Welcome.
You're here to ease the weight of your mind and you're in the right place.
Begin by settling into a comfortable seated or laying position and let the body be held by the surface beneath you.
There's no need to hold yourself together here.
Allow the weight of your body to fully drop.
Soften your belly,
Unclench your jaw and allow the breath to come and go on its own for a moment.
There's nothing to do,
No one to be.
So bring your attention to your breath,
Not by controlling it but by sensing it.
Where's the breath most vivid for you right now?
Is it the nostrils perhaps?
The chest?
The belly?
Let your breath be the anchor,
A simple movement you can always come back to even when thoughts begin to swirl.
And now bring your awareness to the feeling of overthinking,
Not the content of your thoughts but the experience itself.
The racing,
The loops,
The way one thought breeds another,
A chain reaction you didn't consciously choose.
Notice what it feels like in your body.
Is there tightness in your head,
A tension in your chest or stomach?
Is it a kind of buzz or fog or pressure?
And without resisting,
Without trying to fix it,
Just see it clearly and gently say to yourself,
This is overthinking and I see you.
When the mind is overthinking,
It's not resting in the present.
It's busy chasing possibilities,
Playing out scenarios,
Solving problems that may not exist.
You don't need to silence the mind forcefully but you can gently disidentify from the voice of the mind.
That voice is not you,
It is activity.
Just like your heart beats and your stomach digests,
The brain thinks,
Thoughts arise,
Pass through,
Dissolve and you are the awareness that notices.
So let's slow things down.
Breathe in,
Breathe out and as you breathe,
Visualize your thoughts as clouds in the sky of your awareness.
Some are fast and dark,
Some are light and harmless and some keep returning,
Looping.
Watch them come and go.
They are not the sky,
You are the sky,
Vast,
Open and untouched.
Now notice the impulse to chase after a thought,
To finish the sentence,
To solve it,
See it clearly.
The mind wanting to hold on and just notice that grasping.
And without force,
Let it go.
Now take another deeper breath in and exhale slowly through the mouth and let's explore what sits beneath the overthinking.
Often beneath the noise of thought is a need for certainty,
Control,
Understanding,
Safety.
So ask yourself gently,
What am I trying to resolve by thinking so much and what am I afraid would happen if I stopped thinking?
Don't answer with words,
Just let the question linger in your awareness and feel the response in your body.
Maybe you'll sense a fear of making a mistake,
Of not being prepared,
Of being judged or maybe there's a subtle sense of unworthiness driving the mind to over perform,
Over prepare,
Over process.
Offer compassion to that part of you,
You can even place a hand on your heart or belly,
Because there's nothing wrong with you for overthinking.
Your system is simply trying to protect you,
But the truth is you are safe right now,
Right here,
There's no threat,
Only breath,
Only presence.
So say to yourself like you would speak to a dear friend,
I don't have to figure it all out right now,
It's safe to pass and I am allowed to rest.
Now visualize yourself sitting in a wide open space,
You're on a hill or a beach,
Somewhere that feels expansive and quiet,
The air is still,
The light is soft and in this space,
All the mental noise begins to slow,
Not because you force it,
But because there's nothing feeding it.
Here there's no rush,
No pressure,
No need to be anyone,
Explain anything or fix anything,
You're simply aware,
The witness,
The one who sees.
Now feel how awareness opens wider when you stop holding on to thoughts,
There's deep stillness that is not empty,
It's full,
Full of aliveness,
Full of presence and this stillness,
This space between thoughts is where your real clarity lives,
Not in the noise,
But in the quiet beneath it.
And when you're ready,
Gently bring the mind to a situation that tends to trigger overthinking,
Hold it lightly in your awareness,
As if placing it in your open palm,
Don't go into the details,
Just notice what it stirs.
And now ask yourself,
Can I relate to this with more space?
Can I allow it to unfold without needing to control every angle?
And can I trust that not all thinking leads to truth and not everything requires thinking?
And now breathe,
Let the breath be steady and soft,
Inhale,
Let it be and exhale,
Let it go.
And now allow the image to fade,
Come back to your body,
The support beneath you,
The air around you and let your senses come online again,
Sounds,
Temperature,
Texture.
And know that you're not escaping the world,
You're re-entering it with a clearer mind and as we close,
Feel the difference in your inner landscape.
The thoughts may still come,
But you've remembered your space around them,
You've remembered your ability to witness without being pulled in.
So breathe in slowly and fill the belly and breathe out gently,
Softening the shoulders and say to yourself,
I am not my thoughts and I choose spaciousness.
Rest here for a few breaths in silence and when you're ready,
Begin to move the fingers and toes,
Maybe gently stretch,
Maybe sway your head from side to side and know that there's no rush.
So let the spaciousness accompany you as you return to your day and you can come back to this place at any time,
Not by changing your life,
But by remembering,
You are not the voice in your head,
You are the one who listens.
Thank you for practicing.
