This meditation is ideal for preteens,
Teenagers,
And young adults struggling with relationship conflict,
Academic stress,
Or challenges involving sports or extracurricular activities.
When anger or frustration tries to take over,
Finding ways to tame the temper helps find freedom.
Guiding you through ways to scan your mind and body while navigating your stress responses,
I offer you the gift of breathing through frustration.
Let's get started.
I invite you to settle into your posture whether you're standing,
Sitting,
Or lying down.
You may choose to focus on a fixed point in the room,
Or you may choose to close your eyes.
Take a few breaths,
Monitoring the normal pace of your inhale and exhale,
Noticing if your chest rises and falls,
If your belly goes in and out.
And now,
I invite you to join me in taking a long,
Deep inhale through your nose,
And a relieving exhale through your mouth.
Once again,
A slow,
Deep inhale through your nose,
And a sigh through your mouth.
So today,
We're going to talk about frustration.
Frustration happens to all of us,
And we respond in different ways.
Sometimes,
However,
We don't realize how we respond even with our bodies.
Sometimes,
The jaw is clenched tight,
The eyebrows and forehead make a frown,
Sometimes the shoulders are tense and raised,
Sometimes the wrist and fingers are balled into a fist.
Sometimes,
We even shout certain words,
Throw things,
Or hit things,
And sometimes we hold our breath.
What we don't realize is that whatever the frustration is about,
When we react with a posture of anger and tension and frustration in our mind and body,
We're robbing ourselves of the opportunity to learn from the experience.
We're forgetting the importance of being able to calmly and effectively shift our emotions.
Just like we change the speed of our breathing with deep inhales and exhales,
And just like we can turn the volume down on our devices or pour the milk a little more carefully into the bowl so we don't spill everything and make a mess.
And whether it's a disappointing score on a quiz,
Test,
Or assignment,
Whether it's a missed shot or goal,
Whether it's the loss of a game or competition,
Whether the frustration is about our friends,
Family,
Or school,
How can we respond in a way that opens ourselves up to receive the lesson,
To learn from the experience,
Even if the lesson is respond calmly and with respect.
Now this doesn't mean you can't be angry or upset,
Disappointed,
Or frustrated.
It just means how can you channel that energy into growth.
And so as we inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth,
We take in the wisdom of this lesson and let it soothe us and cool our hot temper like a refreshing drink on a hot summer day.
We release the habit of tension,
Of physical and verbal frustration,
And allow it to evaporate like the sun melts the ice after a snow day.
And slowly but intently,
We learn what to do with it.
We learn how to grow from it.
We realize that we are not our problems or mistakes.
We are not our anger.
We learn to rise above.
We learn to release that frustration and let it float in the wind just like bubbles or dandelions that we like to blow.
We can even count down as we make the shift.
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One.
When you breathe deeply,
You clear the fog in your head.
It helps you see other options.
What do you envision yourself doing to calm down after breathing deeply?
Taking a nap?
Going for a walk or run?
Coloring or drawing?
Dancing to your favorite song?
Take a deep inhale through your nose.
And exhale through your mouth.
Once again.
One last time.
And now,
Notice your shifted posture,
Your newly relaxed feelings in your body,
Your head feeling lighter.
And focus on where you are in the room with this new energy,
This new breath.
And when you're ready,
Open your eyes and remember whatever it is you can breathe through frustration.
