Welcome.
In today's meditation we're going to work with letting go of stress.
So find yourself in a comfortable position whether you are seated or laying down.
No matter where you are just be sure to find a straight spine so that you can feel an evenness between the two hips,
A length all the way along the back until you get to the crown of the head.
Your eyes can be closed or you can have a gentle gaze towards the front of the room.
Let's take a deep inhale through the nose,
Full exhale through the mouth.
Inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth.
Breath in through the nose,
Exhale through the mouth and then start to breathe in and out through the nose.
Continue to breathe in and out through the nose.
Now I want you to visualize yourself in some sort of storage room.
Maybe it looks more like a pantry of your house,
Maybe it looks like an office.
Just notice you're here in this storage room.
You look down at the table in front of you and there is a little cassette tape or a CD,
A DVD,
Whatever media choice you choose.
Will you see this cassette tape or DVD in front of you and the label on it is named the situation that you're currently dealing with.
You realize looking at this tape that it holds the entire history of this situation.
What happened first,
What happened next,
How you felt,
How the other person felt,
How the other person reacted,
Who you told.
Everything about this stressful situation is located right here on this tape that you just found.
Take a moment to notice,
Feel maybe even the weight of this tape,
All of the history it carries.
And then you notice on the table next to the tape or DVD there is a box.
It could be whatever type of box you choose,
Maybe it's a cardboard box,
Could be small or big.
It's the same box that you use for the rest of the things that are in the storage room.
And see yourself putting that tape inside of the box.
I'm realizing oh I actually don't need this information right now.
I'll need it again potentially at some point but at this moment I can put it away.
See yourself placing that tape or DVD in the box and placing the box on the shelf next to the rest of your little boxes in different situations and stories and things that have happened in your world,
In your life.
Notice how it feels to place that tape in the box on the shelf.
Perhaps you feel a weight lift because you know the story is being held,
The situation is being held.
You won't forget anything but you also don't need it right now.
Say goodbye to the box,
Walk out of the room,
Maybe you even close the door behind you.
You find yourself outside in a peaceful place of your choosing.
Maybe you're by the water or in a park or in the mountains or even just sitting on your front porch and taking a seat wherever you are.
Let's start to just gently breathe.
Feeling the lightness,
The ease that is here.
If your thoughts return to the context,
Contents of the box,
To the tape,
Remind yourself it is safe,
It is being held,
It is recorded and you can be right here free,
Without it for a little longer.
Perhaps you notice it's a little hard sometimes to let go of the story of the situation that's been so all-consuming.
So we're going to take our attention to the body now,
Relaxing any places of residual tension so we can truly feel the lightness and the freedom that we're allowed here.
So starting at the crown of the head,
You start to relax the muscles at the crown of the head,
On the top of the head and down the sides of the skull.
Feeling the forehead soften,
The eyebrows relax,
The ears and eyes relaxing and softening and down through the cheeks and through the mouth and jaw,
Relaxing down through the neck,
Softening the throat.
In all of these places noticing if there's tightness you just gently release,
Relax across the shoulders,
Down the arms,
All the way down to the hands and the fingers.
Not as if any stress or tension is just dripping out of the fingers.
Take the attention back to the shoulders and then start to relax down through the center of the chest,
Through the heart and lungs and ribs,
All of the connective tissue softening as you travel down through the belly and the torso.
Relax across the hips and down the legs,
Across the knees and the calves and the shins,
Relaxing the ankles and the feet so that you feel all of the tension has just drained from the body.
Once again sitting in the freedom in the lightness that is here.
Now as we get ready to move back into our day and back into the world around us you get a choice here.
If you need to pick up the contents of the box,
If it's time to work a little more on it you can go back into the storage room.
But if you actually have space for a little more time without it,
If you don't need to think about the situation or problem-solve at this time even if it's just for the next 10 minutes then stay in this freedom.
Recognizing that you always have the option of putting the box down,
Of putting the tape away so that you can attend to all of the areas of your life not just the one that is calling for your attention.
Make your decision and slowly start to open your eyes coming to the space around you.
No matter where you move to next whether it's dealing with your tape or not I invite you to take this sense of lightness and the sense of spaciousness with you.
Thank you for practicing.
Sending you light and love.
Namaste.
