Soothe An Anxious Mind & Body

A calming, grounding thirty minute experience that explores progressive relaxation and present-centered awareness through a body scan, a gentle breath technique and visualization. Ideal for easing tension in the body and mind.

Transcript

In this calming and grounding meditation,

You'll be invited to engage in progressive relaxation,

Mental alternate nostril breath,

A body scan,

And present centered awareness.

You can receive this experience from a seated posture,

Or you can lie down so that you feel fully supported.

Take the time to become as comfortable as you can be.

And when you find a position that allows you to sustain stillness,

Receive a very deep breath in through the nose so that you feel your abdomen fill and expand.

And a long,

Slow exhalation out of the nose and feel your body settle into the support of what holds you and allow yourself to be held.

Immediately moving into some tensing and releasing before we focus on the breath.

The next time you take a breath in through the nose,

I invite you to really squeeze your eyes shut,

Firm your jaw,

Wrinkle your nose,

Hold that inhale in for a beat.

And then when you exhale,

Relax your face completely.

Feel the forehead soften,

The space between the eyebrows broaden,

Your eyelids smooth,

Cheeks relax,

And your tongue floats to the upper palate of your mouth to rest just behind the two front teeth so your jaw remains soft.

The next time you take a deep inhalation,

Shrug your shoulders all the way up to your ears and make fists with your hands and hold the breath in for a beat without force.

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze.

And exhale out the nose and let the shoulders and the hands go.

Shoulders back and down and free,

Muscles of the arms soften and all of the tension that can be held in hands and fingers melts away.

Next time you inhale,

Firm up the abdomen,

This area where we may be holding residual tension and not even notice we are.

So breathe in through the nose,

Firm up the abdominal wall,

Hold that breath in for a beat,

Squeeze,

Squeeze,

Squeeze.

The holding of the breath isn't a struggle and then a long exhale,

You relax the abdomen completely so that your next inhalation lifts the navel easily.

There's more ease in the expansion of the abdomen.

And as you exhale,

There's even more softening at that entire area and maybe even abdominal organs are allowed to relax a little.

Receive another deeper inhalation only if it serves you,

Holding it gently at the top to squeeze around the areas of the hips,

Leg muscles,

Glutes,

Squeezing,

Squeezing.

And then as you exhale,

Relax that entire area and let your body sink even more deeply into the support of what holds you and let your mind rest on the points of connection between your body and your support system here.

Using all of the points of contact between body and what you sit or lie on.

Finally one last deeper inhalation is invited as you flex the toes towards your face and spread your toes.

You might hold that inhalation,

Hold that engagement of your feet.

And then a long slow exhalation allows your feet to relax completely.

And all of your awareness resides at the soles of both of your feet.

No thinking,

Just observing and noticing sensation,

Both of the feet at the same time.

Pulsation,

Vibration,

Temperature.

Feel the soles of your feet and then feel all the aliveness in both of your feet at the same time.

Right here,

Right now with full sensation of both of your feet at the same time.

Lift your awareness to feel both knees at the same time.

Scan up the area of the legs checking in with thighs and hips and feel both legs and both feet at the same time.

Areas where you feel connection of fabric on skin,

Where you might feel air on skin,

The sensation of socks perhaps,

Though something weighted.

Full sensation of both legs and both feet at the same time,

Observing.

Lift your awareness to hips and abdomen and low back.

Watching the gentle expansion and release of breath in this area.

No more control of breath.

There's a simple and subtle rise and fall of the navel.

As you continue to inhale and exhale in and out of the nose,

Lift your awareness to the chest and the upper back at the same time.

Noticing breath here,

Noticing sensation,

Expanding your awareness to both shoulders at the same time,

To both elbows,

Forearms,

Wrists,

And hands.

Feel all the sensation and pulsation of both of your hands at the same time.

Feel both thumbs,

The tips of both index fingers,

Third fingers,

Fourth fingers,

And pinky fingers.

Feel the sensations of all fingertips at once,

Sensation beyond fingertips,

Both hands and arms,

Observe at the same time.

Lift your awareness to throat,

Chin,

To the connection of lips,

To sensation of gums and teeth and mouth,

To the center point of your tongue.

Feel sensation of your nose,

Of both eyes,

Of both eyebrows,

Of the space between eyebrows,

And of forehead.

Feel sensation of the whole face,

And the whole head,

And the whole body,

The whole body alive with sensation and held by what supports you.

