Hello,
Welcome.
My name is Lew Redman.
Thank you so much for practicing with me today.
Today,
We're going to explore practice on working with anxiety and worriful thoughts.
Now,
What we learn in our meditation practice is it's never about the experience that we're having,
It's about our response to it.
And that's how we stay centered.
That's how we work with whatever the emotional experience is.
And the thing about anxiety that I find fascinating is that if we unpack it,
What we see is that our anxiety really just wants the best for us.
It's trying to keep us safe.
It's trying to protect us in the way that it knows how.
And so this practice is going to help you open to whatever the anxiety that you might be having,
And see how it is just keeping you safe.
And not that we need to change it or do anything,
But it's often that just by seeing,
Just by acknowledging that it's trying to protect us in some way,
That it often shifts the entire experience that we have with our anxiety.
And so let's get into this practice.
Wherever you're at,
You're welcome to find a comfortable seat,
Whether you're on a cushion or sitting in a chair,
Closing your eyes if that's comfortable.
You can also just gently look down at one area.
And right away,
Since anxiety often lives so much in the mind,
See if you can bring the awareness to the ground.
And so that might be where your sit bones are touching the chair or the cushion.
Might be how your feet feel on the floor or your legs feel on top of one another.
And see if you can allow the earth beneath you to hold you,
To receive you.
Almost like the earth was like close friends and you're coming over to their home and they open the door and they just welcome you.
Hey,
Come in,
Come in.
You're welcomed here.
You can relax.
Feel like the earth is doing that with you right now.
Hey,
You're welcome here.
Relax.
See how that might soften the muscles in your body,
Relaxing your shoulders.
And doing a scan,
Noticing if there's any tension you're holding,
Seeing if you can allow that to be welcomed and relaxed to.
And to further our centering and noticing the impact of different awareness.
And explore the breath at three different points in the body.
So beginning with experiencing the breath moving in and out of your nose.
And so not forcibly changing the breath,
Just noticing the natural rhythm of breath as it moves in and out of your nose.
And if it helps you stay centered,
You're welcome to silently repeat breathing in when you breathe in and breathing out when you breathe out.
And then shifting the awareness from your nose and bringing it down into your chest.
And so this time feeling the breath moving in,
Feeling it at the center of your nose.
And then moving the awareness from the center of your chest as your body breathes in and breathes out.
Just notice the difference of how this focus feels.
And then lastly,
Moving the awareness from your chest down into your lower belly.
So just below the belly button,
Almost as if you're breathing into your belly.
Just notice how this focus feels.
And then choose one of those that feels the most connecting to you right now.
You might notice as you moved away from your head that it actually felt more grounding to be more in your body,
Especially if you're having some anxiety.
And so this breath focus can always be a tool as you go on through your day,
Noticing where is your awareness?
Can you drop it lower if that's supportive?
And so just choosing one and being with the one of your choice for a few more moments.
And then we're going to keep this breath as an anchor as we go through.
If you feel like you need to recenter,
Just come back to your nose,
Your chest or your belly,
Whichever one felt best for you.
And from here,
From this welcomed,
Relaxed,
Centered place,
The invitation,
If it feels okay for you,
Is to bring into awareness your anxiety.
So there might be a specific thing that you're anxious about,
Some future event coming up.
Or it might be a general anxiousness that you feel and you can't really point towards a specific event.
Maybe it's just state of the world sort of anxiety.
So with compassion,
See if you can not go into any stories about it,
Just start noticing as you bring it into awareness,
Where does it live in your body?
What's the texture?
What's the color?
And just as the floor welcomed us into our practice,
See if you can welcome this anxiety as it is right now.
Just noticing that it's here and staying centered in your breath and breathing and being with it,
Being with how it shows up inside of you.
And then see if you can almost move it away from your body.
So wherever it is,
It just kind of like moves and is now right in front of you.
So you can see this anxiety.
Maybe it's a certain cloud or a color,
And maybe it's just like an energy or sense of it being there.
It might be very big,
It might be very old,
Or it might be a little bit more acute and specific.
So again,
Just being with it,
Seeing it in front of you.
And notice if you have any initial reactions of wanting it to go away or not liking it.
See if you can let those just be there without giving them too much attention.
And see that this anxiety in the only way that it knows how is just trying to help you.
It's trying to make sure everything gets done,
It's trying to make sure your family's safe,
That you're safe.
And so notice what happens if that feels true right now,
To acknowledge it for what it does.
And so you might repeat either silently or out loud,
Thank you for protecting me.
I appreciate you looking out for me.
Thanks for your help.
I see you.
Thank you for trying to protect me.
I appreciate you trying to look out for me.
Thank you for trying to help.
And I add trying in there because it really speaks to the intention because it's,
We know it's not actually helpful,
But it's trying as a positive intention.
So just notice the difference when you said trying or not,
How that felt.
And just notice how you're feeling right now,
How that anxiety energy is.
Sometimes it just wants to be acknowledged that it's doing what it knows how to do.
And often that just softens things.
So that may be happening and it may not be.
Still just trying to stay present with it,
Trying to stay open and acknowledging its positive intention.
And in this posture,
It doesn't actually have to go away.
This is the unlock in this practice.
So often we want to say,
Okay,
Now you can go,
But there's so much power in just letting it be acknowledging it.
If it shows up again today,
Acknowledge it.
I see what you're doing.
I see you're trying to protect me.
And then that way we shift our resistance.
And we noticed that when we shift,
It has the opportunity to shift.
So honoring it one more time.
And then giving ourselves some compassion for exploring this and just being us,
Being human.
You're welcome to put a hand on your heart if that feels right.
And repeating silently or out loud.
And may I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be loved.
May I be at peace.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I be loved.
May I be at peace.
Maybe just giving yourself one of those if they resonated.
And then let's take one final full breath in together.
You can put your hand down if you'd like.
And letting that go.
Very gently in your own time.
Starting to maybe make some movements in your body.
Open your eyes.
You're rolling the shoulders.
You're having a stretch.
Thank you so much for exploring that,
For being with your anxiety,
For trying to see it's good intention.
And I really want to encourage you to bring that with you into your day,
Into your week,
As you notice this showing up.
Can you be with it?
Can you see that it's really trying to help you in the only way it knows how?
It might not be helpful,
But it's trying and sometimes that can just shift things.
I look forward to hopefully practicing with you again very soon.
Take care.
