The following meditation is led by Tara Brach.
Greetings dear friend.
What follows is a practice you can use to help you find your way to ease when feelings of strong anxiety or panic arise.
Begin by finding yourself a comfortable place to sit down.
And as you settle,
Become aware of the feeling of the couch or chair,
Whatever you're sitting on supporting you so you can feel the weight of your body,
The sense of gravity and that you're supported by and connected to this earth.
Keeping your eyes open,
Look around and become aware of the space that's here,
The space in front of you,
To one side,
Maybe behind,
Stretching out to look behind and then turning back looking at the other side and just sensing that the space that surrounds you right now,
That this is safe space.
And begin to notice now looking ahead what you're seeing.
Name out loud a few of the things you see,
Maybe desk or rug,
Window,
Maybe you're looking through a window and you can see a tree,
Just softly name a few things.
Now start listening and notice the sounds around you and try to name out loud a few things you hear.
Feeling your body,
You might move slightly or flex a few parts of your body,
Maybe your fingers,
Your arms,
Your shoulders and your feet and become directly aware of sensations in a few parts of your body.
Feeling your body sitting here,
Breathing,
Supported by gravity,
By the earth.
And if it helps to feel your breath now or at any point to let your attention be there,
You might let the breath be long and deep and let it be slow,
Smooth,
Even inflow and outflow,
Relaxing as the breath comes in,
Relaxing as the breath goes out.
You can continue to feel that life breath and allow your attention to keep gently moving so that you're noticing what are you seeing?
What are you seeing right here?
And what are you hearing?
And what are the sensations that you feel in your body?
Still breathing,
Just allowing the attention to keep moving in this simple way,
Seeing,
Hearing,
Feeling,
Breathing,
Breathing,
Seeing forms,
Colors,
Hearing,
Perhaps the close-in sounds or the more distant sounds,
Feeling sensations in the body,
Maybe the hands,
The arms,
The legs,
The feet,
This whole body breathing,
Relaxing with the breath,
Seeing forms,
Colors,
Hearing,
Letting the sounds wash through you,
Feeling sensations,
Perhaps tingling in the hands,
The feet,
Feeling the whole body breathing,
Breathing,
Relaxing with the movement of the breath,
Let the eyes be soft,
Seeing what's right here,
Receptive,
Listening,
Aware of the sounds,
Feeling the body from the inside out,
Sensations of warmth or coolness,
Tingling,
Vibrating,
Breathing,
Allowing the breath to be long,
Deep,
Slow,
Smooth,
Seeing,
Receptive to the images,
The objects,
The forms,
The colors,
Hearing,
Aware of the sounds that are here,
Feeling sensations in the body,
Relaxing with the movement of the breath,
Feeling an increasing sense of right here,
This here-ness.
And from this presence,
If you feel like praying,
You might call on the love in the universe to help hold and calm the fear that's here,
A simple whisper,
Please love me,
Hold me,
Then you might imagine that loving filling the space of the sky,
Coming through the aliveness of the earth,
Coming through particular beings you know who care,
They may be alive or not,
Family,
Friends,
A dog,
Perhaps sensing them around you,
With you,
Maybe feeling a hand on your shoulder or a hug,
Imagining that loving flowing from this universe,
Filling the space of the sky,
Coming through the aliveness of the earth,
Through the hearts of these dear ones into where fear lives,
Softly holding the fear,
Gently bathing it,
Letting it be washed through with loving,
Allowing it to be released,
Dissolved into a vast tenderness,
A timeless loving that has room for it,
Visualizing and feeling what it's like to have this timeless loving presence holding you,
Your entire life,
With tender care,
And as you imagine it,
You can discover how your life truly is embedded in loving awareness and increasingly feel at home.
Blessings,
My friend,
And much love.
