The following practice has been brought to you by the School of Kamma,
Empowering students through mindfulness meditation.
Before you begin,
Find a safe and comfortable space where you won't be disturbed.
For safety,
Do not listen to this recording whilst driving or operating machinery.
Hi,
I'm Matt and I'll be your guide for this following period of meditation.
Take a moment to make yourself comfortable.
You may want to sit upright with the back straight.
Or,
If you are new to the practice or a little low on energy,
Then feel free to lie down.
And when you're ready,
Bring the eyes to a gentle close.
The experience of social anxiety can be extremely challenging.
It can manifest in the form of a fear that people are watching everything we do with some preconceived idea about who we are.
And this can be more difficult at university as it is a much larger and sometimes more intimidating environment than we are used to.
And so before we reflect on this experience,
We're going to start by relaxing the body,
Part by part,
As we move from the prominent aspects of our lived experience to the more subtle aspects of the mind.
This can be particularly useful when we feel anxious,
As it allows us to move away from those thoughts of the past or potentials in the future.
And so I just invite you to bring your attention to the soles of the feet.
And we're just going to briefly scan each part of the body,
Giving us the opportunity to really connect with who we are.
And so we can just bring the mind's eye over the tops of the feet,
Around the ankles,
Into the calves,
Feeling the shins,
And just noticing any sensations,
Maybe feeling any tightness,
Gently loosening in the knees,
As we move into the backs of the thighs,
The tops of the thighs,
And just noticing any sensations that catch your attention.
And if you do struggle to find any subtle sensations,
Just notice the contact.
And if you do struggle to find any subtle sensations,
Just notice the contact.
And we might want to take an opportunity to make some adjustments to the legs and find a position that's more comfortable.
After all,
This practice is not about punishing ourselves or meeting any external standard.
We're just finding a position that's comfortable for us,
So we can settle and take some time out of the external world.
So,
Feeling the weight of the body on the glutes,
We can slowly come into the lower back,
Into the middle of the back,
And the upper back.
Just briefly scanning up and down the back,
We might notice some residual tightness,
Sometimes in the lower back or running parallel to the spine.
We may even feel some sensations in the upper back,
As we come into the shoulders,
And just giving ourselves permission to drop any tension in this area of the body.
This is not something we have to do ourselves,
We can just allow it to happen on its own.
Dropping the mind's eye down the arms,
Over the elbows and into the forearms,
And coming into the wrist and hands.
We might want to become aware of any sensations or the temperature in this area.
And again,
We can just give ourselves permission to move the hands if we need to.
We're just being kind to ourselves.
And allowing this experience to be whatever we want it to be.
Dropping the mind's eye into the area of the abdomen,
And just feeling the breath arriving here.
Noticing the expansion of the abdomen on the inhale,
And feeling the drop of the abdomen toward the spine on the exhale.
As the body just releases stress and breathes in oxygen,
Filling the body with energy and revitalizing every organ.
And we can just acknowledge these organs in the cavity of the torso,
As we gently move our awareness up into the heart center and emerge at the chest.
An area where we can sometimes feel tightness.
An area where the breath can get caught when we feel anxious.
Which is perfectly fine and perfectly natural.
Healing into the neck and throat.
And just arriving at the jaw.
Scanning the lips,
Cheeks,
Nose,
Eyes,
And forehead.
And then arriving at the top of the head,
And just checking in with how we feel.
Noticing the increased relaxation in the body.
And we can just abide here,
As we turn inward to the quality of the mind.
At university we are surrounded by people from everywhere.
That can be quite overwhelming for a lot of us.
And this can create comparisons in the mind.
Where we feel a little more unsure or critical of ourselves and our own journey.
These feelings can cause us to retract a little,
Now and again.
We might feel as though we aren't as good or as outgoing.
Or as confident.
And yes,
People can tell us not to think about it.
But the reality is that this is really hard.
After all,
It's not like we don't know intellectually that comparisons in the mind do not always reflect what's real.
We know that everyone is in the same situation.
And everyone has their own insecurities.
And everyone is subject to the unrealistic standards that things like social media can create.
And of course,
We know that it doesn't matter where we're from or what education we have.
We all feel society's nagging pressure.
Deep down,
We know all this.
We can't just switch these patterns of thought off.
And just feel positive all the time.
And that's perfectly normal.
But when we find ourselves in this space of self-doubt,
It is important not to let this characterize our university experience as a whole.
Even the most seemingly confident or socially active people go through this.
And so we don't have to put this pressure on ourselves to change.
Instead,
We can take small steps like this one to connect and check in on a regular basis.
As we gradually become more familiar with these fundamentally temporary feelings of insecurity,
Then whenever we do feel self-conscious or anxious and nervous,
We can simply choose to be kinder to ourselves.
And when we do feel ready to be around people again,
We can give them 100% of our kindness and 100% of our support.
Over time,
Our confidence will increase.
Our self-esteem and energy for social interactions will also increase.
And our wisdom and compassion for those around us will deepen.
Be yourself and protect your energy.
Trees can take time to grow.
But when they do,
They withstand even the fiercest of storms.
Take a few moments to relax.
And when you hear my voice again,
We'll begin to bring the meditation period to its conclusion.
Coming close to the end of the meditation period now,
Take a moment just to check in with how you feel.
There's no need to quantify or label anything.
Just notice how your state has changed in such a way that it's easy for you to imagine it in such a short space of time.
You'll now hear the bell ring three times.
And on the third ringing of the bell,
Gently open the eyes and return to the room.
