Hello and welcome.
My name is Tina Stinson and I want to thank you for joining me for this meditation.
Find a place where you can be still for a few minutes,
Sitting,
Lying down,
Even just leaning against a wall.
It doesn't really matter.
What matters is that you give yourself permission to slow down for a moment.
Close your eyes if that feels good or you can just lower your gaze.
Take a deep breath in through your nose and then exhale slowly through your mouth.
One more time,
Breathing in and breathing out.
Let your shoulders drop like they just got permission to stop holding the weight of the world.
Let your jaw soften.
Let your neck and shoulders relax.
You don't have to be anywhere else right now.
You don't have to do anything.
You don't have to check your phone or answer that email or even think about what's for dinner.
For the next few minutes,
You get to be here,
Nowhere else,
Just here.
Bring your awareness to your breath.
I want you to notice if it's fast,
Shallow,
Rushed.
That's not a mistake.
That's just where you are right now and that's okay.
Now,
Imagine for a moment that rushing is a coat that you've been wearing.
Not because you chose it,
But maybe because somebody handed it to you years ago and said,
Here,
Wear this.
This is how you get things done.
This is how you succeed.
This is how you survive.
This is how you are productive.
And then you just put it on.
You just put it on and it's on and you forgot you were wearing it.
Now,
I want you to imagine unbuttoning that coat slowly,
One button at a time.
Feel the release in your chest.
Feel it as it slides off your shoulders,
All that weight,
And then let it fall to the ground.
Take a breath in and then as you exhale,
I want you to imagine stepping away from that coat and just leaving it behind.
You don't have to rush.
You don't have to rush through the breath.
You don't have to rush through your life.
What if slowing down wasn't laziness?
What if it was wisdom?
What if the moments you remember most in your life,
Or the ones that actually felt like living,
Weren't the rushed ones,
They were the slow ones.
The ones where you noticed.
The ones where you stayed a little longer.
The ones that you weren't trying to get to the next thing.
Take a deep breath in and just let that land.
Now,
Let's bring a little slowness into your body and into your senses.
Start with your hearing.
Listen to the sounds around you right now.
Not trying to name them or judge them,
Just hearing them.
Letting the sounds come to you.
You don't have to reach for anything.
Notice how when you stop trying to control what you hear,
There's a softness,
A letting go.
Now,
Bring your awareness to your skin.
Feel the temperature of the air on your face,
Your hands.
Maybe it's warm,
Maybe it's cold.
Maybe you can't feel anything at all and that's okay too.
Just notice.
Now,
Bring your awareness to your breath again.
This time,
See if you could slow it down,
Not forcing,
Just a gentle invite.
I want you to inhale for four counts,
Hold for one,
And then exhale for six.
It's a longer breath out than in,
And this is the secret to calming the nervous system,
The slow exhale tells your body you're safe and you can rest now.
Let's do this together.
Breathing in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold.
Exhale,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
One more time.
Breathing in,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Hold.
Exhale,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six.
Notice how your body feels now compared to a few seconds ago.
Softer,
Calmer.
Maybe just a little bit more here.
That's what slowing down feels like.
It's not a destination,
It's a return.
Now,
I want you to think of something you do every day,
Something small.
Maybe it's making your morning coffee or tea.
Maybe it's washing your hands and your face.
Maybe it's walking from your car to your front door.
See that moment in your mind.
Now imagine doing that thing slowly.
Not painfully slow,
Just intentionally slow.
If it's the coffee,
Imagine feeling the warmth of the mug in your hands,
Smelling the coffee before you drink it,
Taking that first sip and actually tasting it.
If it's walking,
Imagine feeling your feet on the ground one step at a time,
Not rushing to get inside,
Just walking,
Noticing the things around you,
The birds singing,
Just being there in that moment.
Now,
I want you to imagine if that one small moment became your daily practice.
It's not another thing to do on your to-do list,
Just a permission slip,
A reminder that you don't have to rush through everything.
You get to enjoy your life.
That's not selfish.
That's the whole point.
Take a breath and let yourself feel what it would be like to actually savor something today.
Now,
Bring your awareness back to your chest,
Your heart space.
Place your hand there if it feels good.
And I want you to repeat after me,
I give myself permission to slow down.
One more time.
I give myself permission to slow down.
Again,
I give myself permission to slow down.
You don't have to figure out how to slow down your whole life today.
That seems like a lot of pressure,
But just one moment,
One small thing,
That's all.
You might rush later.
That's okay.
We're all human.
But now you know what slowing down feels like,
And you can come back to it again and again.
That's the practice.
When you're ready,
Begin to bring your awareness back.
Look at your fingers,
Your toes.
Notice the ground beneath you.
Know that you can come back to this slow place any time.
It's always here waiting for you.
Open your eyes when you're ready.
And as you move into the rest of your day,
Ask yourself one question.
What's one thing I can do slowly today?
Today.
Not perfectly,
Not productively,
Just slowly,
Just for the enjoyment of it.
That's your practice.
That's your permission.
You are allowed to enjoy your life right now.
Not when everything is done,
Not when you've earned it.
Right now.
So go be slower somewhere,
On purpose,
And notice how good it feels.
Namaste.
