Welcome to your guided meditation for those times when you feel stressed and anxious.
Your fight and flight response has been triggered,
So it is natural that you'd be feeling anxious under the circumstances.
Your thoughts are probably swirling around chaotically and so I will be encouraging you to let go of your thinking and to focus more on your breath.
The following words and music will help.
Before we begin,
Get comfortable.
Lying down or sitting,
It doesn't really matter,
As long as you feel as restful as you can.
Let's begin.
Close your eyes.
Now observe your body.
Notice where you feel your anxiety.
Is it in your belly?
Is it in your solar plexus?
Is it in your head?
Is your heart beating too fast for comfort?
Acknowledge these sensations in your body and just observe how your body feels right now.
Now take a deep breath in and slowly breathe out.
Do that again.
Breathe in and slowly breathe out.
And one more time.
Breathe in deeply and slowly exhale.
And now consciously listen to the rhythm of your breath as it goes back to normal.
Notice how it simply comes and goes all by itself so perfectly.
Watch your breath.
Watch it as it travels from your nose down into your lungs.
Feel your body slightly rise as the air fills your chest.
Notice it leaving your body and as it does there is a sense of letting go,
A release with that out breath.
Experience the release.
Enjoy the feeling.
Your thoughts are still there,
That's fine.
It doesn't matter.
Let them come and go.
And when you notice your attention going more towards your thinking,
Gently bring your focus back to your breath.
Notice how this change of direction can bring with it a feeling of peace.
Your anxiety may still be there.
Does it have a shape?
Does it have a color?
What does it look like?
Observe how you feel in your body.
It is helpful to slightly lengthen your in breath and then the out breath creating a slower rhythm.
Notice again the feeling of release at the end of your out breath and enjoy that feeling again and again.
Now that your breathing is slower and you are aware of the feelings in your body,
Your thoughts may become more obvious and your anxiety may still be present.
That's fine.
Try to make yourself calm.
Thoughts must come and they also have to go.
So just let them come and let them go easily.
Now notice your breathing again.
Observe everything about it.
The simplicity of it even though what it is actually doing is so complex.
Notice again the rising and falling of your chest.
Feel how the air is cool when you breathe in and how the air becomes warmer as you breathe out.
You don't have to make yourself calm or peaceful.
All you have to do is change your attention from your thinking to your breathing.
I will leave you here to continue on by yourself.
You know what to do now and you are doing it.
