Hot Air Balloon Imagery To Promote Healing

Embark on a serene journey with Patricia Daiker, Holistic Nurse Coach, as she guides you through a unique meditation using the metaphor of a hot air balloon. Engage your energy body and activate the parasympathetic nervous system to foster relaxation and balance. Unleash your brain's potential by creating a blueprint of wellness, paving the way for a healthier and more fulfilled life.

The first half of the session provides insights and instruction, the last 30 minutes is the guided meditation.

Transcript

Hello,

Please enjoy this previously recorded live session Featuring guided imagery to promote healing and optimal wellness So tonight the topic is hot air balloon,

And I will tell you about that and why we're going to do it.

So Tonight I always use guided imagery,

But I wanted to dig into the pathophysiology of it just a little bit so Guided imagery is certainly a holistic idea right putting images in our mind and creating the future that we dream of So we can have a pic You know,

It's like someone playing golf You have to see it in your mind with the perfect golf swing sort of along that lines,

But it can also be more Obtuse right so we can create images in our mind That evoke a feeling and response in our physical body and that's what we're gonna do tonight So if we think about how our brain our physical brain and nervous system works,

It's receiving data all the time It's receiving visual input auditory input taste input smell input Sensation it knows where your body is in space,

Right?

It's keeping us balanced it senses Intuitively,

Maybe someone walking up.

We might get a vibe that somebody's good or bad,

Right?

There's a lot of different Sensory information that's being processed Your you know,

You're it's called prio perception But that's your ability to feel something and kind of know what the shape is without seeing it So there's a lot of stuff that our brain takes an input in the form of waves mostly some sort of wave that creates some sort of stimulus on the receptor in our eyes ears nose skin somewhere and That is translated into an electrical impulse that travels through your neuron and somehow in our brain those nervous impulses get Translated into an image an idea a thought and we create labels judgments and ideas around it Can be a good thing.

It's a double-edged sword so it's good to see an apple and remember that that's an apple and know that's an apple right that we Attach those labels and that's how we communicate and we're able to talk with others and share ideas But also sometimes we get input and we start labeling well that's good or that's bad or I should or I shouldn't and some of those labels can get sort of Sideways sometimes right?

So our brain though.

It's its job.

It processes information.

It's a mega processor it processes It's storing things.

It's making relationships.

It's making ideas from input Input is what I want to talk about specifically.

So when we think about the world around us our external environment It's processing that sort of stuff Likewise we can have an image an idea a thought and so we'll do an exercise with this in a little bit but when we do our meditation,

But you know,

We can We can see the color red and our brain knows red we can think of the color red and our brain also knows red So literally inside of our brain the physical organ doesn't really know where the signals are coming from whether they're imagined or real Which is why anxiety can be Evoked from a memory,

Right?

We think of something in the past our brains like oh,

I remember that that was terrible That made me uncomfortable We can project into the future Oh something bad is gonna happen And so our body reacts to something that's made up inside of our brain from pulling a memory or projecting into the future so It's a good and a bad thing,

Right?

So it's good to kind of forecast what's gonna happen because it helps us know where to place our foot when we're walking It helps us drive all the things so our brain is constantly constantly doing that Our brain also has a negativity bias where it kind of looks for the worst stuff and that is a survival mechanism,

Right?

So we're looking for the hole in the road.

We're looking for something flying out us from out of nowhere We're always looking for that.

I Think it's a great a great necessity to Also,

Give your brain some other images that evoke different Sensations and different commands are giving given to the body.

So that's what we're gonna do tonight We're gonna put some stuff in our mind and I'll lead you through it.

That really is gonna help us Get beyond this kind of logical brain and tap into something a little bit deeper,

Right?

So a lot of healing When there's fear associated with healing What if I'm not okay?

What if it doesn't work?

What if what if all that stuff or it's gonna hurt or what am I gonna do?

There's so much fear about the unknown or the perceived future and So that fear puts us into fight-or-flight state or sympathetic nervous system and healing doesn't happen there So we want to be in our parasympathetic state,

Which is rest restore Right,

And so these states are we're kind of always fluidly going in and out of them So we want to swing over as much as we can into the state of rest and relaxation and restore So that's what we're gonna do so as we do this tonight know that What you're cooking up in your mind as you listen and we go along and we make some analogies and think of some pictures Your brain believes that right your brain is gonna get an agreement with that because it sees it It's having that input just like if it were outside.

So it's um,

It's one of those biohacks,

Right?

