Take A Break: Guided Imagery Meditation

This is a meditation for when you just need a break, a time-out. I guide you through an experience that utilizes multiple senses to help bring you into a state of relaxation and peace. Quiet the mind, forget the to-do list, and just be.

Transcript

Hi and welcome.

Take a moment to get comfortable.

You can do this meditation sitting or lying down.

Just find a way to be where you can really let the body get heavy and let go of any holding or tension throughout the body.

And then allow your eyes to close.

If closing your eyes doesn't feel right,

That's okay.

Just soften your gaze.

Take a nice slow breath in through your nose.

Allow the lungs to fill without straining.

And then exhale slowly through an open mouth.

And we'll do that one more time.

Slow,

Easy breath in through the nose,

Exhaling nice and easy through an open mouth.

Allow the body to grow heavy.

Allowing all that's beneath you to really support you.

Hand over the full weight of the body.

And allow your awareness to come to your face.

The next time you exhale naturally,

Allow all expression to melt away,

Softening the whole face.

Jaw is relaxed.

Notice that gentle heaviness in the cheeks.

And begin to become aware of your breath just as it is.

No need to change it.

And allow your awareness on your breath to guide your attention inward.

Nothing to do but arrive here in your meditation.

Awareness sinking inward.

A gentle sense of peace and calm washes over you.

Knowing throughout the course of this meditation,

If your mind wanders away,

That's so human,

It's okay.

And in those moments when you notice that you've wandered,

Gently bring your attention back.

And now,

Begin to imagine that you're out on an early morning walk.

You're walking through a beautiful wooded area.

There are trees all around you.

The leaves,

The branches creating a really sweet canopy above your head.

Little glimpses of sunlight between the leaves and branches.

You're walking along this path at a pace that feels just right.

It's effortless.

There's no one around you on the path.

And even as you move,

You can feel that stillness of the morning.

That calm.

The air smells fresh new.

The temperature around you is just right.

You observe a gentle breeze gently blowing across your face.

And as you look around,

You notice that the morning light casts a gentle glow all around you.

As you move along this path,

You can hear the rustling of the leaves as that breeze gently flows through.

And up ahead,

You see a wall coming into view.

It's a stone wall that's covered in green ivy.

And as you get closer,

You notice that within that wall,

There's a wooden gate.

You pause,

Observing the gate and see that on the gate is a bronze plaque.

It has the word welcome in elegant scroll letters.

And beneath the word welcome is your name.

So clearly you can see it.

Feeling safe,

You decide to press the gate,

Open it and walk through to the other side.

On the other side of the gate,

You find yourself at a beach.

There's a boardwalk right in front of you laid across the sand.

And you can see that it leads you down towards the water.

You take off your shoes and with bare feet,

Step on to the boardwalk and with ease,

Begin to walk down towards the water.

You can feel the smooth weathered boards beneath your feet.

The sun feels warm against your shoulders and back.

As you move towards the water,

You can see that it is a brilliant turquoise blue gentle waves.

And on this beach,

There is no one else around,

Just you.

And as you near the end of the boardwalk,

You step onto the sand and feel how warm the sand is beneath the feet.

And you just pause there,

Gazing out in front of you at the water,

Noticing where the water meets the horizon.

You feel that sea breeze gently against your face.

And smell the salt air.

You hear the sea,

That soft whoosh as the water rises along the shore and then gently rolls back,

Seagulls in the distance.

And as you stand there,

You can feel your worries begin to just melt away as though every time the water gently rolls back from the shore to the sea,

It takes with it your worries,

Creating space within you for a greater sense of peace and calm.

You gently take a step closer and feel as that gently cool water washes over your feet and ankles.

And that easy feeling of the wet sand beneath the feet sinking just a little.

You notice as you stand here that your breath has become so calm,

So quiet.

And now you begin to take a walk down the beach along the shoreline.

It's an effortless walk,

Basking in the experience of being here,

The warmth of the sun,

The sounds of the sea,

That salt air.

Every step is like a letting go,

Concerns melting away with every step.

As you continue to walk along,

You notice up ahead a cozy hammock that's been strung between two trees.

As you grow closer,

You can see that the hammock is cotton,

Comfortable.

It has one of those pillows attached to it.

And there's shade from the trees.

And you decide to go ahead and take a rest in that hammock.

And so you gently settle in,

Allow your body to rest fully within the hammock.

You feel comfortable here and safe.

And you notice your feet.

And as you notice your feet,

You feel a little softening,

A heaviness begin to fill the feet.

And so gently and calmly,

That heaviness fills your shins and knees.

And with ease,

That heaviness begins to fill the thighs and hips.

That softening fills the belly.

Gentle heaviness through the abdomen and torso.

Chest so open,

Heavy.

Noticing that heaviness through the shoulders,

Arms,

Palms of the hands.

That gentle heaviness in the head.

And you rest here feeling that easy heaviness of the whole body.

Whole body at rest.

No holding at all.

And you simply rest here.

The sea in the distance.

Easy warmth of the sun.

The sense of full how right things are in this moment.

You linger here,

Feeling this sense of peace and calm within you.

As though every cell in your body was memorizing how it feels.

And allowing yourself to be filled with this truth that who you are innately,

Naturally is peaceful and calm.

And you can return to this way of feeling and being anytime you need and want to by allowing your awareness to turn inward and guiding you home to this way of being.

That's a part of you.

And now you have that gentle awareness that it's time to begin your journey back.

And as you slowly begin to sit up and make your way off the hammock,

You can see an envelope gently tucked in the sand.

And this envelope has your name on it.

See it.

You reach for the envelope and open it.

There's a sheet of paper within.

You unfold a message for you on that sheet of paper.

This message is just what you needed to hear.

Take it in.

And as you fold that paper back into the envelope,

Tuck the envelope into the sand.

You begin to make your way back along that sandy shore.

And even though you're walking away from this experience,

You know that this experience is always a part of who you are,

Always accessible to you.

And now in this moment,

I invite you to become aware of your physical body just as you are where you are,

No right or wrong.

Notice the heaviness of your body.

And in your mind's eye,

Begin to picture the room that you're in and let yourself see all the details on the walls,

The floor,

The ceiling,

Shapes and colors,

Even behind closed eyes,

Allowing yourself to see the space you're in.

And taking in that feeling of the space that you're in,

No right or wrong.

And gently begin to deepen the breath,

Slowly allowing the fingers to wiggle a little,

Maybe opening and closing the hands or moving the wrists slowly.

And then allow the feet to mirror these movements,

Toes wiggle,

The feet can gently point and flex as comfortable.

And in a time that's right for you,

Invite in any additional gentle movements that feel right to you,

Maybe an easy stretch,

A slow move of the head to ease the neck.

And only when you're ready,

I invite you to open your eyes.

Thanks for joining me.

Be well.

Reviews

Loved it and your voice! Bookmarking and checking for other audios. Keep up the God work!