Learn To Relax Through Difficult Times

Times are changing, anxiety is rising, uncertainty is everywhere and things may seem to be spiralling out of control. But there are always two simple things that you CAN learn to control. Your thoughts and your actions.

I invite you to join me through this relaxation process to help calm nerves, release stress, diffuse anxiety and build a baseline of confidence and clarity.

Transcript

There are always lots of things going on in the world,

At any one given time.

There are the things that you can control,

Adjust,

Influence and alter.

And there are those other things that simply cannot be controlled.

With practice,

There will only ever be two simple things that you can really control.

Your thoughts and your behaviours.

Just two simple things that with practice will become easier and easier.

So I invite you to take this opportunity to learn how you can begin to control your own thoughts and behaviours in response to any external stress that you might be challenged by.

So to do this I'd like you to find a place.

A place where you can sit back and recline into a comfortable position.

There's no need right now for any strict sitting positions.

Just a simple relaxation.

A comfortable place.

And when you've found that comfortable place,

Settled into that comfortable position,

Have yourself a shuffle around.

Get comfortable.

And I'd like you to begin by taking a few deep breaths.

That's all.

Just a few deep breaths.

And continuing to take those few nice long slow deep breaths and perhaps holding each one of them for just a second or so.

Inhaling and holding and relaxing.

And when you exhale just allow any stress you might have lingering to just let go.

Without that stress,

That tension,

Any pressure.

Simply taking in a few deep breaths in your own time.

As deep as you can,

Holding them for just a moment.

Exhaling.

And upon every exhale,

Just think to yourself the words relax now.

This is your new solution for stress.

Whenever you become stressed in the future,

You can simply relax.

Take a few deep breaths.

And on that third one,

As you exhale,

Say to yourself the words relax now.

You're allowing yourself to develop a new way to relax.

You are letting go of the stress of the past.

You've now decided that you want to relax.

No longer do you feel the need to hold that stress in your life.

No longer do you need fear,

Pressure,

Anger,

Frustration or even depression in your life.

From now on,

You choose to feel relaxed.

You choose to feel calm.

You choose to be in control of you.

Because your health is important to you.

You're beginning to change the way that you used to react.

You're now replacing that old reaction with the new positive messages that I'm giving you.

And by allowing yourself to absorb this positive intention,

You'll find yourself becoming free from stress in all areas of life.

You'll find yourself feeling more and more relaxed in situations that you may not have felt relaxed before.

And with your new relaxed mindset,

It creates a new relaxed lifestyle.

You find yourself feeling happier,

More positive minded,

Allowing yourself to enjoy the things you do.

So the first suggestion that I'm going to present to you is that whenever you find yourself entertaining,

Negative,

Unproductive thoughts,

You'll immediately say to yourself the word stop.

Whenever you find yourself having negative,

Unproductive thoughts,

You'll immediately say to yourself the word stop.

And as soon as you say the word stop,

You'll find that the negative thoughts that you were having had just disappeared.

This will give you the opportunity to create a new positive thought process.

The next technique that you can learn is the art of acceptance.

Accepting things as they are,

Rather than allowing things to escalate out of control.

From this moment on,

Any time you find yourself feeling stressed because of a situation that seems to be careering out of control,

You will stop worrying about what could happen,

About all the negative scenarios.

And instead,

You will accept what has happened for exactly what it is.

You can take those few deep breaths,

Release that stress and use your new thought process to think the situation through,

To discover what reasonable outcomes there may be.

Realising that once you've worked them through,

They're almost always better than if you let your mind run free into worry.

Because worry is a thing of the past.

Worry has now been replaced with relaxation.

You are now feeling more and more in control of your own thoughts,

Your own feelings,

Your own emotions.

You have become an actor,

Rather than a reactor.

And this simply means that in any given situation,

You,

And only you,

Choose how you're going to react,

Or to act.

And now you choose to act calmly,

Positively and in control.

So just for a moment,

I'd like you to concentrate back on that breathing,

Taking a breath in and exhaling any stress.

And as soon as you feel all the breath leave that body and you're prepared to take another breath,

You can count to yourself.

From now on,

Quietly in your own mind,

You can count starting at 25.

Taking another deeper breath,

Down to 24.

Whatever length of breath just seems comfortable,

Continue breathing calmly,

Comfortably,

Slowly,

Counting down.

23,

22,

21.

In your own time after each breath,

All the way down to 1.

And as soon as you take that last deep breath on 1,

Saying the number 1 to yourself,

You can open your eyes,

Feeling calm and relaxed in every way.

In fact,

You'll find yourself more relaxed than you've felt before.

So continue counting to yourself after each breath,

Even as I speak each one of your breaths,

Concentrating on that breathing,

Noticing the flow of the air as it enters your body,

Fills you up with relaxation.

And as the breath leaves once again,

Emptying out any stress,

Hold onto those sensations with every breath,

Relaxing more and more,

Feeling more peaceful and more serene.

Deeper into relaxation,

Holding onto that relaxation.

And as soon as you allow yourself to count all the way down to that number 1 in your own time,

You can then open those eyes once more,

Feeling wonderful in every way.

Reviews

Felt AMAZING afterwards and all my worries GONE!!!!

A really good meditation but I found the background sounds not so relaxing

Hadn’t listened to this practice for awhile, but came across it again. Always found it to be calming and helpful. Thank you ☮️

Not sure about the background noise but the message is spot on

Helped me deal with my anxiety and really relax for a few minutes.

Very helpful and practical. Thank you for my new go-to technique for stressful times.

Very helpful. Thank you.

The perfect respite for these times

A good & helpful perspective.

Very eye opening for me- much needed

Thank you so very much. I liked it a lot. I am always looking for the voices that have the timbre, tone and pacing that work for me. I also liked the way sound was used - like a reinforcement, an intervention of clarity or re/mindfulness when the bell sound sounded. I was thinking of trying to reframe all the endless bells and blips of modern life as moments of re/mindfulness. I experience severe tinnitus so sound is very important to me as a way to mediate its impacts.
It is so encouraging that people are freely sharing ideas, goodness, kindness and health. Especially as we watch how the world is grappling with the results of capitalism and duality, and the drive to satisfy the bottomless pit of our temporal desires.
If I remain curious it all has its place and its worth. ‘No mud, no lotus’.
Have a lovely day! :)

Basic, straightforward and well done. Thank you

🌿✨💜✨🌿 Thank you. Xxx

Thank you Richard for sharing this practice - I found it most helpful, particularly to stop the negative creep and acceptance. I shall certainly listen again. Burleigh Heads is just gorgeous! 🙏🌻

Absolutely lovely. Will be repeating this one again.

I am grateful for this meditation. I am grateful for your guidance. Namaste

Really nice lesson on the front end and followed up with a much relaxing meditation.
Thank you.

Wonderful techniques for shifting energy into what we can change.

That was just alright. I was worried this morning but it now. 😊

Very helpful right now. Thank you and Blessings. 🕊