The Healing Garden

This is a guided relaxation using a metaphor of a garden to guide you through clearing out old emotions, thoughts, and behavior patterns as well as planting new ideas, beliefs, and goals that will grow in your life. It will help you learn to care and nurture yourself through the use of imagery.

Transcript

Let's take a deep breath in through the nose, Breathing all the way down into the stomach, Feeling the stomach expand. Hold for a moment and then slowly release the breath. Very good. Let's repeat the cycle of breathing a few more times. Taking a deep, Slow breath, Bringing it all the way down to the toes, Holding for a moment and then slowly releasing the breath. Nice work. One more time, Pull in a nice even breath, Bringing it down deep into the body. Hold for a moment and then slowly release the breath. Take a moment to appreciate the way this feels as the body begins to relax. All the tension that the body so commonly holds melts away as you allow yourself to resume normal, Peaceful breathing in this moment that is all yours, Where nobody needs anything from you. Nobody wants anything from you. Good enough for that later. I would like you to imagine that you are outside in a beautiful place, Surrounded by nature, Perhaps lying in a meadow or field or on a beach somewhere, Wherever feels right to you. Such a peaceful day outside. The air is the perfect temperature with a nice breeze blowing through. You can hear the wind in the trees. It feels wonderful on your skin and the sound is so peaceful. You're lying down on the grass or sand and you're so relaxed, So calm, Watching the clouds or waves as they move peacefully, Slowly, Calmly. And as you lie there, Peacefully, Your eyes drift closed. You feel the tension slowly rising out of the body, Lifting out of the body to blow away on the breeze. As the tension lifts out of the head, You feel it leave. Maybe even seeing it lifts out of the body. It may feel like mist or smoke as it leaves the head and blows away on the wind. And it lifts out of the neck and throat and you can feel how wonderful your neck and throat feel when it is relieved of all tension, All stress that then blows away on the breeze. And the shoulders unwind of tension, Pain and stress rising out of the body, Blowing away. And then the chest releases any and all tension, Surrendering it to the wind. All the stress and emotions that have been stored in the stomach rise out and drift away. The back as well lets go of any tightness, Tension, Pain, Letting it leave the body, Floating away on the breeze. Tension and stress also unwind and release from the hips to be carried off on the wind. And the legs release and relax, All tension rising out of them. And finally, The feet let go of stress and tension as the whole body completely and totally relaxes. The breeze blows through, Completely enclosing the body, Protecting it, Cocooning it and blowing out any further lingering stress or tension. Now that the body is so thoroughly relaxed, The mind also relaxes and the wind blows away any unwanted thoughts, Clearing out the mind, Leaving it free to relax and wander. As you enjoy and memorize this wonderful feeling of peace and relaxation, The mind drifts with the breeze, Taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity to be free of thoughts, Free of worries, Nothing to think about right now, Nothing to plan, Nothing to do. Allow yourself this time to rest and relax. Now is the time to devote to yourself, To rest the body and the mind in peace and calmness as we do some important work. You are now deeply relaxed and ready to do some important work, Some important work on healing and repairing yourself. You will hear every word I speak, Even though you may find that your mind wanders at times. Your subconscious mind is listening because right now, Nothing else matters except this wonderful feeling of relaxation that you are experiencing. Right now, There's not a care in the world. There's nothing for you to do but to relax and let go. So relax and let go and enjoy these feelings of peace and relaxation moving through the body and mind. In a moment, I'm going to ask you to visualize certain things and you will find that doing so helps you relax even more deeply. You will be able to see and imagine everything so clearly that it will seem like a very real place and the work that you do there will be very real as well. I would like you to create in your mind a big beautiful garden. Watch as it manifests and is created right in front of your eyes. It may be just as big and just as diverse as you like. There are no limits here. And it is the most beautiful day to spend outside in your garden. This garden represents you, The you on the inside, The you that has been through some difficult experiences. As you look more closely, You will find that the garden contains every part of you, Every experience, Every emotion that is so stuck inside, Every thought, Every belief, And every memory. It may be that parts of the garden need a lot of work. There are maybe areas that are overgrown or full of weeds. There may be areas that have not gotten enough water or have been neglected or are bare. Take your time in this time that is all yours to explore your garden. Explore at this time without doing any