I'm Dr.
Judd Brewer and today's meditation will focus on working with stress.
You feel like stress is running you?
Maybe you have an endless to-do list or can't keep up with your emails.
Maybe you have stress with your partner or children,
Whatever it is.
So let's begin by taking a moment to simply thank yourself for being here,
For taking a moment to take care of yourself.
How does this feel compared to being caught up in stress?
Let's take this moment one step farther and begin today's meditation.
The research that my lab has done has shown that understanding how stress works helps us work with it.
So that's what we're going to do today.
Begin by settling into a comfortable posture that supports alertness and check in with the places in your body where you're making contact with your chair,
Cushion,
Or floor.
Simply feel the physical sensations that let you know that your body is being supported.
You might feel your feet,
Your legs,
Your back,
Or whatever.
Simply take a moment to notice what these feel like right now.
Now take a moment to check in with your body to see if you're holding any stress right now.
Simply bring a kind,
Curious awareness as you check in.
Am I holding stress right now?
If you notice any thoughts coming up,
Simply notice them and gently let them fade into the background of your awareness.
Focus your attention right now on what your body feels like.
What does stress feel like in your body?
See if you can get really curious.
Hmm,
What does this stress feel like right now?
If you don't notice that you're holding any stress,
That's great.
Simply bring awareness to whatever physical sensations you feel most strongly.
Now check in to see if this stress has a color.
For many of us,
Believe it or not,
Our brains have synesthesia,
Where we bring two sense modalities together.
For example,
The feeling of stress can feel a certain way and also has a certain color.
Does your stress have a certain color?
Now check in to see if there's a temperature associated with these sensations.
Is it heat or coolness?
And if there is a temperature,
Is there a gradient where it's hotter or cooler in some spots than others?
And now check in to see if these sensations are more on the right side or the left side of your body.
Being really curious.
And if at any time you notice thoughts coming in,
Simply let them fade into the background and gently bring your awareness back to noticing the physical sensations in your body.
Now checking to see if these sensations are more in the front or the back of your body.
Hmm.
And now I'm checking to see where the boundaries or the edges of the sensations are in your body.
Where do they end?
Where do the neutral sensations begin?
Explore this for a bit.
Where are the edges of these sensations?
Again,
If you notice thoughts coming in,
Simply let them fade into the background and gently bring your awareness back to noticing the physical sensations in your body.
And at any time if the stress feels too strong,
You can simply take a few deep breaths and bring your awareness to your breathing for a few minutes or to another neutral object like your hands and exploring the physical sensations there.
Now I'm getting really curious,
Taking a few moments to see if the sensations change over time,
Even in a subtle way.
If helpful you can pick one of the aspects you've just been exploring,
Color,
Temperature,
Edges,
Or whatever.
Whatever is the easiest to pay attention to right now.
Finally,
Take a moment to reflect on your experience.
What does your body and mind feel like right now?
What did you notice about physical sensations that we often bundle all together and call them stress?
What happens when you bring a kind curious awareness to those different aspects of experience?
And perhaps now setting an aspiration that as you go through your day you just check in with your body even for a few moments,
Bringing a kind curious awareness to your experience when you're feeling stress.
Or simply taking a few deep breaths before proceeding.
Perhaps now setting an aspiration that as you go throughout your day you check in with your body to see if you're holding stress or if stress is building up.
And to set an aspiration even for a few moments to bring a kind curious awareness to that experience.
Or even simply taking a few deep breaths before proceeding with your day.
You can even play with setting some reminder places or times to do this.
For example,
Each time you get in your car,
Taking a few moments to check in to see if you're holding stress.
Or take a few deep breaths before starting the car or before walking into a meeting and so on.
There's a saying about setting habits,
Short moments many times.
That's how we set habits.
So see if you can take this practice with you,
Short moments many times throughout the day whenever stress arises and see what you discover.
May it be fruitful for you.
