Calming Grounding Meditation For Stress Relief

This guided grounding meditation is a nurturing and foundational practice that supports beginners as well as advanced practitioners. It acts as a supportive anchor that allows us to delve into deeper meditative states with confidence. When we begin our practice by grounding in the present moment awareness using our 5 senses, it immediately creates a sense of safety, and stability. It's an easy, accessible technique that has profound benefits like feeling calm, safe, and centered.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to today's meditation practice.

When you're ready,

Choosing a comfortable position,

You may like to move your body,

Stretch your arms or stretch your feet or if you'd like to adjust your neck,

Beginning to notice how you're feeling and arrive into this practice and space.

You may like to place your hands beside your body or on top of your legs,

Whatever feels comfortable for you.

Noticing your back and the natural curve in the back,

Trying to maintain a soft straight back without straining too much.

Noticing your feet,

Placing them firmly on the ground if you're sitting on a chair,

Uncrossing your legs and placing them in a way that feels comfortable and supportive for the next few moments.

Knowing that during the practice at any time,

It's okay to move or make adjustments gently and mindfully to support and honor your body's needs.

You may like to keep your eyes closed for the duration of the meditation or you may like to softly gaze at the floor if required at times.

As you begin this practice,

You may like to set a gentle intention for yourself,

Perhaps to soften and relax just for the next few moments.

Nowhere else to be,

Nothing else to do and no one else to be.

Beginning to arrive into this space,

Becoming aware of where you were and what you were doing just a few moments ago.

Noticing where you are right now and how it feels in comparison.

Beginning to notice the qualities of this space.

Perhaps there's a sense of privacy or safety or perhaps it's busy.

Simply connecting with where you are.

If your eyes are closed,

You may like to gently open them now to begin the technique of open eye grounding.

Slowly beginning to scan left to right,

Gently moving your neck,

Scanning your space,

Looking at the different objects that are in your space,

Looking at their shapes,

Looking at what they are made of.

Maybe wood or metal,

Fabric,

Glass or ceramic.

Taking a moment to really see what's in front of you and around you.

Noticing any colors that you may feel drawn to in your space.

Perhaps colors of nature.

Noticing the things that are in your space because of your loving intention.

With non-judgment and loving awareness,

Simply connecting and anchoring into your space,

Using your incredible sense of sight.

Gently closing your eyes once again when you're ready.

Beginning to notice your body in this space now.

Noticing where your hands are placed,

What they are touching.

Noticing your feet,

The textures beneath your feet.

Gently moving your feet or your toes or softly pressing your heel or the balls of the feet into the surface to connect with the textures a little bit further.

Noticing your back and what is supporting your back.

Beginning to connect to this moment through your sense of touch.

Gently drawing your awareness now to any sounds that may be close to you within your space.

Sound of the guidance,

Sound of your breath.

Noticing any other sounds from any devices close to you or pets or people within your space.

Allowing these sounds to travel to you without straining too much.

And slowly and gently now,

As much as is possible for you.

Expanding your awareness to notice any sounds outside your space.

You may be able to notice sounds of nature perhaps.

The sound of wind or rain or birds.

Or you may be able to simply bring awareness to the presence of a variety of sounds.

Breathing in and breathing out.

You may be able to treat sound as any other sensory object that can bring you into this present moment and anchor the busy mind.

Allowing the sounds to come,

Remain and go.

Simply noticing one after the other and continuing to breathe and relax into this present moment.

Beginning to draw your soft attention now to any fragrances that may be available to you.

Soft,

Subtle or strong,

Maybe neutral.

Noticing how this sense of connection can anchor your mind and body in this moment.

And when you're ready,

Shifting your awareness now into your mouth and noticing if there's any tastes.

You may like to gently roll your tongue from left to right over your teeth or swallow a few times.

Noticing any tastes that may be here.

Gathering your attention now and dropping your awareness into the body,

Inside the body.

Beginning to notice the natural rhythm of your breath.

Inhaling all the way from the outside and exhaling back.

