Cars

This meditation is to help calm a busy mind, by using moving cars on the road as imagery to help place thoughts and have them “drive” away. We understand that it's hard to completely clear the mind, this is a dedicated meditation to help the process.

Transcript

One of the most common things people say to me when we talk about meditation is that I cannot get rid of the thoughts in my mind there's no way I can meditate and if that's you then today's meditation is for you so go and get yourself somewhere comfortable and we'll begin. I've I had a pound for every time somebody said to me I cannot meditate because I cannot get rid of all the thoughts in my head I've got a busy mind it's just not going to be for me I would be a really rich person but the fact is we are not robots we are human beings and thoughts emotions distractions all of these things are all around us and within us and we cannot and in fact should not try to bury them. So what we can do is acknowledge that those things are going to happen and in fact meditation for me isn't about burying and suppressing those things it's about acknowledging that that thought or that feeling or that distraction just happened and then retraining the brain or refocusing the brain onto what I'm choosing to focus on that is meditation not getting rid of the thoughts I've said before actually on many many occasions in meditation I've had a moment of revelation or clarity or genius in my opinion or imagination experience creativity it's been a moment of just brilliance and I wouldn't have had that if I hadn't meditated that day. So we are not about emptying the mind and this is a technique that I use with children so it's suitable for complete beginners or if you're having a really busy minded day and it's imagining that we are standing on the side of a road watching cars and those cars are going to symbolize thoughts feelings emotions so are you sitting comfortably get yourself into your chair or if you're in bed you can do this here at the end of the day and let's just get ourselves settled so allow the feet to be flat on the floor if you are in a chair just put your hands comfortably in your lap on your knees maybe just take a moment to release the shoulders and the neck and just bring the head just slightly down towards the chest below the horizon line and close your eyes or just soften your gaze on a fixed point and just let the volume of life be turned down sounds thoughts feelings just imagine you've got the television remote control and everything is just fading to the background a little but we're not looking to mute so start to feel your breath rising and falling within your body and as you breathe in almost imagine you're having a magnifying glass on your life so looking or seeking anything that might be there and as you're breathing out we're letting it go so that's how we use the breath here so breathing in it's almost like we're looking around to see if there is a thought or a feeling or emotion spotting it breathing out letting it go so let's take two deep breaths together breathing in having an awareness breathing out letting it go one more time breathing in for your nose and out through your mouth if it's comfortable now close your mouth and begin to breathe in and out through your nose so try to slow and lengthen the breath a little i'd like you to imagine that we are standing at the side of a busy road so just imagine we're here imagine you can see the road your surroundings and just allow the mind to be free and if and when a thought a sensation or feeling or distraction arises i'd like you to picture a car or a vehicle traveling from the right hand side of your mind's eye across to the left allow that car or vehicle to disappear off that left hand side of your mind's eye and it might be that the car goes around the block and comes around again from your right hand side and that's fine we just repeat the technique you see the car you watch it travel it disappears and we do this every single time anything tries to get our focus away from what we have chosen and what we've chosen is to feel a connection with our body whether that's the breath or just the weight of the body in the chair or in the bed so just spend these next couple of minutes breathing in looking both ways having an awareness and as you have a moment of thought or distraction allow the car to appear on the right hand side and as you breathe out let the car travel across to the left and let it disappear and this is all you need to do i'm going to leave you for a couple of minutes now just to simply practice this technique let your mind be free and just notice the experience that you are under with your body and you would be the same way let your mind go the next fast forward. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Reviews

No music, just a calm voice led guidance, no distraction. This technique bizarrely brought up a memory I hadn’t had for a very long time, my mum appeared in one of those cars, and drove calmly onto the railway track - she did this during one of her episodes, around 15 years ago, just before being admitted to a secure psychiatric home, I miss her… she had undiagnosed bipolar until that point, all we knew was that we had a bizarre rollercoaster childhood! So today will be filled with my good memories of her… Thank you for sharing this technique! 😊🙏🏻