Anxiety Relief Meditation

This meditation will ground you into your breath and your body, help you get out of your head and bring peace to the nervous system. The meditation is a foundational part of the Heal What Hurts process that teaches you how to heal your emotional triggers naturally through a process of going into the body instead of resorting to lashing out, numbing out, or checking out when you are emotionally triggered.

Transcript

Let this bell be your call home,

Home to yourself.

Notice how you're breathing without changing anything.

Just notice the sensation of breath moving in and out of your nose,

The sensation in the back of the throat,

The rise and fall of your chest and your belly as you breathe,

And the subtle sound of your breath.

Let all your awareness dwell on the breath from the moment it enters through your nose and feel it when it leaves your body.

Now let the inhale become a little bit deeper,

Longer,

And let the exhale be a little bit deeper and longer as well.

Let the exhale invite the body to let something go.

The inhale is fresh,

New energy in the body,

And the exhale is releasing,

Softening,

And letting go.

And now let's do a little straw breathing.

So what that means is you'll inhale through your nose and you'll exhale through pursed lips as though you had a straw between your lips.

So inhale through the nose and exhale through pursed lips.

Let it be like a safety valve that's releasing all the inner pressure.

The inhale is through the nose.

Add your pace.

And the exhale through pursed lips.

Add your own pace a few more times like that.

And now return to your normal breathing,

But let it be complete when you exhale.

So notice if you're cutting the exhale off a little bit and give it its full range to release and let go.

Now zoom in on the inside of your own nose.

And notice how much more detailed your perception of the breath inside the nose can become.

You might notice the temperature more.

Maybe the nostrils don't feel equal.

Maybe one is more open than the other.

Just notice.

And all this focus on the breath may give you an urge to yawn.

If at any time you feel like yawning,

Don't just yawn,

But really yawn.

Let the yawn be a way of releasing tension from the body.

And now as you inhale,

Focus on your throat,

Breathing into the throat.

And as you exhale,

Release any tension residing in the throat.

Now breathe into your chest.

Visualize the chest filling with light.

New breath,

Light into the chest.

And letting go of any tension residing in the chest,

On the right side or the left side.

Even into the shoulders,

Collarbones.

And then breathe into your stomach area,

Right below the ribs in front,

Above the belly button.

Breathing in,

Filling the stomach.

Allowing just a little bit,

If not a lot,

A bit of a tension to leave the body.

And then move into the solar plexus.

Not far from the stomach,

Maybe a little lower and deeper.

Breathing into the solar plexus,

Noticing what's here,

Any tension,

Gripping,

Holding.

And exhaling all the way.

And we'll take the elevator a little further down into the belly button area.

Right behind the belly button,

Around the belly button.

And now into the abdomen,

Into the digestive tract.

Breathing in,

Filling up the area of the belly.

And as best you can,

Letting go of any tension held in the belly.

Belly softening,

Softening,

Softening.

And now all the way into the pelvis,

Bottom of the spine,

Tailbone,

Perineum,

Genitalia.

Breathing in,

And releasing.

Softening,

Relaxing.

And now breathing from the perineum,

The tailbone.

Imagine breathing a strong ray of light from the perineum up through all these energy centers that we move through the spine,

The center column of the body.

Breathing light in up to the top of the head.

And exhale,

Let the light sweep down through the center of the body.

Inhale,

Pulling light up.

Moving through the belly,

The chest,

The throat,

The head,

The top of the head.

And exhaling all the way down.

One more like that.

Breathing light from the bottom to the top.

And releasing all the way.

Keep noticing the sensation of the breath inside the nose.

And then draw the awareness into the right nostril.

So have a sense that you're breathing in and out of the right nostril.

Really tracing the breath in the moment it enters the right nostril.

And back out through the right nostril.

You can bring a visual to it.

Imagine breathing in through the right nostril,

Radiant light.

Radiant light entering the body and exiting out through the right nostril.

And now still breathing in through the right nostril,

Drawing light in.

Exhale through the left nostril.

Imagine the light exiting through the left nostril.

Inhale.

Inhale through the right.

And exhale through the left.

One more time in through the right.

And exhale through the left.

And now this time in through the left.

And out through the right.

In through the left.

And out through the right.

Once more like that.

In through the left.

And out through the right.

Now back in through the right.

Out through the left.

In through the left.

Out through the right.

At your own pace,

Like a V,

In through the right.

Out through the left.

In through the left.

And out through the right.

Okay,

Release that pattern.

Breathe normally in through both nostrils.

Now keep this awareness of the breath.

The sensation of the breath.

The sound of the breath.

And simultaneously bring awareness into the chest.

Allow any muscles that are tight or tense in the chest to soften and relax.

Keep breathing in and out through the nose.

And now visualize the light in the chest like a radiant sun starting to intensify.

Becoming brighter.