We can use our brain and our body and our breathing to help get us into a state That is conducive to things that we want All right.

So that was sort of the the idea behind the exercise tonight So gather your friends get yourself comfy get a good drink of water So you're hydrated and get ready for this little journey that we're going to take together And know that what you're doing is wonderful for your body.

It's a good gift to yourself So I always like to begin with the idea of gathering.

I think it's um,

You know there's at least 24 souls who have tapped into this space and we are together and that coming together of minds of energy of Common experience creates a little bond between us.

So I think if we breathe together that enhances that bond So let's just take a breath.

Ah All right,

And turn off the day All right,

Breathe in deeply Feel those lungs expand and actually stimulate your nervous system to help shift you into a more calm state And we're gonna do a little bit more of that in a minute But as we gather I want you to imagine good friends good fortune.

This is a place that is safe I hope you're in a safe space place where you won't be disturbed Where you feel like you can let your hair down relax your shoulders Take a moment away.

Take a little break bio break mental break Breathe I feel like you're among friends.

There's no judgment here right,

There is no Right or wrong.

We're all doing the best we can and the fact that you showed up Said that you're doing something good for yourself,

Right?

You're doing some work to in a positive direction breathe that in I'm okay in this moment.

I am well,

Right?

I like that idea of the collective our energies coming together You know when we offer ourselves up,

So we offer our healing energy to everyone here.

We take what we need from the group It's freely shared and freely given And so as we begin this process,

I always like to start with what's called polyvagal breathing It's a technique to stimulate your vagus nerve which slows down your heart rate.

It slows down your blood pressure It shifts a lot of your internal Metabolism and signaling that all is well So it is the opposite of panting what you do when you're scared or running This breathing technique that we will do is a signal It's a biohack to your body that all is well because you would not be breathing slow and deeply and relaxed like we will do If all was not well,

So thinking all as well as one thing but actually triggering your body at a physical level Ratchets things up Tenfold it's so much better for you.

So this exercise is simple We breathe in through the nose with closed lips to account for we breathe out to account of eight out through the nose again I want you to track your breath as it goes in through your nose the back of your throat kind of into your head Traveling down into your chest Imagine it expanding into your belly all the way down to your tailbone And obviously the breath doesn't go that that far but your inner expansion does that stimulates a lot of nerve receptors It stimulates your vagus nerve and this long Contracted prolonged exhale that we will do even further slows things down shifts us out of fight-or-flight Helps us find that peaceful calm state that is the precursor to our meditation I'll also guide you to kind of to go through the body up and down will release to the heavens Sometimes sometimes we'll shift and release to the ground and on that exhale.

I want you to melt and let it go Right,

Either let it go to the earth and be reabsorbed.

Let it go to the heavens and fizzle away Whatever those energies are whether they need to go down or up.

You don't have to decide to surrender Let them go and choose to Sort of get involved in this moment So let's get our chime bell and get going Give you a little bell to begin Let's begin by taking a deep breath in through your nose to the count of four three Two one Exhaling out fully two three four five six seven Eight breathing in from the earth up through tail Expanding to belly fully into chest up into head exhale to sky two three four five six seven eight Drinking in breath from above through head into chest into belly into tail surrender to the earth to Three four five six seven eight Drawing breath fully from the base through tail Expanding belly fully into chest up to your head and soften and let go to sky two three four five six seven eight breathing in two three Three four releasing fully two three four five six seven eight Pulling grounded energy from tail to belly to chest to head relinquishing to the sky above two three four five six Seven eight pulling energy through head chest belly and tail melting and softening to the earth two three four five six seven eight Full deep breath tail belly chest and head Sprinkling and surrendering back to sky two three four five six seven eight drinking crisp clean air from above through head chest belly and tail Melting and surrendering to earth two three four five six seven eight Six seven eight Last strong breath drawing strength from our stable earth through tail into belly fully into chest up into head Letting go to the sky above two three four five six seven eight I want you to just notice your body notice any shift Let your breath just become its own rhythm Notice the softening Maybe a little bit more peace a little bit more ease Let that feeling wash through your physical self Allow it to be true Just notice what you notice Notice what your body does after this breathing exercise Maybe you shifted a little Maybe you shifted a lot maybe somewhere in between it's a practice it gets better with time But that slow deep intentional breathing is a signal to your autonomic nervous system that all is well It shifts you into a state where your resources are not readied for the fight they are turned inward for restoration peace and maintenance From this place of healing From this place of deep care for yourself and your soul and your physical body Will offer these intentions tonight May we be curious about our health and our bodies May we be willing to feel our feelings and unseek to understand them May we be connected with our inner self to know our needs and our boundaries May we be confident to do the things necessary to care for ourselves And may we be fearless to speak our truth If any or all of these resonated with you,

