Please do not listen to this recording while driving or operating machinery.
Only listen when you can safely close your eyes and give your full attention to your own comfort and rest.
Hello and welcome.
I'm so glad you're here.
My name is Livvy and I have created this session for you as a deeply restorative guided meditation.
One designed specifically for the overthinker.
For the person whose mind sometimes feels like it simply won't switch off.
If you found yourself lying awake at night with thoughts circling,
Replaying conversations,
Worrying about things you can't control or feeling that low hum of anxiety that seems to follow you through the day.
This meditation was made for you.
What you're experiencing has a name.
In psychology it's called rumination.
The mind's tendency to replay,
Analyze and re-examine our experiences over and over long after it's useful to do so.
And it's extraordinarily common.
Particularly for those experiencing anxiety,
Stress or low mood.
But here's what I want you to know before we begin.
Your mind is not broken.
It's simply a very powerful instrument that hasn't yet been shown how to rest.
And that is exactly what we're going to do together today.
Using a combination of deep relaxation,
Mindfulness and some fascinating techniques drawn from neuroscience and the psychology of the mind.
We're going to gently interrupt those old thinking patterns,
Create new neural pathways and give your mind,
Perhaps for the first time in a long time,
Genuine,
Deep,
Restorative rest.
So find a comfortable position now.
Lying down if you can.
And let's begin.
Allow your eyes to gently close and take your first slow breath in.
Breathe out,
Letting your body begin to soften into the surface beneath you.
Feel the weight of your body.
The gentle pressure of the bed or the surface supporting you completely.
You don't need to hold yourself up.
You are held.
Take another slow breath in.
Filling your lungs all the way.
And breathe out slowly,
Releasing a little more tension with every exhale.
Begin to bring your awareness to your feet.
And as you breathe out,
Let them soften and relax.
Your hands.
Your toes.
The soles of your feet.
Your heels.
Moving up to your calves.
Your thighs.
With each breath out,
Heavier,
More relaxed.
Your hips are releasing now.
Your lower back softening.
The muscles along your spine letting go.
Your belly softens.
Your chest opens.
Your heart area.
Your shoulders drop.
Your arms becoming heavy and still.
Your hands uncurling.
Fingers soft and open.
Your neck releasing.
Your jaw unclenching.
The muscles around your eyes smoothing out.
Your forehead completely soft and still.
More relaxed than you were a moment ago.
And with every breath you take,
You go a little deeper.
A little further into this beautiful,
Restorative stillness.
I'm going to count backwards from 10 to 1.
And with each number you hear,
Allow yourself to drift twice as deep into this peaceful state.
10.
So relaxed and at ease.
9.
Letting go even more.
8.
Drifting deeper.
7.
Your mind becoming beautifully quiet.
6.
Every breath taking you further.
5.
Halfway there.
Wonderfully still.
Floating in this deep calm.
3.
Deeper still.
Almost there.
Completely at rest.
Receptive.
Perfectly still.
And from this place of deep relaxation,
I'd like to introduce you to a part of yourself you may not have spent much time with before.
Your observer self.
This is the part of you that watches your thoughts.
Without being caught up in them.
The part that can notice a thought arising.
Acknowledge it calmly.
And watch it pass.
Because here is something profound that I'd like you to really feel the truth of right now.
Are not your thoughts.
You are the one watching them.
Your thoughts are like weather passing through the sky of your awareness.
Clouds drifting across.
Some are dark and heavy.
Some light and fleeting.
But you.
You are the sky itself.
Vast.
Unchanging.
Untroubled by the weather that passes through.
Begin to notice now.
From this calm observing place.
Any thoughts that arise in your mind.
And just watch them.
The way you might watch clouds from a hilltop.
With gentle curiosity.
Without judgement.
Without needing to follow them anywhere.
A thought appears.
You see it.
You acknowledge it.
And you watch it drift away.
Another thought arises.
Maybe louder this time.
Maybe insisting on your attention.
Yet still you simply notice.
There is a thought that wants my attention.
You remain here.
In this calm quiet space.
Watching.
Not following.
And now I'd like to take you somewhere remarkable.
I'd like you to imagine for a moment.
That you could look inside your own mind.
And see the pathways that your thoughts travel along.
