This meditation is here for you to practice how to come away from those erasing thoughts.
Those scary thoughts anxious thoughts and those moments where perhaps you catastrophize you see all of those worst-case scenarios Give yourself some time to get settled here before we begin and just find a space that feels good to you.
I want you to be as comfortable as you can be for this meditation.
You are allowed to get cozy and comfortable,
Lay down,
Sit up whatever feels good for you.
Now when you've arrived there just gently closing your eyes or gazing down going to go soft here we're going to go gentle because when anxious thoughts spiral it can feel really hard really scary and i want you to know that you are not alone in that this is what those kind of thoughts do they tell us all the things that we don't want to see or hear the things that could go wrong but that power together.
You tapping into this and you tapping into a community of people listening to these meditations to this meditation we're taking some power back so just seeing if you can allow yourself to self-soothe by simply beginning to breathe.
So we're going to take a deep inhale through the nose.
Then exhale out through your mouth just seeing if you can make your exhale simply longer than the inhale.
So deep,
Deep breath out pushing that air out through your mouth.
Now repeating this a few times.
Inhaling through your nose and seeing if you can make your exhale longer each time.
Signifying straight away to the body that we are here to release,
To exhale,
To no longer hold or need to hold.
And it's okay if that feels difficult,
It's okay if you can feel your body wants to stay tense,
Your body wants to hold and that's normal when anxious thoughts come up we don't feel as though we're almost allowed to release and to let go We tend to feel as though something bad will happen if we let go and yet it's quite the opposite.
What will happen is we will reground we'll feel stronger and we'll be able to come back into rationalizing and thinking more clearly going to ground a little bit more so i want you to just place your hands if you can anywhere on your body that feels good it could be on your thighs Your knees.
Could be your arms forehead,
Your hand.
And simply placing either both palms,
One palm on an area in your body that feels like you're drawn to,
You feel safe enough to and we're just going to simply pat on that area.
So maybe we're patting our thighs,
Our knees,
Maybe we're lightly patting our head our arm,
One of our hands.
Now you just create seeing a little rhythm here This is a loving pat,
A loving rhythm,
A soothing loving touch.
Is grounding and it's you saying to yourself i'm here i've got you I'm enjoying that and if it feels strange if it feels weird that's okay you're just experimenting you're seeing what helps you and what soothes you in these moments allowing your breath to find a natural rhythm now and allowing your hands to rest to no longer tap or pat or soothe to just be if you feel okay too i want you to begin to imagine that we are going together to travel through and see and witness the anxious thoughts that are playing in your mind and we're going to do this to begin to create some distance from them and to feel as though you're taking your power back You feel yourself transported now into a cinema screen.
You're sat there in a comfy seat,
Maybe even popcorn in your hand.
Familiar smells,
Those smells of being at the cinema.
And on the screen in front of you.
Is movie playing.
One where you can see it's a movie,
You can see it's just simply different versions playing on the screen.
Of your own thoughts,
Your own inner dialogue.
At first perhaps you feel that tension in your stomach as you witness those anxious thoughts playing out on the screen thoughts around your life your job.
Your relationships.
Your hobbies all the things that run through your mind.
And you see them for simply what they are.
Just slides in a film,
In a movie they don't necessarily even make sense.
Just feel a little erratic.
Little like her jumping from one bad thing to the next and as you sit here you kind of feel a bit disengaged from the film.
It's not really a movie you're enjoying.
In fact,
She felt a little bit bored.
Can you feel that as you sit in this chair?
As you sit in the cinema seats watching the film playing of all those anxious thoughts Can you feel that distance from the screen?
A realization that it is just a movie.
Maybe you go to get drawn in,
You have a moment of feeling sucked into the movie and then you remember.
You smell that popcorn,
You remember I am just watching a film.
And I don't really like this film.
If you can,
Can you feel that feeling of feeling disengaged or maybe a bit bored by it?
Then you decide to do something that you're not used to doing.
You decide to walk out of the movie early.
You've seen enough.
In fact,
You've seen this film many times.
And so you get up You sit down and drop.
And you walk out the movie is playing fainter and fainter as you walk out of that screen feeling more and more empowered with each step feeling more and more free with each step.
You walk through the doors back into the cinema foyer out through the main doors and over the road there is a beautiful park a beautiful garden and this is where you choose to go.
This park is expansive.
Supportive.
You prefer this space,
There's flowers.
This green grass that feels so good under your feet as you walk the sun shining and you choose that this is where you're going to be You know what's playing over at the cinema.
You don't choose to be there you choose to soak up this park,
The gardens So taking some time now to walk or sit and be in this expansive green space this nourishing space and this space where things are growing take your time to soak that up and be here.
So just checking in with your body.
Feelings that you're feeling.
Perhaps it feels calm perhaps it feels empowering like something maybe has changed in your mind,
In your mindset.
And just taking a slow breather before you begin to calm away from this space,
Away from that visualization we're allowing that garden,
That park to fade now knowing you can come back at any time beginning to wiggle your fingers and toes and coming back into your physical body.
Becoming aware of the room that you're in.
Just blinking your eyes open taking in your surroundings.
The walls,
The objects,
The place that you're in.
Well done that is not always easy to face those fears head on and anxiety works in many many different ways but this is just one of the ways it can draw you in and pull you in this takes practice this takes repetition alongside many ways to regulate your nervous system or to address more specific thoughts if that's what you personally struggle with hearing my voice as you're coming back into the room just talking you through this and knowing that if this felt helpful come back to this repeat this feeling empowered when it comes to anxiety does take practice but there is so much available to you it is sometimes trial and error before we find ways that feel supportive to us reground in the room you're in now go ahead and continue through your day seeing if you can make that conscious choice to come away from the old movies when they start playing I'm Scarlet and come to my work on anxiety if you'd like to develop this further and come back to this meditation anytime you need.
