Hi there,
And thanks for showing up.
Perhaps you've landed here because you're feeling stressed about something.
When we're stressed,
We inevitably go looking for distractions to either not feel the stress or push it away,
Soothe it in some way.
And what I've learnt in my own life when big things come up is that when we can really just be with the stress,
Lean into it,
Go towards it,
Something loosens inside of us.
We also learn to tolerate the feelings,
Because sometimes it's the resistance of the feelings that causes the greatest struggle.
So I invite you now to join me in really being with your own experience of stress in your body and your mind,
And see if you can start by taking a few deep breaths,
Or a few intentional breaths,
To just let your system know that it can land,
That it can be here,
That you can spend this time coming home.
So take a moment to just notice,
However you're sitting,
All the contact points where your body touches the ground or the chair.
Noticing what it is that brought you here,
What you might be struggling with,
What you might be trying to get rid of,
Push away.
And just see if you can notice the thoughts that go with this stress,
But really gently,
Not diving into them or following them,
But just noticing what's there.
Being in the observer self,
Noticing the theme of thoughts or beliefs that are really winding the body up,
Really winding the nervous system up,
Giving you a sense that something's not right,
Something doesn't feel safe.
And now just turning to how those thoughts and beliefs show up in the body.
Stress is never just a mental thing,
There's always a big impact on the body,
There's a bracing,
A tightening,
A holding,
A restricting of the breath.
So just noticing for you where that shows up and what it feels like.
And can you just rest your attention on this?
For example,
Noticing tension in your shoulders.
Can you just put your attention right in there,
In the shoulders?
Noticing the muscles that are gripping,
Pulling.
Almost meeting those muscles and saying hello,
Shaking their hand,
Letting them know you can see them,
You can feel their tension.
You're not trying to get rid of it,
You're just really trying to see it and notice it.
Notice how the body's expressing this.
It's sort of counterintuitive to not want to get rid of stress and tension,
But just see if you can continue bringing your attention back to whatever is there.
Almost thanking the body for giving you these warning signals,
These signals of stress and tension.
Moving your attention right in.
Imagining the individual muscle fibres that are just holding on,
Shortening,
Pulling on the attachments.
Be there right with these muscle fibres.
Just notice what happens as you do that.
Is there any letting go?
Is there an increase of intensity?
Just notice for you what happens and there's certainly no right or wrong here.
Perhaps a little bit of space opens up and you can feel the tension and the space.
Just continue to notice and be with your experience.
And if it feels right,
Just to go back to noticing the thoughts that are there.
Again,
Just lightly putting your attention on the thoughts,
Noticing what's floating on by,
But don't follow it,
Just allow it.
Also from that observing self,
You're just staying with your experience of the thoughts and the physical sensations.
And here you might want to also add the awareness of any emotion that's sitting there,
Whether it be fear or anger,
Resentment,
Worry,
Uncertainty,
Just noticing what comes with this.
And what we're doing here is saying to ourselves,
It's okay to be how you are right now.
Coming home,
Checking back in,
As opposed to what we normally do is check out and run from our stress.
And just notice how your body has experienced this coming home,
Coming towards the stress.
Notice if there's anything different in this experience,
And you can stay here for as long as you wish,
Just being with whatever's there,
Thanking yourself for making this time to
