Welcome to the Ask,
Learn,
Heal podcast.
I'm your host,
Mary Jofele,
And in this episode,
I want to explore more about how our emotional and mental well-being can be influenced and benefited by energy healing and meditation practices.
Now,
We all know that much of what we face in our life that causes us distress and a sense of unease and how it presents itself emotionally and mentally,
You know,
These are factors that are really out of our control.
And my hope is that while you listen to some of what I have to offer,
You may find ways that can help support you detach a bit more from the imbalances and the stressors that are showing up,
Those persistent feelings and thoughts that we all have that in some ways are really getting in the way of our well-being.
We're going to learn how we can shift and nurture those and embrace them in a way that can help them heal.
Now,
Our culture really promotes multitasking.
It promotes this sense of being really busy.
And a couple things happen when we are in that state of kind of agitated busyness.
One is that we don't pay attention to the things that are arising for our healing.
We will pretty much want to take care of anything and everyone else before we address our own self-care needs.
So one of my intentions with this podcast is to give you a way through a guided meditation that can really help you begin to settle into being and staying present with some of what's arising with thoughts and feelings that may be a bit uncomfortable.
You know,
Another thing that happens when we're really busy and we're really over-functioning is that our nervous system gets overly agitated.
It really has this sense of heightened alert.
It's always looking for the next thing that's going to happen that won't be helpful and that can be unsettling to us.
And not only is that difficult from a stress level of helping us to feel calm,
It also is really hard on our physical body.
Our cells and organs also take a hit,
So to speak,
When we are going through a lot of hypervigilance and super busyness and not taking the time that we need that we're really being invited to to slow down and pause so that we can heal.
So one of the ways that I approach emotions and how we can begin to kind of touch into what that may be about as we are addressing it for healing is to think of it in terms of the fact that emotions are energy in motion.
And so we all experience a time,
Times in our lives when we feel balanced,
We feel calm,
We're joyful,
We really are quite at peace.
And we love this state and our whole body resonates with that energy.
The energy that's moving,
The energy that is in motion are the emotions of peace and joy and calmness.
So on the flip side,
Of course,
There are lots of life experiences that definitely interfere with our ability to remain calm and centered.
And so that's when these unsettled and emotions that don't feel very good at all start arising.
We start having thoughts that are repetitive,
That aren't helpful at all.
We want to disassociate,
We want to detach from them,
And yet we don't know how.
So we fall back into that little cycle of staying super busy,
Focusing on everybody else's needs,
Doing something else and not,
Again,
Focusing and nurturing what we're actually noticing is arising.
So in a little bit,
I'm going to be offering a guided meditation with the hope that you'll practice it not only as you listen to this podcast,
But perhaps revisit it over and over again to help you begin to recognize how you can begin to shift some of those uncomfortable and unhelpful emotional and mental states that are interfering with your overall well-being.
So when we take a look at the kind of healing that I'm talking about today,
Especially when it comes to emotional and mental health,
If we look at it from a body-mind-spirit approach,
I think it can be a really helpful way to recognize that by nurturing the wholeness of ourself,
The physical,
The emotional,
The mental,
And the spiritual,
We're taking a body-mind-spirit approach.
It can actually be very helpful when we intentionally bring a deeper awareness to what we're experiencing.
And we can do this with big situations and small situations.
So in the guided meditation that you will experience,
You'll have an opportunity to bring something into your awareness that you may be aware of when it comes to an emotion or a thought that's just kind of getting in the way.
It's your choice if you want to work with something that's a longstanding issue or if you so choose and prefer to pick something a little bit more recent,
That is going to be your choice.
So when I'm talking about nurturing what's arising.
When I'm thinking about the thoughts and the feelings that we experience every day,
All the time,
And to think about embracing them,
Nurturing them,
And allowing them to heal.
You know,
This is not just wishful thinking.
There's a lot of science to support how by bringing a mindfulness approach to this type of healing,
It can really influence life in general and actually make a significant impact on overall physical health.
So over the last few decades,
We have really seen an increase in the focus of mindfulness.
We're seeing it in schools and businesses and in hospitals and in faith communities.
This whole focus on mindfulness practices,
I really think we can track way back to about 40 years ago when Jad Kabat-Zinn actually had this groundbreaking work that he presented known as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction.
It really is a practice that's beautiful and can help us heal those unsettled emotions and thoughts that,
If left unaddressed,
Spin in a circle and just continue to cause more distress.
The meditation that I would like to share with you today is known as a Loving-Kindness Meditation.
It's also known as Metta Meditation.
It's incredibly simple and profoundly effective.
It promotes this sense of self-compassion.
It decreases stress and anxiety,
Reduces pain at a physical level,
Really draws in the sense of unconditionally healing whatever is arising.
