Welcome to this guided meditation on working with and hopefully soothing your anxiety.
Anxiety is an incredibly common experience.
It can come up acutely when there's something specific that we're worried about.
And sometimes it arises seemingly for no reason at all,
Keeping us up at night,
Elevating our stress levels and holding us back from living our lives.
Let's take some time to get to know our anxiety and see if there's anything useful that it might be doing for us.
If you haven't already,
Take a moment to get settled.
Notice if your body needs to move or stretch to get comfortable in your seat or however you want to take in this meditation.
Check in with your breath and see if a big sigh or a yawn would feel good.
Sometimes the breath just wants to be noticed.
Nothing you need to do there.
Now let your awareness drop down to the earth,
The land that you're on right now,
And your relationship with this land.
Notice the season,
The weather today,
The way the light feels in the room that you're in.
Notice how this simple moment of checking in with the land affects your body and the way you feel in this moment.
Now turn your attention to your anxiety.
Just notice it,
There's nothing you need to do about it right at the moment.
See if you can locate your experience of anxiety in your body.
Where do you feel it?
What does it feel like?
Does it have a shape,
A character,
A narrative?
Maybe it tells a story.
If this anxiety could speak for itself,
What would it tell you?
Notice how you feel toward this energy of anxiety in your body and this story that it may be telling.
Do you agree with it?
Dislike it?
Wish it would go away?
Feel you need it?
Just notice whatever that reaction is.
Now let's acknowledge the truth that you do not need to fear your anxiety.
It can definitely come with a feeling of urgency,
Of wanting it to go away.
But if it stays,
That's actually okay.
It's not going to hurt you.
If you allow your anxiety to stay for a moment,
It's right here.
What does it feel like to notice that you may not have to fear your anxiety?
Sometimes anxiety is related to fear,
But not always.
Is there fear here?
Is the anxiety wanting you to run away from something to flee?
If so,
What is the fear exactly?
As you allow the anxiety to tell you about the fear,
What do you think?
Are you taking a risk that is inappropriate or unnecessary?
Are you taking a risk that is reasonable,
That you must take in order to move forward?
What else comes up as you consider your fear,
If it is there?
Anxiety isn't always about fear.
Sometimes it's trying to protect us from some deeper emotion that feels on some level unsafe to feel.
The fear is of the emotion.
What happens if you ask the anxiety what it thinks would happen if it were to release you?
Let you go.
What happens if you try getting underneath this anxiety?
Often anxiety feels very high up in the body,
As if trying to pull you into the head and the upper extremities.
If you bring your awareness down into your heart,
Your belly,
Your legs below the anxiety,
What do you notice?
Is there anger somewhere?
Maybe grief?
Is there some reason your system may have been trying to protect you from these feelings?
Whether you're getting any information or not,
I'm going to invite you to try saying something to your anxiety if it feels right.
Consider saying.
Thank you for trying to protect me.
Notice what comes up as you do that or consider doing that.
Whatever the response or reaction is,
Is completely fine.
Now,
If you'd like,
Take a deep breath.
Just notice what's happening.
You may or may not be having any insights.
That's okay.
Sometimes anxiety is just there and the reason won't come up.
Maybe your body is tuning into someone else's anxiety or some sort of family system or ancestral anxiety.
What if this anxiety isn't entirely yours?
So let's move our attention away from this anxiety for now.
Notice your breath,
Sigh if you like.
Consider the ground beneath you,
This earth,
This land that is so much older than you,
So much older than whatever's going on above it.
Notice the room that you're in.
Maybe open your eyes and look around.
Look behind you.
Notice where you are.
Wiggle your toes and your fingers.
Move,
Fully stretch if you want.
Notice that you spent some time with your anxiety and you are okay.
This meditation is complete.
If you'd like to journal about this experience,
Feel free.
You could take a nap or go for a walk.
Listen to the needs of your body.
If it feels right,
Thank you,
Rangsa Heidi,
For being with you today,
For talking with you.
And I thank you for practicing with me today.
