A Meditation For When You Are Feeling Stressed

Do you ever have the feeling that your brain is full and you simply do not have the capacity to take one more thing in? And the idea of meditation is a million miles from where you are right now?

It's easy to meditate when we are feeling good when our minds are less active and when we are feeling calm and relaxed. But when we are feeling stressed, anxious, worried, or overwhelmed, with racing thoughts, we shallow breathe - generally with lots of huffing and puffing and flapping - and in this state of reduced oxygen flow, it can feel almost impossible to calm ourselves down, let alone meditate.

In this meditation, you'll be guided through a simple process to help you slow the racing thoughts, regulate your breathing, and bring you back to greater balance.

So you can exchange that frenetic state for the experience of stillness, tapping in instead into the ever-present state of inner peace and calm within.

Transcript

Our meditation together today is actually about breathing into calm and stillness and the intention for today's meditation together is really just to help provide the guidance for when we are feeling really kind of overwhelmed and worried and stressed.

It's all very well and good to meditate when we're feeling good and to go yeah yeah I'm feeling so good I'm just going to sit down and calmly meditate and just take myself off into that space but when we're actually feeling like as I said stressed overwhelmed there's a lot of busyness going on in our heads there might be quite a lot of stuff that we're dealing with in our lives and we know that it's helpful for us to be able to calm down and to centre ourselves and to focus on our breath but the reality of being able to do that when it's overwhelming is it's like there's a step that we need to almost take before we get into that meditative state and so we can do this when we do guided meditations it's really helpful but what I kind of want to do today in today's session is really just work through the step or guide us through that step to get us to the point where we are actually able to just really step into that space of meditation which is what is going to help us ultimately start to shift things and turn things around so what I'd like you to do is to just sit or lie so you might be sitting or you might be lying down either way it's okay just make sure your spine is straight and I just want you to just set the intention we're just going to set the intention now but whatever is going on for us in our lives at this moment in time whatever is going on for you in your life at this moment in time we're going to accept that so we're just accepting that we are exactly where we are in our life at the moment and one of my favorite affirmations is where I am now is where I am now and where I am now is perfect so I just want you to just sit with this where I am now is where I am now and where I am now is perfect there's nowhere else you're meant to be right now except right here there's nowhere nothing else that's meant to be going on in your life right now except for what is going on right now and to just deeply accept that it doesn't mean that we have to like it it doesn't mean that we necessarily have to be happy about it but we just can accept it and from this space of just deep acceptance we now starting to create a little gap a little space for something different so just where I am now maybe everything's going fantastically in your life and that's fantastic too and I can just still be still and I can still pause here for a little bit and I can just have a moment now where I'm just going to allow myself to be fully present in this moment now so I'm not attached to anything that's going on in the world around me I'm not holding on to anything I'm not allowing myself to feel upset by anything I'm just going to accept it that where I am now is where I am now and where I am now is perfect so just breathing into that and if they're not already you can close your eyes just spine straight by the lying or sitting with your hands just resting loosely in your lap or by your sides feet flat on the ground if you are sitting and just feel your spine straightening so if you're lying down just feel this the straightening of your spine you're just as you're focusing on that just feeling your spine straighten and then just taking a really deep breath in through your nose just filling your lungs completely slowly exhaling through your mouth allowing your body to relax relax with the out-breath we're just gonna keep repeating that so we're just breathing in through your nose and filling your lungs completely slowly exhaling through your mouth just allowing your body to relax with the out-breath and in through your nose filling your lungs completely and slowly exhaling through your mouth allowing your body to relax with the out-breath and just keep reminding yourself if you feel yourself kind of drifting into where you were before you joined this meditation what happened yesterday or what you think's gonna happen later today just remind yourself where I am now is where I am now and where I am now is perfect and just allow yourself just to keep breathing breathing deeply into your lungs and releasing so we're not going to be counting our breath for this meditation we're just going to be breathing allowing yourself to become the breath and allowing that breath if you just relax your body as you're relaxing your body you will naturally be breathing more deeply so just