Hello and welcome.
My name is Lizele and I'm here to guide you through a meditation today that will help you ease anxiety.
It will help you find a place of relaxation even when you are experiencing anxiety or panic or stress.
Let's start by just relaxing a little bit.
I'd love for you to take a nice deep breath in through the nose.
And when you're ready,
Release that breath slowly.
And again we're going to breathe in slowly through the nose.
And then exhale slowly.
In,
Hold and out.
And again breathing in,
Hold and out.
I'd like you to continue breathing like this with calm and gentle breaths.
If you find yourself quickening the pace,
Don't beat yourself up.
Just go,
Okay,
I notice what I did there.
I'm going to relax and start again.
But just continue to work on the breathing gently and slowly.
Then what I'd like for you to do is to raise your shoulders up toward your ears.
You can hold them quite tightly if you wish.
Tense them.
And then when you're ready,
Just allow them to drop down into a lovely comfortable position.
And as you do that,
I want you to really imagine you sinking into the surface that you're sitting on.
Really allowing your body to soften into it.
Not a push,
Just a softening.
Then I would like you to allow your jaw to relax and soften.
To even drop a little.
Letting the muscles of your face become soft,
Relaxed,
Neutral.
Once you've done that,
Take a nice deep breath in.
Hold that breath.
And release it very slowly.
And what we're going to do is allow the muscles of your body to relax completely right from the top of your head right down to your feet.
So starting with your head and neck area,
Focus on that area.
Now imagine a lovely light or wand,
Whatever you choose,
Focuses its attention toward you in the area of your neck and shoulders.
And as it runs over your body,
You feel a sense of relief and release.
Now that same light or wand is going to move down to your shoulders and chest area and your upper back.
Allow all of the muscles of this area to relax right down.
And as this magical light continues down to your middle back and then lower back,
Right through the hips,
The top of the thighs,
I want you to notice any areas in your body that still holds tension or still hold tension.
And if you notice an area that is specifically tight,
Relax that area now.
Your body will continue to relax deeper and deeper.
You sink heavier and heavier into the area that you're either sitting or lying and you are relaxed.
Now as you notice this sense of relaxation sweeping your body,
Let's focus on an area in your body that still holds anxiety.
This area may be your throat,
It may be your belly.
Wherever that is,
Wherever you feel that,
It could even be your mind or in your head,
I want you to concentrate your attention on that area.
And I want you to notice in detail what that anxiety or tension feels like.
Is there pain?
Are you experiencing butterflies in your tummy?
Maybe you just have a feeling like a little niggle,
A niggle of discomfort or fear.
What does it feel like?
Maybe think of all the words you can to describe it.
In your mind,
Take this time now to describe what you are feeling.
Well done.
Now that you have given words to your anxiety,
I want you to relax.
I want you to think of something else once again.
I'm going to bring you back to your breathing.
This time what we're going to do is we're going to breathe in to the count of four.
Hold for the count of four and breathe out to the count of four.
Breathe in to the count of four.
Hold.
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale.
Two,
Three,
Four.
I want you to repeat this pattern.
Breathing in to the count of four.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold.
Two,
Three,
Four.
Exhale.
Three,
Four.
I want you to feel the tension leaving your body bit by bit with each breath that you take.
Any time that you experience tightness in your body that you might describe as anxiety,
You can use this powerful breathing technique to bring you back to the present moment.
You don't have to fight anxiety.
It is like the weather.
It is just passing through.
Allow it to pass through.
Your breath will help you.
Again,
Nice deep breath in.
Hold.
And release.
And as you breathe through this process,
Feel the last bits of anxiety or stress or tension disappearing from your body.
You feel so relaxed.
Take a deep breath in.
And as you let it out,
Release.
When you are ready,
Take a few moments to reawaken your body and your mind.
You are now returning to alertness and full awareness.
You can sit quietly with your eyes closed or open.
Become aware of your surroundings.
And when you are ready,
Open your eyes.
You are confident.
You are calm.
You are relaxed.
