Beginning to settle in to your meditation posture,
Whether you're sitting upright or cross-legged,
You could be sitting in a chair or even lying down on a bed curled up or however is going to make you feel relaxed,
But also able to be alert and focused on the meditation.
Just starting to bring your attention inwards towards your breath.
Feeling the breath as it passes in and out through your nose.
Really feeling the sensations on the nostrils as your breath passes in and out.
And feel the breath passing in through your nose,
Through your neck,
Through your windpipes,
And into your lungs.
And it feels like the breath can help to soften everything that it touches.
So even the inside of your nose can start to relax as you feel the breath passing through it.
Even the inside of your neck,
From really from the inside out of your neck,
You can feel it softening and relaxing.
The lungs can relax as they fill up with air and just settle deeper into your body in a more relaxed way.
So your lungs are relaxed.
Taking in air and letting it out back through the nose.
And you can start to put a little bit more emphasis on the exhale.
So each successive exhale is a little bit longer than the exhale before it.
So with each exhale,
The out-breath becomes a little longer,
A little slower.
And as the exhale becomes longer and slower,
You become increasingly calm and relaxed.
Really feeling yourself becoming especially calm and relaxed as the breath slows down.
Really long,
Slow breaths,
Calm and relaxed,
Alert and focused.
And seeing if there's anything you can let go of to become even a little bit more calm and relaxed.
Even just 1% more.
Noting on a scale from 1 to 10,
Where 1 is feeling really calm,
Totally calm and relaxed.
And 10 is feeling very highly anxious.
So 1 being the most relaxed.
Just notice where you are on that scale right now.
And whether you're at a 2 or a 3,
Or whether you're at a 6 or a 7.
Just seeing if you can let go of anything.
If you can feel the breath a little bit more to bring that number down by even just a quarter of a point.
Even just a little bit more calm and relaxed.
Now beginning to imagine a scene where you're in a safe place.
Somewhere that's really,
Really safe.
Like it's designed just for you to feel so safe and protected and secure.
And you can imagine yourself as a young child,
Growing up in this safe place.
A young child,
Around 2 or 3 years of age.
You can feel that this is an environment that really supports you.
It's an environment where you feel that you can thrive as a young child.
And then into this scene,
Enters one or both of your ideal parent figures.
And just from the way that they enter,
Just their way of being,
Just the energy in their body.
You can feel their warmth and their friendliness,
And their support.
Like they meet you in an embrace,
Just from the way that they approach.
You can see it in their eyes.
This love and care that they have for you.
These ideal parent figures are really deeply present with you.
They're really listening.
And they have this energy of,
This rootedness with the earth.
Like the energy of a big wise tree or a rock.
Really rooted,
Really present here.
But still warm and curious about you.
So very curious.
And they're really listening to you.
And not just the words or the sounds that you might make.
But listening to your whole body.
Listening to all the shifts in your emotions.
Really taking in your state of mind.
Noticing all the subtle communication and body language that you might be expressing.
And it's not at all invasive.
They're not over-involved in your state of mind.
They're just really present here with you.
Really listening with their whole bodies to your whole experience.
And the more that you feel that they're so deeply attuned to you.
So deeply attuned to everything that's going on.
This allows you more space to be more attuned to your own internal state of mind.
You can see they're so present with you.
You don't need to be worried about their state of mind.
And where their mind is at.
And whether they're distracted.
It's very clear they're right here with you.
So all the energy that you might be spending on using your mind,
Using your head to observe.
To try and figure out your surroundings.
To try and be concerned if things are safe.
To be worried about other people or what they're thinking.
What your ideal parent figures might be feeling.
All that energy can come back to you.
Can come back inwards into your own state of mind.
Into your own experience.
And your ideal parent figures are with you.
Just the right way to support you.
And really being interested in your own state of mind.
And any of the energy that you're spending with your heart to seek love.
To seek attention.
Try and seek some kind of emotion or validation.
It's really clear it's all right here.
All provided by your ideal parent figures.
So all that energy that's leaking out from your heart can all come back to you.
You can bring your attention inwards into your heart.
Into tracking and noticing your own emotions.
And it's possible that as you turn your attention inwards.
That you actually start to notice that you're quite anxious.
It's very possible.
But now you notice that you're anxious.
And this presence of your ideal parent figures.
Acts as this anchor for you.
This really secure base.
Where you can start to tolerate noticing that anxiousness.
And your ideal parent figures help you to breathe.
Come back to yourself.
And they can start to take care of anything that's worrying you.
Anything that might be causing you distress or anxiousness.
They can respond and reassure you just the right way.
You can really start to come back and feel settled at home in your own body.
In your own experience.
And this experience of being seen in this way by your ideal parent figures.
It gives you the sense of feeling deeply seen in the known.
Of being deeply seen and known.
Deeply understood and accepted.
They have all the space in the world for everything that's going on inside of you.
Really letting in how it feels to be deeply seen and known like this.
You can just make an imprint of how this feels in your body.
How it feels to breathe in this experience.
Really letting that in.
And I'm going to count from five to one.
I can carry that experience with you into the present room.
And when I reach one,
You'll be awake and present here in the room.
Settling in that experience.
Five.
Wake and present in the room.
Settling in that experience.