Noticing where you may be able to sense your breath the most within the body.

Perhaps in the area of your chest or your abdomen or stomach or shoulders.

Simply noticing how your body is moving to the rhythmic natural breath.

There's nothing for you to do.

You can trust your body to breathe.

Simply noticing this beautiful phenomenon of life-giving force moving in and out of your body.

Noticing if you can become aware of any sensations within the body.

Perhaps a sense of tightness or lightness.

Maybe a sense of softness or heaviness.

Maybe even some sensations of tingling nature or feeling slightly numb without having to change or fix anything.

Simply noticing the inner landscape of your body in this moment.

Noticing if your mind is wandering away into thoughts,

Thinking about these sensations or the story behind them.

Judging what is right or wrong.

Going into stories in the future or past.

Noticing that all of this is simply the mind's activity that you can label as thinking.

You can notice the pull,

Silently repeat the word thinking and gently return to your practice,

To the last point that you remember.

Continuing to breathe in and breathe out.

At any time,

Exhaling with a sigh if you would like that.

Beginning now to notice your senses,

Your breath and your inner sensations,

One after the other at a slow and gradual pace.

Visualizing a circle of white light and that your senses and breath and sensations are different points on this circle.

Gently tracing this circle with your inhale and exhale,

Connecting the dots and using the dots as your senses.

Beginning with the sense of touch,

Noticing where in the body the sense of touch feels dominant for you and gently flowing your awareness to the sense of sight beneath closed eyes.

Noticing what's here,

Perhaps outlines or colors from before or simply a smooth velvety darkness and gently flowing your awareness now to any sounds,

Any fragrances,

Any tastes and noticing your inner sensations and meeting once again at the sense of touch.

Practicing this noticing of senses,

Tracing this white light of circle with your breath,

Connecting the dots.

You may like to take a moment now to try and flow with your senses in any flow that comes to you naturally.

As long as you go through all of your five senses,

Check in with your inner sensations and meet again at the beginning of the sense that you started with.

Taking a moment now to notice how your body feels,

Connecting with your breath,

Your outer senses,

As well as a sense of what's happening inside the body.

Bringing all of your awareness now to any outer sense that you can notice in this moment,

Perhaps sound or touch and gently swapping this awareness by going inside the body and noticing the sensations unfolding inside the body.

Breathing in and swapping the awareness back to the outer sense of touch or sound.

You may like to try this with your feet or your hands or your back,

Or your back.

Noticing the touch of the body on the surface that it's placed on,

Which is your outer sense of touch and gently traveling inside the body,

Within that part of your body and noticing any sensations that may be present.

Now at any time if the inner sensations feel too intense,

Swapping your awareness mindfully to your outer senses and if the outer senses feel too strong or intense because of the sounds or a visual overload,

Journeying inward and connecting with your inner sensations at any part of the body that feels natural and accessible at that time.

And this incredible balance of inner sensations and outer senses creates the perfect space for the body and mind to ground and center at times of stress,

Anxiety,

Panic.

If the mind wanders away,

Simply repeating the word thinking and gently returning,

Taking a couple of silent moments now to rest and relax and let go.

Taking a few deep breaths now,

Slowly and gradually,

Beginning to awaken the body with each in-breath and out-breath.

Noticing how the body is feeling,

Feeling,

Connecting into the sense of presence and safety that you created for it.

Slowly beginning to wiggle your toes,

Move your hands,

Beginning to shrug your shoulders and maybe moving your neck gently,

Noticing any sounds in your space,

Noticing where your hands are placed and what they are touching,

Becoming aware of your feet and the textures beneath your feet,

Noticing your back and what's supporting your back.

Returning into this space slowly and gently,

Taking a moment now to feel grateful for this self-care practice that you have gifted yourself today.

When you're ready,

Slowly beginning to open your eyes,

Taking your time to return into this space and moment.

Thank you.

Be well.

Namaste.

Reviews

Thank you for sharing this gentle meditation 🧘‍♀️ Love and Blessings 💜