Welcome to this guided meditation where we're going to meet and heal.
Our inner anxious over functioning child.
Find a place where you can sit or lie comfortably and be undisturbed for 15 minutes.
Begin by taking a deep breath in and a deep breath out.
Relax any part of your body which feels tight or tense.
You can gently move the shoulders,
Release the jaw.
Many of my clients experienced disruption in childhood,
A less than ideal experience of childhood.
Often they felt lost and alone and unsupported.
And this may have happened either through a single disruptive event such as divorce or bereavement.
But more often it was a chronic disruption,
An experience that within the family things were not safe.
There may have been chronic adversity within the family.
Sometimes an emotionally unavailable parent because of whatever was happening for them.
Alcohol,
Mental illness,
Their own experience of abuse and trauma.
And there is a very specific response most of my clients made to this disruption.
They became the parent to look after the family.
And that pattern often continues to repeat in adulthood and especially at work.
It can lead to chronic feelings of isolation,
Feeling unsupported,
Overworking,
Being perfectionist and eventually feeling resentful and experiencing imposter syndrome.
Ultimately it results in being unable to make good choices for yourself and always sacrificing yourself for the good of others.
This meditation is in no way about blaming anything in the past.
Everybody in your past did the best that they could with what they had.
This is simply about healing your inner child and her experiences.
So I'd like you to imagine a safe place.
Your safe place.
It might be a place in nature.
It might be in a house that you remember.
A room in a house.
Visualize your safe place.
Visualize yourself there in your safe place.
What are you wearing?
What are you doing?
In this safe place no one has any need of you.
Nothing can go wrong.
Nothing bad can happen.
You are completely safe.
You are completely held.
And in this place you are grown up as you are today.
Powerful,
Successful,
Confident and adult.
Take a deep breath in and a long exhalation.
Anytime during this meditation you can return to your safe place.
If at any time it feels overwhelming just let yourself go back to your safe place.
We're going to support your child and help her heal and feel safe.
Feelings can only be processed when we feel safe.
And we want to allow your inner child to process some of her feelings.
We want to allow her to feel supported so that she can process and move forward.
Imagine yourself at the age of seven.
Visualize yourself.
What were you like?
What did you like to do?
Really breathe yourself in.
Remember.
If there was one word to describe you at that age what would it be?
Take a deep breath and just be with yourself at age seven.
Now imagine your family of origin,
Those that you shared a house with.
What were they like?
Who was there?
Imagine your mother if she was present.
Remember your father if he was present.
And any other family members.
Picture what it was like growing up in this family.
What was it like for you?
How did you feel?
Was there one person particularly that you felt you had to protect?
Can you find one word for how it felt to describe how it felt growing up in this family?
Now I'd like you to invite your child to come into your safe place with you as an adult.
Picture her arriving in your safe place.
You might hold her hand or put your arm around her shoulder.
What does she need from you?
Does she need a hug?
What would you like to tell her?
What does she need to know about the situation that she's in that she didn't know at the time?
Let her know how much you love her.
Tell her what a great job she did to survive.
Tell her how in awe of her you are for the creative adjustment that she made to the situation that she found herself in.
What a remarkable child.
And now let her know that she can relax.
She doesn't need to be hyper vigilant here with you because you've got this.
You're the adult and you will look after her and protect her.
Tell her how incredibly grateful you are to her that she helped you survive and to thrive and become successful.
And that now it's time for her to have a long overdue rest and play.
Let her know it's safe for her to play and to be a child.
Listen to her now.
What does she want to say to you?
How does it feel for her to be supported?
You can answer her if she has any fears and let her know again that you're an adult now.
You can look after her.
You can look after both of you and that you can start to make different choices now.
Tell her you've got her.
You'll stay with her.
That you're never going to leave her.
And now let her know that you can meet here in this safe place anytime.
When she feels unsafe and scared you can meet her here and reassure her again that you can hold her.
You'll breathe with her.
Take a big breath together with her now and a big breath out.
And gently return to yourself.
Bring some movement to your fingers and toes.
And explore your sense of integration.
You might feel a little more integrated now with this anxious over functioning child.
Instead of splitting her off you've invited her back in.
Where she can be loved and taken care of and she can enrich your life.
We'll come back.
You you you you you you you you you you you you you you you