work yet. Walk along the paths, Sit on the benches, Smell the flowers. Take this time to acquaint yourself with every nook and cranny. It may feel a bit overwhelming at times to see neglects or decay in your garden, Knowing there is so much work to do. But don't worry, You will have the opportunity to get to work very soon. Take this time to honor the current state of the garden, Acknowledging each area in need of attention and care. Right now, Take a few moments to assess what needs to be done. Take time to be present in understanding and accepting where you and the garden are right now, Knowing that very soon that will begin to transform. Very good. There may still be areas of your garden to explore, But you now know where to start. You know what you will work on first, And knowing this brings you a sense of comfort and confidence. Now you have the opportunity to begin work on your garden. You have all the tools that you need. Anything that will help heal and repair your garden is available to you. Take some time now to begin this important work. You might start with weeding out the decayed, Dead, Or damaged areas, Or by cutting back spots that are overgrown. I'll be silent for a moment or two as you start this work. Very good. You know as you continue that every weed that you pull and every flower that you plant is having a profound effect on you. Each weed represents an experience, Thoughts, Emotion, Or belief that no longer has any place with you. Some may be easy to pull out, While others may be more difficult and require a lot more effort to dig out. But stick with it. You can persevere, And you feel so good and so accomplished as you get those really difficult weeds out of your garden and discard them. There may be areas where leaves or other yard debris has piled up. And again, Some of it may be easy to rake up and remove, While other areas may require more effort. But you know that you are up to the challenge, And you are doing a really good job putting in so much effort and hard work. And as you work, You begin to realize that this garden not only represents the inner you but also has a big impact on how you view yourself, The world, And your relationships. The state of our internal self, Our garden, Affects what we allow into our lives, What we think we deserve, How we allow ourselves to be treated. If our garden has been neglected and is in a state of ruin or is overgrown, We are more likely to allow weeds to pop up, More likely to let people or animals trump through our garden, And less likely to show it off or seek accolades and praise. However, Once our garden has been healed and repaired, As we are working on now, We are going to have much higher standards for what we allow or accept from others and from ourselves. We may even put a nice fence around it to add some protection. We will take more care of ourselves, Eager to maintain the beauty of the garden we are creating. We will require better treatment from others and will not allow people in who cannot respect and appreciate the beauty. We will know that our garden deserves whatever praise that it receives, And we will feel so proud of the hard work we have put into creating such a wonderful place. As you continue your work, Take time now and then to pause and appreciate all the improvements that you have already made. To feel the change in the atmosphere in your garden, It feels lighter, Brighter, Happier. Just a little bit of love and attention has already made a big difference. So you may pause and take a nice, Slow, Deep breath and really look around. You see all the wonderful changes that you have made, And you can see all the positive ways that the garden will continue to develop, All of the possibilities. Take a moment now to thank yourself. A moment to acknowledge this important work that you are doing. It's like the sun is shining more brightly on the spot. As you finish with the cleanup and see all the potential that your garden has, You are ready to begin to help it reach that full potential. Now is the time to plant new trees, Bushes, Flowers, And ground cover. Now is the time to plant new seeds. This is the time to fertilize the soil, To get it ready to receive the new growth and new possibilities. And you go at this work with a sense of hope and optimism and with excitement. You are so excited to plant new ideas, New beliefs, New dreams, And watch them grow into fruition. You know that as you continue this work over the coming days, Weeks, Months, The garden continue to heal and repair. It will continue to feel better, Lighter, More relaxed, And begin to look forward to all that your life, Your future has to offer. You will feel better because of all the healing that you are doing, But also because of the confidence and pride that you feel for taking the time to do this important work. In a moment, I will count the numbers from one to five, And on the count of five, You will be wide awake, Feeling wonderful and refreshed, Knowing that you have done some important work today. And you know that you can revisit your garden at any time to continue the work that you have started here today. So when you are ready, We will count one, Two, Three, Coming back slowly, Four, Feeling the chair beneath you, And five, Eyes open, Mind and body fully returned.