Please find a comfortable place where you can sit or lie down now for the next 10 minutes or so where you won't be disturbed.
Put up your Do Not Disturb sign.
Get physically comfortable.
Make sure you're warm enough.
If you have a candle,
You can light that now.
Or get out some lavender oil.
And now,
Let's begin.
Gently close your eyes.
And start by just taking a nice,
Long,
Slow,
Deep breath in through your nose.
And out through your nose.
And now bring your attention to your breath.
The direct experience of your breath,
However it is right now.
And however it changes throughout this meditation.
Allow yourself to softly focus your awareness on the breath that is arising right now.
Focus on the inhalation,
How it feels,
And the exhalation.
Feel the rising and the falling.
Try to follow one full cycle of breath.
From the beginning of the in-breath,
Through its entirety,
To the beginning of the out-breath,
Through its entirety.
Allow yourself the time and the space to be in this direct contact with your breath throughout one entire cycle.
As you continue to pay attention to your breath,
You may notice distractions that arise.
Might be thoughts.
Might be physical sensations.
Allow yourself to notice and then release them.
Any physical or body sensations or any thoughts that may come into your mind,
You can acknowledge and release.
Get dialed into the separateness of your body sensations from your thoughts,
From your feelings,
From your ideas.
Continue breathing deeply.
Breathing in through your nose,
Slowly and deeply.
Exhaling through your mouth all the way out.
Releasing everything all the way to the bottom of your lungs.
And now I'll ask you to visualize or imagine a beautiful golden light coming in through your crown chakra at the top of your head,
Moving from above to below.
As you see this golden light swirling throughout your entire body,
Moving all the way down from the top of your head to the tips of your toes,
Imagine that it's creating space,
That it's creating calm,
That it's removing debris,
That everything is slowing down.
And now I'll ask you to bring to mind any situation or circumstance you've been in recently,
Where you've experienced a lack of space between an incident,
A conversation and your reaction,
Where you either shut down or exploded too quickly.
Now see yourself in the same scenario,
But visualize it with plenty of internal space and time to respond in a way that makes you feel empowered,
Seen,
Understood.
Feel the relaxation in your mindful response.
Feel how that feels in your body and how different it is when you are reacting in an automatic way.
Now memorize that physical feeling of expansion,
That feeling of being the calm in the storm,
Of actively using your breath to create space,
Of giving yourself permission to take a power pause so you can mindfully choose your response.
Allow that feeling to settle.
Continue feeling the internal expansion and the sense of well-being coming from the space that you are creating.
I mindfully choose my responses with ease is our affirmation.
So let's gently begin to silently repeat.
I mindfully choose my responses with ease.
I mindfully choose my responses with ease.
Continue silently repeating.
And the next time you hear my voice,
It'll be time to stop.
I mindfully choose my responses with ease.
You can gently stop repeating our affirmation.
Continue breathing deeply,
Enjoying the expansion that you've created,
Knowing that this is a choice that you can make.
Working to mindfully create that choice that you want to have in every moment and every interaction in your life.
So now it's time to bring your attention back to your body.
So let's start by moving some energy to stretch your hands and rock your feet.
I'll count up from one to five.
And when I get to five,
You will feel refreshed and awake and ready for whatever is coming.
One,
Feeling expansion.
Two,
Feeling rested.
Three,
Feeling energized.
Four,
Feeling excited about what's next.
Five,
Take one last slow,
Long,
Deep breath.
And I encourage you to do this meditation every single day for a month and see how much internal space it creates between your thoughts and your actions.
And as always,
Take care of you.
