Welcome.
Before we begin,
Take a moment to thank yourself for showing up today,
For having the self-awareness to pay attention to what is coming up to the surface for you,
For allowing yourself to acknowledge your needs,
And taking this time to honor yourself in all of your forms.
Starting to find a place of comfort to start our practice,
However that is for you.
You can be sitting or perhaps lying down with your arms above your head,
Opening through the chest.
Your body's natural intelligence knows you best,
Tuning into that now and giving it permission to take any expression it is craving.
You have nothing to do right now in this moment except to be here,
Right now,
Remaining in stillness,
Simply listening and just being,
Exactly as you feel right now in all of your glorious existence.
Millions of humans on earth experience anxiety.
You are not alone.
I know you feel isolated and hopeless,
But I am here to remind you that you are not.
Anxiety is an experience,
A state of impermanence.
It does not define you.
The tightness in your chest does not demolish all the simple things your heart beats for.
It does not steal the sound of the rain outside your window when you have never felt more safe in your warm and cozy bed.
It doesn't claim the smell of the cool,
Fresh air on a chilly autumn evening just before sunset.
Your shallow breaths do not take ownership of all the times when the pure magnificence of the star-filled sky left you speechless on a summer night.
The numbness and tingling that visits your limbs uninvited does not take away the sparkle in your eyes every time you do something you love.
All these sensations are visitors.
Welcome them in,
Be curious,
Sit with them and get to know them.
Don't push them away.
They will leave you when you simply acknowledge their presence with ease and grace.
They want to be heard.
I know you wanted them to leave you alone many times before in your past,
But they are comfortable here.
They are coming to talk to you,
To communicate with you,
To ask you for your awareness to shine on a certain aspect of your life that perhaps you've been subconsciously neglecting.
They are here to help you,
To guide you towards being your highest self.
Anxiety can feel like a stranger,
A trespasser violating our commands to stay away.
What we must do now is shift our view and look at our anxiety as our friend,
A friend in which we recognize all their unique qualities,
A friend that always shows up at the perfect moments when we need them most,
To gently remind us to be present,
Slow down,
And appreciate all parts of who we are,
Down to our very core.
Change your breath now.
Feel the gentle,
Natural rise of the Chester belly on every inhale and exhale.
Let's embark on a journey inside our physical vessel to think and appreciate our internal vital organs.
The impeccable works of art nestled safely beneath our bones,
Guiding your awareness to your lungs in this moment.
And as you breathe with each soft breath,
Offering them an abundance of gratitude for their effortless efficiency in creating this breath,
The life force energy that is the key to our human experience.
Our lungs are one of our many teachers.
With each inhale and exhale,
They teach us the ebb and flow of life,
The rhythmical pattern of inward and outward decline and regrowth,
The coming and going,
Knowing that this is no different when it comes to our pain or discomfort.
It is not here to stay.
We receive and we release.
We take in and we let go.
Cells and our body regenerate.
We are ever-changing organisms,
Renewing and replenishing,
Breathing in and breathing out.
Breathing your out-breath now,
Slowing it down,
Extending it,
Feeling your diaphragms soften and relax in each exhale.
You are slowing down your heart rate as you shift into your parasympathetic nervous system,
The rest and digest response in which relaxation trickles its way to all areas of our being.
Feel the power of pure nothingness,
The deafening silence as you begin to float away on soft clouds of calm.
There is nothing here but you and your beating heart,
The heart that stores your dreams and visions,
The heart that holds your lively essence in feeling everything so deeply,
Giving thanks to it now as you absorb its beautiful beating bass deep inside your chest cavity.
You came to this meditation today to find your safe place.
I am here to tell you that you are already there.
It is you.
You are your own safe place.
It exists right inside of you.
We found it together.
We followed the light at the end of the dark tunnel.
We danced with our shadows and enjoyed their sequence.
We made friends with this comfort and were delighted by its presence.
As our practice slowly begins to come to its completion,
Place your palms on your chest.
Feel free to sit with this connection to yourself in silence or repeat after me as we speak to your inner being and all of your shadows that were drawn towards your light today and came up to visit.
Thank you.
I see you.
I hear you.
And I love you.
Thank you.
I see you.
I love you.
Thank you.
I see you.
I see you.
I love you.
I hear you.
I love you.
You are understood.
You are safe.
You are understood.
And you are safe.
Thank you,
Friends.
Until next time.
Oshpeganz.
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