Maybe linger there a moment repeat it to yourself Perhaps you have another one that makes sense for you today But it's some purpose some reason something that you would like to work towards Something you'd like to manifest and create in our time together As we get started I want to do a quick exercise just to show you a little bit about the body and the senses So I want you just first to notice If you still have your eyes open what you see All right the light coming in your eyes the colors the objects The things that you are visualizing and that is because light is hitting your eyeball Going through the lens to the back of your eye To these little photoreceptors that turn that light energy into electrical energy That travels to your optic nerve and somewhere in the dark vastness of your brain and images created I want you to listen to my voice the sounds in the room as waves enter your ear canal Vibrate the tympanic membrane in your ear causing tiny little bones to move creating a physical Movement into a wave that creates an electrical impulse I want you to notice the taste in your mouth Perhaps the last thing you ate,

Maybe it's dry whatever your mouth feels and tastes like Notice the smells in the room Often we don't notice our own smell our own place our own time And notice what your skin feels like the texture the temperature the humidity Just notice the vibe in your room the level of comfort How you feel?

Everything that's happening in this moment now We're very familiar with all these aspects,

This is how we navigate our external world I Want you to do the same experience Except for I want you to notice your inner world and go ahead and close your eyes if you're comfortable doing that So I want you to imagine in your mind's eye the color red And you know the color red imagine a tree We have we can create that tree and we see the branches the bark I want you to smell what that tree smells like or perhaps smell what that apple smells like Hold that apple in your hand and feel its texture its coolness Take a bite and taste So we know these things intuitively inside our brain so we can explore our senses internally and externally And I think it's just a good reminder that what's going on inside Is just as real as what's going on in the world as we perceive these things as they come to us in our brain processes So we're gonna leverage that fact that trueness tonight on this adventure So I want you to get comfortable find a place that you are warm not too hot not too cold Or you won't be disturbed Your sanctuary a safe place.

I want you to feel comfortable.

I want you to enjoy this gift And all I ask is that you listen and follow And as we talk about different areas of your body,

I want you to feel them at their healthiest their best We are going to create a roadmap tonight for healing and for your highest good So as we relax we notice our body and the support beneath us a chair a bed the floor You see our physical form in this place in this time I want you to breathe and follow your breath in and out through your nose I want you to breathe and follow your breath in and out through your nose And settle your breath in your heart Just let it breathe in and out noticing the choreography of your breath and your heart This breathing and slowing down creates Information and influence to your whole system Getting your heart and rhythm with your breath Getting your breath and rhythm with your body Getting your heart rhythm with your mind Breathe into your heart and imagine joy love peace Happiness health Freedom abundance Just imagine what that feels like and feel that in your heart as you breathe and let that feeling wash over you Enjoy it The life that comes in you with every breath Your heart and your chest But also notice your brain travel upwards Travel upwards And think about what you didn't notice in your brain if one side or the other is predominant Do you notice one side feels a little more tense?

One side is maybe where you're thinking you notice your thoughts might be to the right or to the left Might feel like one side has more space than the other Just notice what's going on inside your skull.

Is there a little more tension on one side than the other?

That's often How we use our brain?

Often the left side of our brain is our thinking analytical mind So I know for me personally that side of my brain feels full and on and overworked And my right side feels a little bit more open and unused So I just want you to notice if you if there is any imbalance or difference from side to side And I want you to imagine two pools of water on each side of your brain right down the middle right and left And there are two pools and perhaps they're uneven.

