Welcome.
Today's meditation is to draw awareness to your problem without fixing it.
It focuses on enhancing your ability to witness your challenges without jumping to fix them.
It can also be supportive for sleep.
So find a comfortable seat,
Stacking the crown of your head over your shoulders over your hips.
And if you can,
If it's accessible,
Letting your knees fall slightly below your hips or lie down.
To begin this meditation,
Please bring loving awareness to the problem that you want to find more ease,
More grace with.
What are you holding on to?
What is letting your mind run?
And where are you running after it?
Remember,
Meditation is not the absence of thought,
But rather it's allowing your mind to run free without running after it.
So which problems would you no longer like to run after?
Bring one to mind.
What emotions come up that you associate with this problem?
Do you feel anger in your cheeks or pain in your heart?
Do you feel worry in your belly or fear in your fingertips?
What are the stories surrounding this problem?
What are you telling yourself?
That you are unable to solve this problem?
Or that you are unworthy of a solution?
That the challenge is too vast?
Or that you are too small?
Or that there's not enough time?
Or not enough resources?
Or not enough energy?
Now that you have your problem in mind and you know the emotions and the stories surrounding this problem,
Let's let go of fixing this problem.
When there is discontentment in our minds as a result of our external circumstances,
Our natural habit is to correct.
The mind goes into fix-it mode.
This often results in circular thinking,
Trying in vain to solve a problem by letting our minds run.
Although reflection and goal-setting are so useful,
The obsession you experience is not.
This exercise offers a technique to work with this fix-it thinking and let it go.
You can use it in a formal meditation practice and then return to it at any point during your day when you notice that your mind is stuck on a loop of problem-solving.
Sit up as straight as possible,
Inviting alertness into the mind and body.
Stack your crown of your head over your shoulders,
Over your hips,
And if it's accessible to you,
Let your knees fall below the line of your hips.
Inhale through your nose,
Take in a little bit more air,
And exhale out your mouth.
Sigh it out.
Just like that,
Another deep breath in through your nose,
Filling up your belly,
Your chest,
All the way up to your cheekbones.
Hold it,
Take in a little bit more air,
And let go on an open mouth exhale,
Sighing it out.
We'll take one more just like that.
Inhale through your nose,
Your most expansive breath yet,
Expand your lungs,
Roll your shoulders back,
Take in a little bit more air through your nose,
Sip some more,
And let go of all that air.
Sigh it out.
Begin to tune into your thoughts.
Again,
Bring your problem to mind.
What problem are you working to solve?
Is there something specific you want to figure out or fix?
Notice the issue itself,
Not your thoughts about it.
Try to see clearly what the problem is,
Rather than focusing on a solution.
With the problem in your mind,
Notice any discomfort you feel around it.
There may be some fear of the unknown,
Insecurity,
Or a desire to plan something.
Whatever your experience is,
Look at the issue with tender awareness.
There's no need to judge yourself,
Beat yourself up,
Or jump into fixing.
Be with the discomfort.
What would you say to a friend that was having this problem?
How would you comfort them?
How would you be there for them?
Without changing or fixing their experience,
How would you support this friend?
Can you be that friend to yourself?
Releasing judgment,
Expectation,
Desire to change or fix.
Can you just be with the discomfort?
And as you rest in the awareness of the problem to be solved,
Begin tuning in to your mind and your body.
Is there tension in your body?
Notice where it is.
Are you holding tension in your shoulders?
In your neck?
Maybe it's a contraction of your chest or your heart?
An ease in your belly?
Tightness in your hips or your toes?
Maybe your temples or cheeks or jaw?
Notice all the places you hold tension in the body.
Recognize when the mind jumps into the desire to fix this discomfort by saying to yourself,
Change.
With the intention of meeting your experience with patience,
Offer yourself a few phrases of mindful care.
Repeat after me in your mind.
I see this discomfort.
The mind wants to fix it.
May I be with this problem?
Every time you notice yourself wanting to fix the problem,
Say change.
You are reprogramming your mind to change your response to your problems.
You do not need to fix them.
Just like your breath moves in and out of your lungs without your control,
Your external environment,
Your problems,
Solutions will move in and out of your life whether or not you control them.
To close this meditation,
Take a minute to ask yourself about what can be done.
What is within your control and what is not?
May this meditation,
May your practice of coming home to yourself,
Offer you the clarity and the peace of knowing the difference between that which you cannot control and that which you can.
You do not need to come up with a clear step-by-step plan.
Just offer a simple solution,
The simplest one possible.
What is within your control today and how does this solution provide ease to your internal state?
What you do doesn't matter.
It's your experience within that matters.
Allow a basic solution to arise,
Whether that's letting go of the thought,
Taking a walk,
Or taking a simple action step.
Don't dive more deeply into the story.
If you notice yourself doing so,
Say change and let it go.
As you feel ready,
Start to bring awareness to the sensations in your body and know that when you open your eyes,
Your mind will be free and clear of obsessing over your problems.
Open your eyes now with deep gratitude.
May you feel centered,
At ease,
And at home within yourself always.
My name is Sasha Andriyonova and I thank you.