And it can be directed for ourself or it can be directed at anyone and everyone else.
For the guided meditation that I'm going to be offering,
I really would like you to direct it on yourself.
The reason I ask you to do that is that it is so easy for us to want to take care of somebody else,
Want to offer healing for someone else,
And yet right now this is your time.
This is about self-care.
And so in the next few minutes as we move into this meditation,
I really want you to allow yourself to be the one that is being nurtured by yourself,
By your inner healer.
Bringing a sense of loving-kindness to yourself may not be something that's easily done.
You know,
It is kind of counter-cultural to offer self-care to ourselves.
We continue to work with the little saying,
Self-care is not selfish.
So the more we can nurture ourselves,
It's going to help us feel better.
We're going to be more balanced physically,
Emotionally,
Mentally,
And spiritually.
We are going to show up in the world much more healed and gentle and empowered.
So what I would like to have you do at this time is to begin to find a place that you can shift into a comfortable position for the next few minutes.
I'm going to invite you to close your eyes and very gently simply begin to take a few slow deep breaths.
And just focus on your breathing.
Imagine that each breath that you draw in is traveling through your body,
Moving through all the cells,
Gently nurturing every part of your body.
And breathing in,
Begin to focus on your heart.
And within your heart space,
Place that emotion or thought that feels dysregulated and out of balance.
It could be a feeling that has been longstanding or one that is more recent.
And as you focus on your breathing,
As you focus on your heart.
And as you focus on the feeling or thought that you have placed within your heart to nurture and to heal,
Choose a very kind and positive phrase that you can direct towards yourself and towards this feeling or thought.
You may say,
May I be happy.
May I be safe.
May I be joy.
May I find peace.
Choose this kind and positive phrase just for you and direct it towards yourself,
Towards your heart,
Towards the feeling or thought that you have placed within your heart for healing.
And as you continue to breathe,
Slowly repeat this phrase and notice its meaning and notice how it makes you feel.
And continue to slowly repeat the phrase.
And if you get distracted,
Simply return back to the phrase,
Back to your breathing,
And back to your heart,
Continuing to offer this beautiful nurturing phrase of kindness,
Of loving kindness to yourself.
Now,
Begin to focus on your breath once again.
And this time with the intention of slowly beginning to bring your awareness back into the space where you are resting,
Back into present moment.
Each breath bringing your awareness of your surroundings more clearly present to you.
And gently take a couple more slow,
Easy breaths as you begin to move and wiggle your fingers and hands.
Begin to feel the weight of your body as you shift back more into awareness of physicality.
And very slowly open your eyes,
Offering gratitude for this meditation.
Now,
With this loving kindness metta meditation,
This time that you continue to be kind to yourself and offer a positive phrase,
Bringing your awareness of your breath and of your heart and of your healing intention,
You can rest in that space for as long as you so choose.
And for now,
As you're shifting back,
An important question for you to ponder is,
What was that experience like for you?
And what kinds of shifting did you notice?
As I mentioned before,
Sometimes spending some nurturing time for ourself can be really uncomfortable.
And if you're finding that that is the case for you,
That's okay.
Work slowly with this practice,
Perhaps just for a short few minutes like we just experienced.
And in time,
Allow yourself to feel what you're feeling without judgment,
Paying attention to whatever you noticed,
And allowing yourself to recognize that you are healing.
If you have a guided meditation journal,
Which I have talked about in previous podcasts,
I would encourage you to work with the journal as you are doing this simple loving kindness meditation,
Because this also is where some powerful insights can come through as we let our guard down and spend time with spirit,
With that inner healer.
Sometimes,
Actually talking with a friend or somebody else who you can really feel that you can offer in a trusting way,
Some reflection for your own self-care practices can be really a fabulous way to also support your emotional and mental healing,
And really benefits that state of wellness.
So,
The beauty of this whole loving kindness meditation is that it actually can be repeated wherever you are,
Whenever you want.
We just bring our awareness to our breath,
To our heart.
We focus on a feeling or a thought that is arising for us,
And we offer a positive phrase,
A kind phrase that sets the intention of what we're choosing to live into.
This is a practice that can be repeated for short periods of time in your life,
Or it may be something that you incorporate in some way or another into a lifetime self-care practice.
Whatever you choose to focus on is wonderful,
Because you're the healer.
Remember,
You're in charge of what it is that's arising.
And baby steps,
Again,
If you are new to this practice and just are beginning to get your feet wet as to how to take care of yourself from a way of not feeling like it is burdensome to others,
But that actually it's a blessing to them when we spend time healing ourself.
Many blessings.
Be well.
I want to thank you for joining me again today.