Because that's actually very close to what happens in your brain.
Your thoughts travel along neural pathways.
Like roads or highways.
Built through repetition.
The thoughts you've thought the most.
Often have the widest,
Most well worn highways.
They're the ones.
The ones the mind defaults to.
The worries that feel familiar.
The anxious loops that seem almost automatic.
But here's what neuroscience tells us.
And this is extraordinary.
Those highways can be changed.
New roads can be built.
And the old ones can be quietly,
Gently allowed to grow over.
So let's do that now.
Imagine you can see deep within the landscape of your mind.
Those old familiar highways of overthinking and anxiety.
Perhaps they glow with a faint,
Restless orange light.
The colour of a mind that's been working too hard for too long.
Now I'd like you to imagine a beautiful,
Cool,
Calming blue light.
Beginning to emerge.
This blue light is intelligent.
It knows exactly where to go.
It moves gently through your mind now.
Cooling those overactive pathways.
Soothing the stress centres of your brain.
Turning down the volume on the alarm signals that have been firing too often for too long.
Feel that blue light moving through your mind now.
Cooling,
Calming the stress centres of your brain.
The parts that have been working overtime.
Begin to dim and soften under this beautiful blue light.
Like turning down a dimmer switch.
Slowly,
Gently.
And as those old pathways cool and quiet,
You begin to notice something else emerging.
New pathways.
Glowing with a soft,
Warm,
Golden light.
These are your new roads.
The pathways of calm.
Of clarity.
Of rest.
Of a mind that knows how to be still.
These new pathways are growing stronger.
Wider.
All worn with every breath you take.
And every moment you spend here.
In this peaceful state.
Imagine that along those old highways of anxious thought.
Gentle roadblocks are appearing.
Not harsh or forceful.
Just calm,
Clear signals.
Saying,
Not this way anymore.
These roadblocks don't fight the old thoughts.
They simply redirect them.
The way a river finds a new course.
Effortlessly.
Slowly.
Naturally.
Following the path of least resistance toward open,
Peaceful ground.
And as these roadblocks gently settle into place.
You feel something shift inside your body.
A sense of relief.
Of spaciousness.
As if something that was wound tight is finally,
Slowly,
Beginning to unwind.
And now I'd like to give you something to take with you.
A tool you can use anytime you feel the mind beginning to race or spiral.
Bring your awareness to your dominant hand.
And know that whenever you use your dominant hand.
Your mind,
Your brain will remember what we have done here today.
It will remember this new way of being.
And as you do,
Notice the blue light in your mind.
That beautiful,
Cool,
Calming blue.
From this moment on,
Whenever you see the color blue in your daily life.
A blue sky.
A blue cup.
A blue sign.
Your mind will remember this feeling.
This calm.
This quiet.
And it will return here automatically.
Effortlessly.
And whenever you use your dominant hand.
You will feel this sense of deep,
Restorative,
Calm wash over you.
Like a gentle wave.
This is your anchor.
It is yours to keep.
And it grows stronger every time you use it.
And now,
Simply resting here in this beautiful,
Quiet state.
Your mind is not empty.
A mind is never truly empty.
But your thoughts are distant now.
Passing by like clouds.
Like stars.
Like leaves on a slow moving river.
You are the stillness beneath all of it.
And in this stillness,
Your brain is doing something remarkable.
It is healing.
Integrating.
Restoring.
Building those new pathways of calm and clarity.
Strengthening the connections that support your peace and your well-being.
You don't need to do anything to make this happen.
It is happening now.
Simply because you are here.
Simply because you chose to rest.
And now,
Very gently,
Begin to become aware of your body again.
The surface beneath you.
The sounds around you.
Take a slow breath in.
And feel how different your mind feels now.
Quieter.
Clearer.
More at ease.
Wiggle your fingers and toes.
Take a gentle stretch if you need to.
And when you're ready,
In your own time,
Allow your eyes to slowly open.
Carry this calm with you now.
Notice your dominant hand whenever you need that anchor.
Notice the color blue.
And let it bring you home to this stillness.
Your mind has learned something today.
And every time you return to this practice,
It learns it a little more deeply.
You are not your thoughts.
You are the vast,
Quiet sky in which they arise and pass by.
And you,
You are at peace.
You are.