remembering to breathe in through your nose filling your lungs completely slowly exhaling through your mouth and allowing your body to relax with the out-breath and you're just going to repeat that for the meditation now you've focused on your intention of where I am now is where I am now and where I'm now is perfect that we here now to breathe into calm and stillness so we're using the breath in this moment now to still our mind and calm our body so you can the breath is very powerful when you can really connect in with it so it's almost as if you don't even need to worry about not thinking if you can just focus on your breath and allowing the breath to guide your calming and your relaxation you'll find that naturally now the mind is starting to slow down and just be aware of your breath so we're just moving our attention away from our mind we're not trying to stop thinking we're not trying there's no trying there's no effort with this we are just moving our focus and our attention away from the mind from the thinking we're moving into the focus on the breath and just allowing that breath the deep breathing the exhalation in the slow breathing out we're just allowing that breath to calm everything down now what I want you to do is become aware of your body so we're going to bring your attention to the top of your head and as you breathe out just imagine a wave of relaxation washing over your scalp your forehead and your temples allowing this wave of calm to move down your face relaxing your jaw and mouth just feel be aware of your jaw all the tension that's in your jaw just starting to fall away and you might feel a tingling sensation just allow yourself to go with that let your shoulders drop and your arms grow heavy as the relaxation flows down into your chest your abdomen your hips and your legs all the way to the tips of your toes so just it's almost like a numbing feeling you're just allowing that deep relaxation you're willing that relaxation you're allowing that relaxation with your breath with your focus with your intention so just allowing the breath now allowing that energy allowing that focus to just relax your whole body and just feel the tension just drifting away now we're going to bring it our attention back to the breath as you're focusing on your breathing notice the natural rhythm of your breath without trying to change it but just observing your breath feel the cool air as you inhale through your nose and the warm air as you exhale through your mouth so now you're starting to become aware of almost the texture of the breath and just with each breath in and out just feel yourself becoming more and more grounded in the present moment so you're not trying to control your breath you're not trying to force your breath you are allowing your breath you are focusing on the breath without controlling the breath you're allowing your body to breathe so you can feel the expansion in your lungs and your chest area you might be becoming more aware of your heart and feeling the expansiveness of your heart as you just allow your body to breathe that's focusing on your breath allowing your body to breathe and if the thoughts come in just remember the way you are now is where you are now and where you are now is perfect and there's nothing to think about here just allowing yourself to become the breath you might continue to feel those waves of relaxation just sweeping over your body allow yourself to go with that feeling your body become lighter and you feeling yourself letting go so you're just focusing on your breath and your body and as you're focusing on your breath in your body your attention is no longer focused on your thoughts on your thinking you've just let it all go and you've let it all go because you're no longer focusing there now we're going to move into a body scan body scan is just now becoming more aware of your body but I want you to become aware of your body as the observer so almost as if you're the breath observing your body moving through your body so you are the breath moving through your body and just take a moment with your breath to perform a gentle body scan starting from the top of your head down to your toes just become aware of your body become aware of yourself in your body just notice any areas of tension or discomfort and now as you breathe in as you are the breath like just feel yourself as that breath direct your breath to these areas where you can feel that tension or that discomfort and as you breathe out just imagine yourself releasing the tension and as you allow your breath to just move deep like deeper and deeper into these areas just feel your entire body becoming more relaxed and at ease each breath cycle so with each breath in and with each breath out you can feel the tension releasing from those areas just keep focusing on your breath and you can feel those areas becoming more and more relaxed and you can feel the waves of relaxation continuing to wash down over your scalp your forehead and your temples allowing the wave of calm to move down into your face relaxing your jaw and mouth letting your shoulders drop and your arms grow heavy as the relaxation flows down into your chest your abdomen your hips and your legs all the way to the tips of your toes and it's like this relaxation now through your breath and through these waves and waves of beautiful relaxing energy it's like your whole body is relaxing and calming from the outside the inside and it's all through your focused attention on your breath and