Guided Practice For Driving

This is a 13-minute guided meditation designed for you to listen safely while driving in your car. It will provide practice for opening yourself up to an awareness of the mind and body and begin experiencing your senses with a beginner's mind. This is an excellent daily practice to help build resilience and strengthen our capacity to observe, rather than judge or interpret.

Transcript

Good morning or afternoon or whenever you're listening to this.

This recording is intended for when you're driving,

When you want to ground yourself and use that time to practice your one-pointed focus so as not to get caught up in too much thinking.

Sometimes we think that when our minds spin we come up with amazing solutions and it doesn't quite work that way.

Brainstorming is most effective when one is relaxed and in creative mode,

Meaning ready to work rather than avoid.

So what I want you to do is take a deep breath in and out,

Deep breath in and out.

And as you're driving or begin to drive we're going to focus on our senses,

Beginning with our sense of touch.

So I just want you to pay attention with an open curiosity,

Meaning not trying to label it,

Not trying to relate something to it,

Just an open experience as though you've never experienced it before.

The feeling of your feet on the pedals or pedal.

Can you sense where your foot is touching the pedal and just place your awareness on that particular part of your body.

And now moving up your legs,

If your calves or the back of your knees are touching any part of the seat.

Just see if you can sense that sensation of where they are touching.

Again not labeling it.

And try not to go off in your mind like what is this about?

This is bizarre.

Just stay with the meditation,

The active meditation,

Just being aware and allowing yourself to be empowered knowing you can train your thoughts.

You can navigate through the monkey mind that spins from branch to branch to thought to thought.

And if at any given time you wander off some place,

You start thinking or judging or relating,

Just come back to wherever we are.

Sometimes taking a deep intentional breath can really help ground you back into this moment where we are.

Go ahead and move on to your upper legs,

Your hamstrings,

Your thighs.

Sensing all the sensations,

Whether it be sitting in the seat,

The part that touches your body,

Your bum,

Your hamstrings,

Again the back of your knees,

Maybe your hand is resting on one of your legs,

Just notice it.

And then moving up your torso,

The front of your chest,

Noticing where the seat belt is touching across your chest and of course down across your lap,

Your lower abdomen.

Sensing your back in the seat,

The sensation of your back being supported but not being locked in in any way,

Meaning you can get up and get out when the car is hopefully stopped and parked.

But this is an important point to know that at any given time when we feel like we're stuck,

When we feel like we are stuck in our thoughts,

We are not tied,

We are not backed in a corner,

We are not caged or locked in,

We can simply choose.

And our breath reminds us of that liberty.

The breath and coming back to the breath,

Being intentional with it,

Moderating it,

Regulating it,

Is the most effective way to begin to regulate your nervous system.

Your brain has a nervous system,

Your heart has a nervous system and even your stomach,

The gut has a nervous system.

And the breath is the most effective moderation tool above and beyond any kinds of surgery or medication.

Learning to breathe as simplistic as it sounds,

Deep intentional breaths will bring you back.

So now that I've been talking,

You may have been listening and trailing off while you were listening.

Again,

That's okay.

Anytime that you sense yourself doing that,

Just come back to where we are right here right now.

Want you to sense your arms and your hands,

How they're resting on the steering wheel.

Just being aware of how your body comes in contact with something outside of you,

Something external,

And just being aware of where those points are and knowing you are not glued to those spots.

At any given time,

You can let go and remove yourself from them.

Take a few more deep breaths and now we're going to shift to our sense of sight.

And I want you to just pay attention,

Even more so of course,

To the things that you see in your path as you're driving along.

Gently noticing them,

But try not to label them.

So if you see another car,

Try not to label it a car.

Just notice it without having to put a reference or a relatable terminology to it.

Just notice.

You could even say thing,

But the goal is to try not to even bring any type of reference to mind.

And although our brain and mind is wired to think in reference points,

Not in absolutes,

This is an excellent practice to build resiliency,

Neutrality.

When things are pulling you from an emotional standpoint and you feel yourself getting activated and anxiety is rising,

This practice,

Not just when you're,

And especially not just when you're anxious,

But just doing this practice daily will really help you reset that temperature gauge so to speak of where you begin to get stressed.

You can just notice all these things happening outside of you and you're not trying to label them.

You're not trying to dig in and what did that mean?

What did he really mean by that?

Or what did she really mean?

You're not trying to internalize tones or analyze them.

You're just noticing because all of those things are beyond our control.

The only thing that we can manage is ourselves and our reactions.

And perception is not knowledge because perception is subjective.

Knowledge is power.

Perception is limited.

So continue to practice paying attention now to both senses,

Your sight and your touch and allow that to carry you for the next several breaths.

Again,

Just opening your awareness,

Inviting your awareness,

Body and mind awareness to pay attention to your sense of touch and your sense of sight.

And we'll just work with those today and build upon that practice.

You can certainly feel free to introduce a sound because that would probably be the most easiest one next.

But just keep looking,

Noticing with beginner's eyes,

Meaning that you have never seen any of those things before.

So you have no need to try to make sense of them,

But just rather observe them with curiosity.

Trying to breathe in and breathe out,

Giving yourself grace and gratitude for taking this time to focus on the most important aspect of your life.

Your mental fitness,

Your mind,

Body,

Spirit,

Health.

You don't have to spend hours and hours just building one step at a time,

One day at a time,

One moment at a time.

If we get it wrong,

Although I don't like to use the words right and wrong,

But if we make a choice in a moment or are reactive in a moment,

The next moment and the next moment and the next moment,

As long as we're breathing,

We have another opportunity to choose different,

To choose something else that aligns with our values.

So let every moment be your moment here and now.

Breathing in and breathing out,

Feeling proud of who you are,

All of the gifts and skills you've been given,

Knowing that everything has its opposite.

So yes,

Sometimes those things may get in your way,

But when you are conscious and you take a moment for yourself and know that you don't have to do it all,

That the most important thing you need to do is just be,

Just be present,

Be here,

Right here,

Right now,

The only time that we have.

And when you do that,

Things become clear.

Thank you for meditating with me.

Have a great day.

Reviews

Thank you. An excellent practice for my morning commute.

Awesome for driving! Thank you!🙏🏼💖

Beyond helpful while driving. THANQ!

Very different to what I've been practicing recently but absolutely wonderful experience.
Thank you for creating this ❤

🌸

Thanks

This was great. It was calming and reorienting without being sleepy or distracting.

Insightful, entertaining, funny and soothing Meditation! I will enhoy riding even better now. Thank you!