Hello and welcome to this guided meditation for managing stress.
This meditation is perfect if you find yourself in a deeply stressed state,
If you're feeling the sensations of stress and anxiety in the body,
And if it's taking up a little too much space in the mind,
And you need this time to wind down,
Connect and let go.
So if you could join me in getting comfortable,
Whether that is sitting down with your back supported,
Or lying down and getting comfortable in bed,
Maybe preparing for sleep.
The best place to start when we are looking to work with our nervous system and to bring our body out of that stressful fight or flight response is to come back to our breathing.
So as soon as we bring our awareness there,
You might notice that your breathing is quite shallow,
That it's happening quite high up in the chest.
It might even feel uncomfortable if you try and deepen that breath.
So let's just start with a little bit of letting go by taking a deep breath and just sighing out on your exhale.
Maybe you need to do it two or three times in order to really help your body sink into this moment.
And for the rest of this meditation,
We're going to be focusing on breathing through the nose,
If we are able to do so,
And focusing on deepening our breath as much as possible.
Deepening the breath into the belly and out of the upper chest.
This is where we can signal to our sympathetic nervous system that we can move into a deeply restful and stress-free place.
It might sound a little fantastical that just breathing properly can help ease your stress,
But it is scientifically proven.
It is a language we can learn to speak,
A way to communicate with our mind and body,
A bridge between the two,
Where we can really just let go and engage our parasympathetic nervous system and tell the body to rest.
And so when we have drawn that attention to the belly,
Maybe placing a hand there to encourage our attention to be placed on the rise and fall of the belly instead of the chest,
And just seeing if you can maybe breathe in for 1,
2,
3,
4,
And exhale 8,
7,
6,
5,
4,
3,
2,
1.
Doubling the length of our exhale compared to our inhale,
This is the key to engaging our parasympathetic nervous system.
Now I won't count you in your breathing as everyone needs to go at their own pace,
But really being gentle with yourself and focusing on the extension of that exhale above everything else.
How slow can you draw out your breaths?
How much can you feel your belly and then allow it to sink back towards the spine?
How much can you feel your belly and then allow it to sink back towards the spine?
How much can you feel your belly and then allow it to sink back towards the spine?
How much can you feel your belly and then allow it to sink back towards the spine?
Just noticing how it feels when we think about the state we were in when we came to this meditation today.
Noticing if you're feeling your heart rate slowing down as you deepen and slow down those breaths.
Let's also acknowledge that just because we're breathing deeply doesn't mean that the thoughts or the stress is necessarily disappearing.
Meditation is not about removing stress from our lives.
It's about learning how to regulate our response to stress.
Now there are many things we can do in life to regulate our stress response,
But meditation and breathing is just a tool in your toolbox of coping techniques for when you feel that stress arise.
Being able to come back to some deep breathing to regulate the nervous system,
To let our mind and body know that we are safe.
Even if the stress is a necessary part of life,
We don't need to feel such a visceral response to that stress.
And so the next aspect of managing our response to stress after breathing is learning to manage how we think about stress.
It is impossible to exist on earth without experiencing stress of some kind.
In fact it's essential to survival.
To a lot of different things we have to get done in life,
Stress is essential.
However the nervous system fails to regulate this response when we're in a very heightened state and it can feel harder and harder to bring ourselves back to a place of equilibrium within us.
And so we try to become an observer of our thoughts.
We start to let go of being attached to this stressful way of thinking.
We learn to forge new neural pathways in the brain,
Helps us come to solutions more easily,
It helps us act more efficiently and ultimately it leads us to having a much more peaceful and harmonious life.
And so as you sit here breathing slowly and gently and being gentle with yourself,
I'm sure you have had several thoughts come in as I've been speaking,
Several distractions to try and pull you away from the present moment.
So please give yourself some grace,
Be gentle with yourself in regards to these thoughts.
But now we're here to help soothe them and calm them down.
And so as we focus very intently on our breathing and on the ebb and flow of our belly with these breaths,
We start to notice what thoughts become more dominant in our mind.
What is the first thought that steps forward and asks for attention?
I like to visualise these thoughts as though they're on a conveyor belt in my mind moving in front of me.
And some of these thoughts almost jump out at me and beg me to pick them up,
Take a look.
And when that happens,
Reach out and grab it and acknowledge the thoughts and the feelings that are coming up with this particular stressful thought pattern.
Acknowledging this thought is really important in helping us let go of it.
We aren't here to gaslight ourselves,
We aren't here to pretend that life isn't stressful.
But quite often the level of stress we're experiencing with this one thought is not rational.
Maybe if it is rational,
Does it need to be so intense?
Does it need to make us feel so bad?
And so as we look at this thought,
As we hold it in our hands,
Let's first say,
I see you,
I hear you,
I'm there for you.
I acknowledge that this is something that is causing me stress.
And then can we step in with some reassurance?
I can manage this stressful situation better from a more peaceful place.
I'm not ignoring you,
I'm acknowledging your presence,
But I don't need to fix this right now.
And so with that acknowledgement and that reassurance,
Placing these thoughts and feelings back on this moving conveyor belt in front of us,
And allowing it to move past,
Understanding that it's all part of the process of moving through these thoughts and feelings.
And so this is an invitation to try and continue this practice whilst listening to some soothing and gentle music.
You don't need to rely on the sound of my voice in order to remind you of how the process works.
Let's welcome in some trust that you are able to manage these stressful thoughts,
The acknowledgement,
The reassurance,
And the ability to let them go with ease.
And if it's feeling a little bit hard to place these thoughts and feelings back on the conveyor belt,
Maybe with your exhale you can imagine that you're blowing these thoughts and the amount of stress you're experiencing away.
With my next exhale I release this stressful thought or feeling,
Whatever feels right for you.
With my next exhale I release this stressful thought or feeling,
Whatever feels right for you.
And as we come to the end of this meditation,
Beginning to check in with yourself to see how you're feeling after managing those thoughts and connecting to your breathing on a deeper level.
Sometimes all we need is some peace and quiet,
Some gentle music,
Some deep breaths to hold space for whatever is coming up.
So please show yourself some compassion and kindness with the process of regulating your nervous system.
Although it might have felt challenging,
Please know that it will get easier with practice.
I hope this simple process has helped support you today.
Thank you so much for being here and please thank yourself for committing to this time.
Much love and many blessings.
I hope to see you here again soon.
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