More intense.

Radiating now from the chest up through the neck.

The throat,

The sides of the neck,

The jaw.

Still noticing the breath.

Let the light radiate up into the jaw.

The teeth,

The tongue,

The lips.

Inside the nose.

The ears.

The ear canals.

The inside of the skull,

The brain.

The right side,

The left side.

The space between the two halves of the brain.

The right eye and the left eye.

The very center of the brain.

Radiant light in the center of the brain.

Illuminating the brain.

Feel the scalp,

The hair.

The whole head illuminated from the inside.

Light radiating into eyes and ears.

Lips and mouth.

Teeth and tongue.

The whole of the brain.

Still noticing the breath.

Light radiating down through the chest and out into the arms,

The shoulders.

The upper arms.

The elbows.

The forearms.

The wrists.

The palm of the hands and the back of the hands.

The thumbs.

Full of light.

The index fingers full of light.

The middle fingers full of light.

The ring fingers full of light.

And the pinkies,

The palm of the hands,

The back of the hands.

The hands completely full of light.

Notice the hands in space and visualize them full of light.

Feel the energy in the hands.

Let the light radiate from the heart center into the lungs.

Down through the torso into the abdominal organs.

The digestion.

Your pelvis.

Your genitalia.

Your buttocks and your pelvis.

Your hip joints and your thighs.

Your knees and your lower legs.

Your calves,

Calf muscles,

Shin bones.

Your heels,

The tops of your feet,

The soles of your feet.

Your big toes,

Second toes,

Third toes,

Fourth toes,

Fifth toes.

The soles of the feet,

The palm of the hands.

The top of the head,

The right ear,

The left ear.

The whole container of the body.

Breathing.

Everything fully aware inside the body.

Notice the container of the body,

The skin.

The whole envelope of the body.

And the space around the body.

And gently blur the line a little bit between the space around the body and the body.

Let it soften.

Feel your body in space.

Feel the solidity of your body in space.

Notice the breath,

The sound of your breath.

And notice where in the body something is a little contracted,

Not quite able to relax.

Check in.

Maybe your body,

Your intuition goes straight there.

Maybe you scan the body from the throat through the chest.

The solar plexus,

Stomach area,

The belly button,

The lower abdomen.

Notice if there is any area that feels a little tight,

A little contracted.

If it's more than one place,

You can just pick a place,

Any place that is calling to you.

And now visualize that place imbued with light,

Held in light.

If it's a place that you can reach with your hand or your hands,

You might put a hand over it.

And say inwardly to yourself,

I notice this.

I notice this discomfort.

I'm aware of this.

I see you.

I'm willing to feel this.

I'm willing to be with this.

Notice if the energy changes as you bring your hand,

Your awareness,

Your light to this area.

And then bring even more profound words of love and presence to this area.

You might say something like,

I am here.

I love you.

I've got you.

I'm here with you.

You're not alone in feeling this contraction,

This pain.

And notice how the energy responds to this warmth,

This kindness.

And see if you can come up with some words on your own,

Words that you would say to someone who is in pain.

I love you and I'm here.

You're not alone with the pain.

I'm right here.

I've got you.

What are words you can come up with that you would say to someone who is in pain?

Still noticing the breath.

Now release your hand if you were using your hand.

Gently allow your awareness to spread again into the whole of the body.

And say to the point you were holding,

I'll be back.

I want to know.

I want to know how you're doing.

I commit to checking in with you because I love you.

And I'm sorry that I may have failed to check in with you many times when you needed me.

That stops today.

From now on,

We're in this together and I'm with you.

And now let the body hear these words and let the body say in response,

I open myself fully to this love,

To this light,

To this presence.

I allow this loving light in.

I allow this beautiful presence in,

Deeply in.

Like a cup being filled with glorious thick liquid loving light.

And let the cup that contains this loving light get as big as possible.

Wide and tall and broad.

And the wider and taller and broader you allow this interior space to become the more light is poured in.

Let the light say to the body,

I love you and I'm here in abundance.

And let the body say to the light I allow you fully in.

I receive as much love and light as I can possibly hold.

And I vow to expand my capacity for more love and more light and more presence.

I am here.

Now dwell for a moment here with your bigger cup with your more light.

That this light finds its way deeply into all the nooks and crannies of the body.

And now bring the hands to heart center.

And this will be your words.

Call upon this loving light in the center of the heart.

Maybe for you it's the divine it's loving light,

It's God,

It's the goddess,

It's Christ,

It's Allah.

Whatever it is for you,

The most healing,

Loving almighty light in the center of your chest.

Ask this light in your words to imbue you,

To fill you to heal these places that feel contracted.

Divine light please fill every nook and cranny of my body and especially help dissolve and soften and release the knots,

The contractions where energy is not flowing freely in my body.

And release your hands back into your lap.

Amen.