Welcome to this travel companion.
The perfect way to find peace,
No matter what your destination.
So much of what we stress about is related to things that may happen,
Not necessarily what is actually going to happen.
In this meditation,
We focus on the here and the now and relieve your brain of its duty to worry.
The Stoic Epictetus says,
We suffer more in imagination than in reality.
Mark Twain echoes this with his immortal line,
I've suffered a great many catastrophes in my life.
Most of them never happened.
You get the point.
So much of our anguish is a result of these powerful future prediction machines we call our brain.
And although this ability to imagine the future is very useful,
It can all get a bit much,
Especially when we travel.
I want to show you a technique that's going to keep you in the moment and stop you worrying.
And that starts with you getting into a seated position,
With your back nice and straight and your shoulders relaxed.
So do that for me now.
The first part is dead easy.
Start by just focusing on the breath.
Simply just thinking about breathing.
Acknowledging the inhale.
And acknowledging the exhale.
Now I want you to do a quick quality check.
How good is that inhale?
And how good is that exhale?
See if you can make it smoother.
And see if you can make each a bit longer.
The next thing I want you to do is go through security.
But this is not security like we know it in customs at the airport,
But rather the positive sense of security.
That feeling of being safe and secure and free from harm.
Acknowledge how right now,
No harm is coming to you.
Right now in this very moment,
Notice how it feels to be free from harm.
To feel safe in your position.
Even feeling secure in the seat you find yourself.
Feeling and enjoying the luxury that is to be secure.
Noting that many of the things that we worry about don't exist right now.
They exist in the future.
And they may or may not come to pass.
In many ways we worry about worrying.
In this very moment,
What does exist?
Well,
You exist.
And so does that beautiful breathing that you've made nice,
Long and smooth.
What else exists in this moment?
Everything that you can feel.
The feeling of that seat below you.
And a few other things.
Some things we're going to cover right now.
So from this beautiful,
Safe and secure breathing,
This lovely seated position.
Imagine now someone is shining a big spotlight on all of you.
And it covers your entire body in light.
This light conveys the ability to bring awareness and relaxation with it.
This light now gets smaller and concentrates just on your feet.
And as it does this,
You begin to take note of how your feet feel right now.
In your shoes or socks.
Or if you're barefoot,
How the air feels touching your skin.
Maybe for the first time today,
Tapping into how your feet feel.
Okay,
Nice.
So aware of our feet.
Now I want you to make a concerted effort to relax them all together.
Consciously connected.
And deliberately de-stressed.
Alright,
Good.
Let that light now move to your calves and your shins.
The light illuminating how this area feels.
As you notice the fabric and how it touches these parts of your body.
Becoming aware of maybe the temperature of these parts of your body.
And then as you exhale.
Can you feel this area,
The shins and the calves just relax all together.
Feels good,
Right?
That spotlight now moves up onto your thighs,
Hamstrings,
Your bum and your hips.
And you begin to notice these areas.
Notice how they feel in the seated position.
No right or wrongs,
Just things that are happening right here and right now.
Notice the pressure of the seat below you.
Notice the feeling of your thighs and your hamstrings.
If they are in contact with anything in particular.
Including your clothing.
Just being aware.
And now with a beautiful long exhale.
Smooth as when you first started doing them.
Breathe out and relax the legs all together.
Let that spotlight now move up to your torso so it encompasses your belly and your chest.
And just become aware of maybe the first bit of movement in the body.
Noticing how the chest and belly rise and fall slowly together.
Both moving out as you inhale.
And collapsing in as you exhale.
Softening that breath but keeping it nice and big.
That spotlight now encompasses your back too.
And you become aware of anything that is supporting your back.
Anything you are leaning on.
And maybe you just notice the muscles in your back.
As they keep you upright.
And then as you exhale,
You let go of whatever you can.
You relax whatever you can.
That spotlight now splits into two and travels to each arm and hand.
And as it does,
You feel the weight of your arms as they feel suspended from your shoulders.
Feel like your hands are weights pulling your shoulders down.
And giving them almost a stretch.
You take note of anything that your hands are touching.
Including one another.
Including the air around them.
And as you exhale,
You notice your arms get just that bit heavier.
And your hands getting just that bit heavier.
That spotlight converges back into a singular point and moves up to your face and neck.
And here you feel the heaviness of your jaw.
The weight of your head.
The softness of your expression.
And then as you exhale,
You feel everything just relax in your neck.
In your face.
Like your eyebrows are just chilled and melting down your face.
Like your cheeks are drawing down to the earth.
Like your jaw is just falling just that little bit more open.
And you feel your expression.
It's just this blank expression with no need to do anything.
And now that spotlight expands once again to encompass your entire body.
And as it does,
You feel what it is to be in this moment.
You feel fully connected to your entire body.
And as you exhale,
The entire body just relaxes.
It melts.
It softens.
That spotlight now turns off.
Leaving you fully aware and fully relaxed.
