Today is a meditation that uses a specific technique to help down-regulate the nervous system,
As well as helping us to realign with ourselves.
So we can return to being more grounded,
Centred and regulated for when times are tough.
These words are for you.
This practice is for you.
In this tough life,
There are many of us out there.
We all need a little nurturing,
Especially when times are tough,
When we're caught within that storm within us.
Sometimes it can feel like we're whisked up in a storm.
Sometimes it can feel like the storm is somewhat in the distance,
Grey looming clouds that tend to have this impression of weighing us down.
We're going to explore a metaphor today,
A metaphor of this calm in the storm.
Many animals have a sense that alerts them to oncoming storms.
This is so they can escape danger in time by leaving or taking shelter until a storm has passed.
When there is a hurricane,
Some migrating birds actually migrate sooner than they usually would,
Particularly if a large storm is approaching.
Others get caught up in the outer edge of the hurricane,
They are let down far away from where they were before.
And then there are the other ones.
These birds actually take a ride inside the eye of the hurricane.
This is the calm within the storm,
Surrounded by high speed winds and rain.
These birds fly calmly under the blue sky in the eye of the hurricane.
Cameras have actually caught them in action,
Flying calmly inside this calm in the storm.
They continue flying around in this space of calm,
Surrounded by a wall of turbulence which gently encapsulates them in the centre.
Maybe you can picture this in your mind's eye right now.
If so,
See if you can visualise the birds flying calmly in the centre,
The blue sky above them,
And despite the turbulence around them,
Get a sense of what this calm feels like.
And so,
Here's that gentle reminder,
Something that deep down you already know.
And yet sometimes,
When we're going through a struggle,
We can forget.
The breath,
The rhythm,
The movement,
19,
000 breaths a day.
And yet rarely do we give attention to them.
Now let's get into this,
Simply by taking attention,
Applying a gentle focus upon your out-breath,
Just the out-breath,
How it speeds up,
Slows down and comes to a pause.
If someone was sitting next to you,
They wouldn't even know you were doing this.
Staying connected to the out-breath,
Noticing your out-breath in detail,
Extreme detail,
But not with effort.
It needs to be effortless,
A gentle focusing of attention and noticing the subtleties of this gentle flow,
Speeding up,
Slowing down and coming to a pause.
Stay with this,
If you notice the in-breath,
That's perfectly fine.
Gently focusing upon the out-breath,
As everything else happens around you,
Sounds,
Sensations,
Thoughts coming and going,
Like birds in the sky,
Whilst you are connected to your out-breath.
Maybe it's the movement of your out-breath,
Maybe it's the temperature of your out-breath,
Maybe it's the sound of your out-breath.
The sound of the rain is soothing,
It heals me.
The sound of the rain activates my alpha brainwave state,
This state that helps me relax with this rain and my breath.
The only thing on the agenda right now is to focus upon this breath,
As everything else happens around me.
The sun will shine again,
And when it does,
The birds will be singing.
I allow the rain to soothe me.
I allow this connection with my breath,
This calm,
There's nothing else to do.