Notice the rhythm of your body,

Your body breathing,

This gentle,

Subtle flow,

Subtly rocking the body to deeper and deeper levels of relaxation.

You notice a thread-like movement of breath moving in through the nostrils and moving out.

Observe cool breath moving in to each nostril.

Follow that cool breath up into the head,

Maybe into the throat and chest,

And watch warmed air moving back up through head and out the nose.

Observe if one nostril feels more dominant than the other.

Just notice it's just information,

And continue to watch cooled breath moving in.

Follow that stream,

And watch where it's warmed,

And follow that flow.

Just imagine now that as you inhale,

The inhale is only moving through the left nostril.

Just imagine,

And the exhale is predominantly moving out the right.

Exhale and see your inhale moving in to the right nostril,

And exhale out the left.

Inhale in through the left nostril,

And just imagine the exhale is only moving out the right.

The inhale only moving in the right.

The exhale flowing just out of the left,

And inhale back into the left.

Exhale right.

Exhale left.

Inhale left to the place between the eyebrows,

And exhale right.

Exhale right to between the eyebrows,

And exhale left.

Inhale left.

Exhale right.

Inhale right.

Exhale left.

Inhale left,

And finally exhale right.

Inhale into both nostrils.

Exhale smooth,

Clear breath in.

Feel long,

Slow exhales out.

Notice where you feel the expansion of inhales in your body.

Do you notice it expand at the abdomen,

The rib cage,

The low back?

Or do you notice the expansion at the hips and legs?

Maybe even arms and hands and head?

And where do you feel the softening as you exhale?

Let the mind watch the swell of the breath in the body,

And the softening of the exhale.

Feel and see your inhalations moving in through the nose,

And down to the root of your body,

The space between the tailbone and the pubic bone,

Base of the spine.

And exhale.

Watch your exhalation move back up the length of the spine to the crown of the head.

Inhale through the nose,

Down the central channel to the base of your body.

And exhale back up from the base to the crown of the head.

As you inhale in through the nose and down to the body's root,

Pause.

Just notice the base of the body,

Maybe the soles of the feet.

And as you exhale,

And the exhale ascends back up the length of the body,

Pause your awareness at the top of your head.

Inhale in and down the body.

Feel the base of the body.

Inhale back up to the top of the body,

And feel the top of the head.

Watch the breath flow in and down,

And flow up and out the crown.

Keep the inhale in and down to the base of the body,

And exhale back up.

Notice if you feel a roll,

A wave of energy in and down,

And exhale back up the length of the body.

At the end of the exhalation,

Your awareness lingers at the crown of the head.

At the end of the inhalation,

Your awareness lingers at the connection point between your body and what holds you.

Let the breath continue to flow,

And see if you can hold your awareness at the base of your body and the crown of your head at the same time.

Let go of trying.

Allow this to be easy.

Maybe the awareness moves back and forth between these two points.

Maybe there is a gentle holding,

Your awareness at both points.

Let the mind rest on sensations of the base of the body and above the head.

Let the mind rest in these two points,

Above and below.

And the next few moments,

Holding your awareness here,

Below the body and above the base of the body and crown of the head.

Begin to notice if sensation at one of these points becomes intensified.

And just notice.

Where does the mind want to settle?

Above the head,

Or base of the body where the body is supported,

Or somewhere in between?

Where can the mind settle?

Where can the mind rest?

Allow your breath to deepen and feel the expansion of your body,

Especially in these two points.

As you inhale,

The awareness moves to the periphery of your body,

The sensation of having skin,

The touch of fabric as it gently moves in time with your breath,

And how even now the body is able to settle more deeply into what supports you as you exhale.

Notice the smoothness,

The clarity of your breath now.

Let your mind follow your breath into your body and follow it back out and notice the exhalations effect on your systems.

Let your mind fully engage with your senses,

Continuing to explore touch as you wiggle toes and fingers and notice where you feel these gentle movements in feet and legs and hands and arms.

Notice scent in the air as you continue to deepen your breath,

Taste in the mouth,

And notice what you hear beyond this meditation.

Slowly tap into what you see behind closed lids and before you slowly blink your eyes open,

The invitation is to set an intention.

What lens do you intend to see the world through in the coming hours and days?

And as you do,

Gently open your eyes,

Take in fresh sights of color and texture.

Let your surroundings be new.

Let yourself be new.

What else could be seen as new?

One more very deep breath in and a long exhalation.

Thank you for joining me for this meditation.

God bless you.

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