you're just finding yourself sinking more and more deeply into a state of relaxation really feeling yourself relax become calm and now really becoming aware of that state or that eternal presence that is within you that is deep stillness it's pure stillness it's absolute stillness and the more you allow yourself to sink into that through the breath through the letting go and through the relaxation the more aware you are becoming of that eternal state of peace and stillness and presence that is always there within and can be experienced when we are relaxed and calm and open and allowing and just focusing on your breath keep breathing into those areas if there is any stress and if you're feeling yourself just feeling a bit stressed or the tension returning just bring your attention back to your breath and into this present moment now and silently repeat these calming affirmations to yourself you just can repeat them in your mind after me I am safe and supported I release my worries and embrace peace I am at one with my breath I am grounded and stable peace flows through me with every breath I am safe and supported I release all of my worries and embrace peace I am one with my breath I am grounded and stable I am grounded and stable peace flows through me with every breath I am safe and supported I release my worries and embrace peace I am one with my breath I am grounded and stable peace flows through me with every breath just for a few minutes now I just want you to just breathe so just keep breathing allowing your body to breathe with the breath so just becoming one with the breath allowing yourself to sink more deeply into a state of grounded relaxation just feel calm and centered and breathing in deeply and breathing out being aware of the breath in through your nose and the exhalation out just allowing yourself to breathe all of the air out of your lungs clearing your lungs and allowing the fresh oxygen to come in cleansing your insides just feeling yourself becoming more and more relaxed and more and more aware of the state of stillness the eternal presence of calm and peace and tranquility and harmony and balance that exists within you when you can just allow yourself to become one with your breath and focus on your breath and your connection with your breath and in doing that you're going to move away from the frenetic thinking and the busyness and the chaos and the overwhelm and the worry and the fear and just move away from that by focusing on your breath and allowing yourself to connect in with a beautiful state of peace and calm inner peace and stillness that's always there it's always available for us it's never not there but we just need to calm ourselves down connecting with our breath ground ourselves in our body become one with the breath and as we do that we naturally tap into that endless unlimited infinite reservoir of peace and stillness that always exists within us and just remind yourself that this calm place within you is always available it's always there we just have to remember it's there and we have to remember to allow ourselves to experience it and remember that you can return to your breath anytime you need to create space and stillness in your mind your mind isn't naturally going to calm itself down we need to take control of it by allowing our breath to calm us down but when we are busy and chaotic we breathe really shallow and we don't allow ourselves to experience that state within so this place of peace and calm it's always here it's always available for you you just have to remember to tap in and calming your body relaxing your body focusing on your breath is the way to calm everything down to connect in and as you do that you're going to feel more calm more peaceful more still and in this present moment you're going to be able to look at things differently think about things differently feel differently and from that space in this present moment you can begin to have a different experience and a different relationship with whatever is going on for you in the world around and you can just slowly now bring your awareness back so back into the room back into your body back into your surrounding and just feel that beautiful calm space connected the peace that you're experiencing right now and just know that through your focused awareness and through your breath you can experience this at any moment at any time in your day and you just remember to remember where i am now is where i am now and where i am now is perfect and i'm just going to allow myself to focus on my breath and i'm going to allow myself to become aware of my body and where i'm holding tension in my body and i'm just going to allow those waves of beautiful calm and relaxing energy to flow down from my crown all the way down my body and i'm going to keep remembering to draw my attention back to my breath my deep breathing and as i focus on my breath as i focus on those waves of calming beautiful cleansing energy coming down from my crown my mind is going to start to calm down and relax and i am going to be able to experience whatever is going on in this present moment from a firm or calm balanced and grounded perspective because i will be operating on the foundation of this beautiful inner peace and stillness that i know always exists within me and i just have to remember through my breath to tap into that and when you're ready you can just wriggle your fingers and pose and stretch gently if you feel the need and when you're ready you can gently open your eyes