Welcome to session one of Meditation for Anxiety Relief.
Please maintain a nice posture during this meditation,
But if you need to lie down that is perfectly fine.
Allow your eyes to be softly open,
But let your gaze slowly move down to about four feet in front of you.
No need to fixate on anything in particular,
Just make your gaze general and soft.
Using your peripheral vision,
You can see all around you.
Just let your eyes relax as you gaze down at the floor in front of you,
Allowing your eyes to blink when they need to.
And even though your eyes are open,
Draw your attention to the body.
Notice how you are sitting in the chair or on the floor,
Or laying in your bed.
Feel the ground below you,
Supporting your weight,
And begin to breathe deeply and slowly,
Feeling your lungs as much as you can on the inhale.
And when you exhale,
Just breathe out with a sigh if you like.
Continue to gaze at the ground,
Not looking at anything in particular.
Focusing on how your body feels as you breathe.
Fill the air with oxygen,
And exhale,
Relaxing.
Being gentle with your awareness.
Do you notice your arms resting heavy by your sides?
Perhaps you notice your shoulders.
Allow them to drop down even more.
Breathing in very deeply now that fresh oxygen,
And as you exhale,
Let your shoulders drop even more,
Letting go of tension.
And if you notice your mind is wandering around,
Or you notice you are caught in thoughts,
Simply label this as thinking.
I'm thinking.
And when you notice your thinking,
Return the attention to the body and how it breathes,
And the weight that presses down on the chair below.
As soon as you notice your thinking,
Just say to yourself,
Thinking.
This is your note telling you to return to the breath.
Breathing slowly and gently,
Enjoying this meditation.
Your eyes are softly open,
Looking down just a bit.
Seeing the things within your vision,
But not paying attention to anything in particular.
Your eyes are just receiving light and shape.
And your thoughts will come and take your attention away.
This is completely normal.
It is the nature of the mind.
When you catch it,
Say thinking.
Train your focus to the breath and the awareness of your body resting.
This is how you train your awareness to follow your command.
Rather than getting trapped in anxious thoughts,
You can just say,
Thinking,
The nature of my mind.
And ever so gently guiding the awareness back to your body and how it breathes naturally.
You are doing so well.
If you catch yourself thinking about what you're looking on the floor,
That too is thinking.
Just catch yourself taking your awareness back to your body.
You are still.
You are relaxed.
You have nowhere to go right now.
You are simply training your mind to follow your lead.
This helps you take a step back from anxiety when it has taken control of you.
Anxious thoughts are just thoughts.
When you notice you have an anxious thought,
Just say thinking.
And then guide your awareness back to sitting on the chair or floor or even your comfy bed.
And the mind may get bored of focusing on the breath.
This is completely natural.
You are training the mind to listen to you.
Just keep guiding it back to the breath,
No matter how many times it wanders away.
Thinking.
Return to the breath.
Softly looking at the ground in front of you.
Using the eyes.
Can you feel the quality of the breath coming in and flowing out?
Is it cool or warm?
Feel your body resting on the surface below.
The areas that are pressing lighter and those areas that are pressing down more heavily.
You may find that in this practice,
You discover the natural inner peace that lies beneath all of those thoughts.
Being in a state of peace is your natural state of being.
We are just learning how to get back to it.
And now let's just close our eyes and feel a wonderful wave of relaxation sweep over you,
Coming from the darkness behind your eyelids.
You know what is true for you.
You can notice when thoughts are coming and you can turn away from them if you'd like.
Draw all of your attention now to the heart center,
The center of your chest.
It is here that there is a light that shines out from within you,
Extending to everyone you meet and know.
Focus on your heart center.
What color is this light?
Imagine now someone you truly care about,
Someone who loves you deeply.
Focus on the heart center as you think of them.
Please extend a deep gratitude to this person for their presence in your life.
Allow your heart center to expand with love,
Gratitude.
It is pure passion and peace that comes from your heart center.
This light within your heart is expanding even brighter now.
Feel its beauty.
Enjoy it.
You are doing wonderful practice today.
Gently allow your eyes to open now and notice how the mind automatically goes back to thinking.
But now you have a little more control over it.
Continue practicing this technique and enjoy the other sessions in this anxiety-free course.
It was my honor to guide you here today.
Before you rise from your meditation position,
Take note of how you feel in body,
Mind,
And spirit.
You may go about your day walking with that deep inner peace present in your heart.
You may go about your day walking with that deep inner peace present in your heart.
You may go about your day walking with that deep inner peace present in your heart.