Perhaps one is more full and one is more empty I want you just to Relax and surrender and allow those pools of water to find their way Allow those pools of water to find balance So the one that is full might flow over to the one that is more empty The side that is more empty might fill up and expand You might move your head back and forth allowing things to even out to calibrate To balance to become in rhythm in unison And Filling up the side that is less used less busy Relieving pressure on the side that is more full I want you to find This balance and I want those two pools of water to come together I want you to experience unity Of a one single pool balanced evenly in your brain I want you to drop a pebble and notice the ripple rippling out across your entire brain peaceful easy relaxed And that peaceful calm lake in your mind Is now carried throughout your entire body You are relaxed You're at ease You are comfortable We have love and joy and peace in our heart we have balance Coherence in our in our brain And it's from this place that we begin a journey So I want you to imagine a hot air balloon And your legs your lower extremities Are the tethers that are anchoring this balloon to the earth Strong Anchored grounded Your feet connecting with the earth These are these cords coming from your hot air balloon down to the ground Strong connected flexible This is the part of the hot air balloon that is holding you to the earth and this is your legs your feet your knees your pelvis The foundation of you is a foundation and connection of this hot air balloon You might notice a little give a little buoyancy Perhaps you can feel the earth beneath your feet As you notice this hot air balloon in a field feel the strength the connection The purpose taking This hot air balloon to the earth from your lower extremities your feet your knees your hips I want you to move your awareness up into your abdomen This is the center of your energy The organs of your abdomen are working in perfect harmony to create fuel and life force they are Taking the food that you eat Digesting transforming it into energy for your entire body I want you to imagine this to be the fire of the hot air balloon Imagine every system in perfect harmony digestion flowing easily Getting the most benefit and the most nutrition out of your food Your organs your liver your spleen your pancreas providing enzymes Your liver and your kidneys filtering to make sure that this engine this fuel is running cleanly It is processing cleaning clearing repairing stirring up energy and stoking the fire that is Burning deep within you.

It is the energy center for your whole body I want you to imagine in this hot air balloon.

This is the heat source the fuel That will fill this hot air balloon So I want you next to move up into your chest the home of your heart and lungs So this is the basket this is the basket that contains the passengers on this journey It is the home of your spirit self It is safe It is secure it is inhabited by your wisest spirit self And into this basket we invite all aspects of you every aspect of your being Is invited and welcome?

To enter this basket to go on this journey I want you to imagine your infant self coming aboard Being held by your wise spirit self The toddler and child version of you with excitement and glee climbing aboard Your teen self awkward And often confused but coming along anyway the young adult version of you finding your way Perhaps the parent or the older adult version of you Every aspect of yourself is welcome The door is open.

There is room for everyone and no one is excluded There is acknowledgement of every aspect of you That has served a purpose an acknowledgement of every part of you that has served you in some form The part of you that might have carried grief or shame The part of you that perhaps felt isolated or left behind The part of you that worked very hard the part of you that created The part of you that stepped out of bounds and pushed the limits The part of you that was suffered or hurt and held your pain The parts of you that have felt fear And contained and held your fear so you could move forward The parts of you that loved deeply and freely The parts of you that spoke up the parts of you that kept silent all of you No one is excluded you welcome all aspects of yourself There is room There's comfort There's safety in this basket,

Which is your chest your heart beating full of love Your breath giving you life life to each aspect of you these fractured parts perhaps of yourself that Don't always get included that may feel left behind left out or unacknowledged But on this journey in this basket,

Which is your heart your chest your breath They are all together They are all safe.

They are all wanted In this place of connectedness in this loving place in your heart in your chest You feel the energy beneath your feet from the fire below Warming your collective and complete self Incomplete self from this place of love from acceptance from agreement Your desires begin to emanate The things that you want your hopes your wishes They build as they are warmed from the fire below coming together focused clarified These ideas of things that you might desire in your life Perhaps it's truth Perhaps it's healing Perhaps it's love More joy Hope happiness freedom Connection abundance Ease peace grace Whatever it is Take a moment and just notice what you the collective you in your chest in this safe buoyant place this basket of love tethered to the ground What it needs and what it wants Feel the warmth the consolidation the coming together Clarity And as these thoughts begin to crystallize and form the fire burns brighter These thoughts and ideas begin to rise Moving up through your throat Imagine your throat The tendons and bones and connection of your throat to your head Much like the tethers between the basket and the balloon And these desires right at rise up Past your thyroid through your windpipe Ascending into your brain And now these thoughts these warm swirling mists arrive in your brain And you see them over that pool of clear water balanced Maybe like a smoky mist The rising heat creates lovely easy,

