Hi there,
And welcome back.
My name is Jordana Rehm,
And in this session,
We're going to make peace with and speak to anxiety.
Anxiety has a bad reputation.
That's really to be expected because by definition,
It's a feeling of worry,
Nervousness,
Or unease.
These are all unpleasant feelings.
When we experience unpleasant feelings,
It's common to have a negative reaction.
It adds layers of suffering,
Though,
To what's already there.
Have you ever heard someone say,
What you resist persists?
It's the notion of ignoring something or even pushing it away.
It lingers.
It gets more persistent.
So what we're going to do in this session is to face anxiety.
We're going to really just look at it as it is and without layering on our judgments of good,
Bad,
Pleasant,
Or unpleasant.
Once we find this way to be with anxiety without judgment,
It's going to open up an opportunity to actually speak with it and share words of wisdom.
From here,
You'll be able to make an action plan with anxiety to allay anxiety.
So if that sounds good,
Let's get started.
We'll begin this practice by relaxing and taking time to unwind.
We're going to train the mind to be a non-judgmental observer.
So finding your meditation position if you're not there already.
Maybe if you're seated in a chair,
You can plant the feet firmly on the ground.
If you're seated on a cushion,
You can just find a way to lengthen through your spine.
Relax the shoulders down.
Relax the eyes to close and soften the jaw.
And so as we begin to watch the breath linking awareness to the influx of the breath to the body and then the outflow of the breath from the body,
We become curious observers.
How does the flow of your breath feel today?
Is it easy to find the breath?
Do you notice it in and out of the nose?
Or maybe you feel it at the heart.
It could be the rise and fall of your belly.
Probably noticing what you notice about your breath,
Where it goes and how it flows.
And you can also notice if the mind wants to move away from the breath.
And without any judgment,
We just catch it.
We bring it back.
Back to the simple flow of breath.
Letting the breath be short if it's short and long if it's long.
And when the mind moves away from the breath,
Just bringing it back again.
Allowing that process of bringing it back to actually ignite more calm within you because you are aware.
Because you are observing and making change without judging what's going on.
So,
From this space that you've created,
We're going to gently bring to mind the anxieties in your life.
Now,
As you become clear on the anxious thoughts,
I'd like you to imagine that they can become extracted from your mind,
Like smoke exiting through the top of your head.
So,
You see an anxious thought and it just moves up and out of the head like smoke.
So,
As the smoke of your anxieties separates from your mind.
So,
As the smoke of anxieties separates from your mind,
You see it forming the shape of a light being in front of you.
And you can see that this light being in front of you,
It's not so bad.
There's even an energy of kindness that you can sense.
As you notice it in front of you,
You can see that it's breathing with you.
It's actually a calm smoke.
And it lets you know that it wants to communicate.
Take a deep breath and let the breath go out the mouth slowly.
Here,
As you relax,
As you breathe,
You can hear the message from this light being.
I'm sorry if I hurt you.
I know I have a tendency to spin and spin.
It's not my intention.
I want you to be safe.
I want your loved ones to be safe.
I'm scared.
I don't know what to do.
You can feel that this light being formed from your anxiety needs your support.
And that it asks for your wise words back.
Take a moment to let the calmness of your mind flower open,
Any words that anxiety here in front of you needs to hear.
What words soothes anxiety right now?
Can you let anxiety know how you're going to take care of yourself?
What are the actions that you're already taking?
Is there something else that you can plan to do to allay anxiety's fear?
But also,
It's time to get real with anxiety and let it know calmly what you can't do.
What can you say to anxiety about what you can't do?
And as you say these words to anxiety,
You can see that anxiety hears you,
Understands what you can't do.
There's a sense of softness and that anxiety is pleased,
Both with your plan of action and what you are doing,
And also in what you can't do.
Because anxiety wants you to relax,
To let go of over worrying.
Anxiety wants to go to sleep.
So imagine now that this energy of anxiety that you see in front of you,
That it slowly dissolves.
As you breathe into your body,
Notice that where anxiety used to be begins to fill with a sense of empowerment because of your action plan,
Because of your way of being.
Where in your body can you feel empowerment?
Where does it spark from?
You know that you can do all that you can do,
And you can't do what you can't do,
And that's okay.
That you're going to be okay.
And that with your action plan,
You'll create this sense of okay for your loved ones and your community.
So let the sensation of empowerment grow.
Imagine that it could expand,
That it could enter your entire body,
Like it's pulsing through your veins,
Filling the whole cavity of the body.
And relax into this feeling.
Allow your mind,
Your body,
Your spirit to just be right here with this right now.
As you begin to feel ready to return,
You'll take this empowered feeling and action plan forward.
Take a few deep breaths.
And open your eyes as you're ready.
Great job on completing this meditation and process.
A next step is to write down your action plan.
What steps can you do to allay the anxiety?
And I'd love to hear from you.
Share in the comments how you did in the meditation and any of the action steps that you're going to take to allay anxiety.
I hope to see you again soon.
And until then,
Be well.
