the thigh muscles the knees the calves all the way down into the feet out through the soles of the feet and the toes into the air around you so now the whole body is feeling lighter more at ease more comfortable freer and any areas of remaining tension will catch up and continue to relax as we take your focus elsewhere now I'd like you to let your imagination take you to a beach this can be a beach you know or it can be an imaginary beach or a combination of the two whatever is right for you this is going to be your special beach and just see what you can start to see in your mind perhaps you can hear the ocean the waves crashing or the sea gently lapping onto the shore perhaps there are the sounds of birds or the sea breeze whirling around you look at the color of the sea and how this changes according to the light from the Sun on a cloudy day this color may change as the Sun goes in and out of the clouds notice what it's like on your beach what's the beach made up of is it sandy or pebbly how does it feel underfoot really getting a sense of being there in this beach that you've created notice the sense in this place perhaps there's a smell of the sea now notice the temperature whether it's warm or cold maybe it's sunny recognize the sensations of temperature on your skin perhaps you can feel the breeze on your skin or the heat from the Sun but above all notice that this is your beach and that you are in control you can feel comfortable and secure here it is just for you nothing can happen here that you don't choose to so you can feel safe and in control and now I would like you to walk up the beach whichever way you choose until you find a rock pool a beautiful still pool of clear water and as you gaze at the water enjoying the sounds of the sea or whatever sounds you experience you can notice that at the bottom of the pool there are various pebbles of different shapes colors and sizes and in some way in your mind's eye in the back of your mind you can see that these pebbles could represent the resources that you have and these resources could be skills or strengths that you have or it could be a person that you know that is there to support you and underneath the water represents your unconscious mind where all of these resources are held and above the water represents your conscious mind and your conscious mind may be unaware of resources that you have there it might have forgotten that you had them and just think how good it would be to be able to tap into all of those resources again but if there is a resource that you feel you need at this time in your life and you feel that you can't see it there or that maybe it's there but you feel you need more of it it might be feeling in control it might be calmness self-compassion ability to cope strength anything that you feel you need right now and you all know what you need and then walk around near the pool your pool of resources and pick out the right pebble you will know which one it is and pick up that pebble and drop it gently into your pool watching it drift down through the clear water to settle safely on the bottom along with all of your other resources and keep doing this until you've got all of those resources that are right for you at this time just taking your time to collect as many pebbles as you need and when you are ready to make a connection with all of your resources do it in a way that feels right for you you might want to sit by the pool or perhaps dabble your hands or feet in the pool your pool might be big enough for you to get into it you might want to fish the pebbles out so that you can bring them back with you into your day-to-day life just do whatever feels right for you for you to connect with those resources and enjoy soaking them up and as you are soaking up those resources on your special beach I want to remind you how easy it is to get into this state of focused attention all you need to do is to find an appropriate space let your eyes close take free slow deep breaths and then use all your senses to see hear feel and smell the place you want to be and as you do this each day you will find that you get more and more focused each time until you have just the right amount of focus for you and this will become easier each time you practice and as you do this each day you will find that you're able to put things more into perspective feel how you want to feel behave how you want to behave and believe what you want to believe you'll feel stronger more confident more able to cope with daily struggles and as you practice becoming deeply relaxed you will find that any suggestions that you give to yourself will sink deeply into the unconscious mind and create a lasting impression and the things that you put into your unconscious mind will begin to exercise a greater influence on the way you think and over the way you feel and the way you behave this will enable you to tap into all of the skills and strengths that you already have and use them to improve your quality of life now I'd like you to just take a few moments to finish connecting with your resources and to look around your special beach remembering that you can bring yourself back here at any time and maybe look for something that you can bring back with you to remind you of returning there and to keep some of those feelings of calmness and control with you in everyday life this might be an object a color it might be that you want to bring those pebbles back with you just whatever feels right for you and I'd like you to start to come back to the here and now in your own time starting to count back from seven to one coming back gradually in your own pace starting to feel yourself on the surface that you're sitting or lying on starting to get a sense of yourself in the room when you get to one it will be wide awake feeling good feeling refreshed and alert but calm and in control and just open your eyes in your own time take some time to come round fully before you start to get up and about and this is the end of the practice for today