But a powerful ripple That begins to propel the balloon upward You feel it begin to take off The heat the upward draft The culmination of your thoughts and your desires moving upward swirling over this lake filling this beautiful balloon Rising towards your wholeness your desires Carrying all of your passengers your creators and all aspects of you up with it The more the balloon rises and fills More energy is emanating heat from your belly Rising into your chest to this basket of your soul Full of your purpose and your desires And this smoky mist rising This shimmering light that is filling your balloon Cascading across this lake in your mind And it's seeping into every part of your brain It is disrupting these patterns that no longer serve you This mist this idea this truth this reprogramming Finds its way into your topmost center Top of your brain your cerebral cortex your thinking mind It seeps deeper into your midbrain to your cerebellum to your autonomic nervous system Disrupting patterns that no longer serve Infiltrating and taking deep roots planting in your deepest dreams and desires into your parasympathetic nervous system That part of you that is unconscious that is running in the background your desires your collective your wishes Your dreams are being implanted Just imagine this coming up again rising from your belly through your chest Where all of you is in unison and agreement about your direction Rising up sparkling shimmering filling this balloon in your brain And there is no way to escape these desires Your desires become the new program guiding you Giving information to your brain on what should happen in your physical body And your brain opens up and receives it It willingly accepts this image that you have created of wholeness of a future full of peace love healing joy Acceptance It sees and receives this image in your mind The smiling glittering mist travels from your brain invading every cell every nerve And it begins to snake down your spinal cord branching out to every cell in your body With this new information of truth of wholeness of repair of joy of possibility And you feel a tingling sensation from your brain Down your spine wrapping around to every part of you The sparkling shimmering light of your truth of your future Invades your circulatory system and your heart begins pumping the same message That is flowing through you changing your blood changing the fluids changing the proteins Aligning with your healthiest version of yourself This new program is being executed This new biology is becoming truth And this new wholeness is realized within you Just let this feeling move through you This fire in your belly this deep and earthly sense This energy that rises up Holding together all aspects of yourself your whole self Your truth your deepest wisdom And that energy continues to repel this balloon upward upward Upward upward You surrender in this balloon you surrender to this journey in the direction of your destiny But still there's a little bit of weight And so from the basket from your chest from your heart You throw out the deep heavy rocks that are in your basket You throw out doubt You Throw out worry And the balloon rises higher You get rid of some of the fear.

It's thrown overboard.

You rise higher.

There's more room and more space You throw out feelings of judgment feelings of unworthiness you let it go The tethers from the ground are broken loose and your balloon is soaring skyward loosed free Carried away in the direction of your energy lifted by your desires This fuel this idea emanating up into this balloon,

Which is your brain Taking hold and taking root As you hold your truths and beliefs and desires deeply in your heart Wrapped and agreed upon by all aspects of yourself The fire is fueled the balloon travels more intently in the direction of your whole self Sending out stronger and true truer signals to your brain creating a ripple and a circular effect Be here in this journey in this basket looking out over your future and your past Agree with it Allow it Receive it Be grateful for this journey this mental Path we've chosen this image we have created Notice what it feels like to float notice what it feels like for your truth to burn forth Notice what it feels like for some of yourself to become more whole If you're thinking maybe we need to rebalance the brain Come back to the image of the lake If you're feeling weak,

Let that fire burn in your belly The fire in your gut And the wanting in your heart is the only fuel That can direct your journey Protect it Feed it with your truth your purpose What do you see from this vantage point What is the experience of being untethered being fueled by your desires?

And of laying down a new blueprint of health and healing in your brain That your whole body is in agreement with Enjoy this ride this freedom your own body Creating the energy to create your future Your own body creating the energy to create your future Your heart rewriting the program that your brain must follow Because now you see it You have this image in your head,

Which is just as real as anything on the external world You have a new blueprint for your future I want you to sit in this truth for a moment feel it Receive it Notice the energy traveling in your body Notice the buoyancy the love the peace from this place floating goodness From this place of an inner journey of a guided image of your potential Repeat these affirmations with me aloud or in your mind I am here I am breathing I am relaxed I am able I am worthy I am lovable I am soaring I am guiding my destiny I am healing I am peaceful I am healthy I am whole I am balanced and I am okay Carry with you thoughts of love joy peace happiness wholeness hope freedom abundance bliss And any other emotion or positive state that you desire Lock this into your memory And every time you think of the hot air balloon every time you see one from now for every the rest of your life May you be reminded of this journey?

This ability to reconnect with yourself To bring all aspects of you together for your highest good and your highest purpose And so it will be That concludes the meditation if you are drifting off to sleep good night sweet dreams,

Thank you for joining If it is time to return and come back to earth Just take a breath and notice Maybe linger in the space if you need to a little bit put your hand over your heart maybe caress that Unified version of all your aspects of self in your heart With a breath Let that blueprint sink into your brain Let those information be carried out to every cell of your body Changing the course of your future I wish you peace and happiness and fullness namaste Thank you for joining this guided meditation My name is patricia daker I wish you peace fullness and happiness