Hi friends,
Welcome to your meditation.
My name is Amber and if you're feeling overwhelmed and stressed I hope today's practice can help you take a quick break and find some peace.
Let's start in a comfortable position,
Perhaps seated on a cushion or lying down on your back if that feels more supportive.
Close your eyes when you feel ready and take a few moments here to settle into the present moment.
Leave behind any thoughts of what you were doing before this and what's going to come after and just allow yourself to be here for the next 10 minutes or so.
With your hands on your chest or on your belly,
Take a few deep breaths,
Inhaling through the nose and exhaling through the mouth.
Notice how your hands rise and fall with each breath.
And now bringing awareness to your physical body,
Notice any areas of tightness or discomfort without judgment or trying to change anything.
Simply observe these sensations and breathe into them with a sense of compassion for yourself.
As you continue to breathe,
I invite you to imagine a warm glowing light of compassion and understanding.
Start to envelop your body,
Starting from your feet and growing upwards towards the top of your head.
Imagine this warm glowing light soothing any stress or tension you may be feeling.
Allow yourself to feel the comfort of this light and know that if you're feeling burned out today,
You won't always feel like this.
And know that you're definitely not alone.
As the light covers your entire body now,
Allow yourself to sink into an even deeper state of relaxation and peace.
Oftentimes burnout is caused by forgoing or even ignoring your own needs in favor of something else.
And the symptoms can be real and seriously impact your life.
I remember when I had burnout a few years ago,
My stomach hurt all the time,
My body felt weak because I was sitting at my desk all day without any breaks,
And I was extremely irritable.
I would be really negative and I'd start fights with my partner because I was feeling really awful.
If you have burnout,
You might also experience insomnia or lack of motivation and feeling depressed.
And this can happen even if what you're giving yourself to is really important to you and it's something that you want to give your time and energy to.
But we know that for a healthy life,
There must be balance.
Because as wonderful and hard-working and disciplined as we are,
We must acknowledge that we're only human.
We are limited in our time and in our energy and we are not machines.
One kind of simple and funny thing that my meditation teacher taught me is when you're working on something or doing anything really and you notice that you need to use the bathroom,
Don't wait,
Just get up and go.
And as soon as she said that,
I realized that I was in the habit of holding it.
I would just finish that one last email or wrap up the task that I was doing and I was putting off my needs until the last second.
So it sounds silly,
But if you want to avoid burnout and you want to practice listening and responding to your own needs,
Pee when you need to pee.
And as we come to the end of today's meditation,
Bring your awareness back to the body and the breath.
Take a few last deep breaths to close out the practice and open the eyes whenever you feel ready.
Thank you so much for meditating with me today.
If you have any thoughts you'd like to share about today's practice,
Please leave me a comment below.
I always really enjoy hearing about your experience.
Take good care and I look forward to seeing you again next time.
