Guiding Sensations into Clarity

This is a meditation practice to help support processing of mental and emotional discomfort through breath, body scan, mental and sensory awareness. The practice focuses on bringing gentle awareness and acceptance of difficult thoughts and feelings to shift them into calmness, clarity and positive beliefs associated with physiological change.

Transcript

Welcome to this guided meditation to help you process and work through difficult thoughts and feelings.

Throughout this meditation it might be helpful to have a seated position,

But if you prefer you can do this meditation laying down.

Either way,

Whatever feels most natural and comfortable for you.

Just keeping in mind that you want to keep a relative level of alertness,

Whilst also experiencing periods of relaxation during this meditation practice.

Just taking time,

Getting into a comfortable position.

When you're ready,

If you prefer,

Gently closing down the eyes.

I'm going to start just by noticing your breathing,

Not trying to alter or change your breathing at any stage,

Just simply being with the breath.

Noticing the natural rising of the body on the inhalation,

A falling,

Softening,

Sinking on the exhalation.

Allowing the body to expand and rise on the inhalation.

And on each exhalation,

Softening and sinking into the surface supporting you a little deeper each time you exhale.

Just noticing this for a few breaths as we continue to move through.

You might like to adjust your breathing in any way possible,

Whatever feels most normal and comfortable for you.

As you allow your mind to rest on the breath,

Just scanning through the senses,

Starting with hearing.

Noticing anything you can hear in this moment.

More obvious sounds,

Sounds that might be closer to you,

That are easier to pinpoint.

The sound of my voice,

Sounds of the room that you're in,

Sounds of any electronics,

Devices,

Anything that might be running.

Just scanning through to more subtle sounds in the distance.

Sounds outside the room that you're in,

Sounds further away from you,

Perhaps sounds of birds outside or traffic,

The wind rustling through the trees.

As you scan your attention through to different sounds,

Those that are nearby and those further away,

Just noticing your state of being and whether there's any change.

Whether you become a little more alert,

Perhaps a little more relaxed,

Whether there's any turbulence,

Restlessness.

Just allowing whatever arises in this moment.

No need to force or change your state,

Just simply in full awareness,

Accepting it is the way it needs to be in this moment.

As we scan through the senses,

Just noticing the sensory experience of touch,

The surface supporting you,

The temperature of the air on your skin,

Contact points between your body,

The clothing touching your skin,

Contact points between your feet and the surface underneath.

Just noticing your attention,

Your state of being as you scan through the body,

Through the sensory experience of touch.

Noticing whether this brings alertness,

Whether it's calming or relaxing,

Any other changes to your physiological state as you scan the sensory experience of touch.

And moving through scanning the body,

As you scan starting with the top of the head,

Down through the forehead,

The point between the eyebrows,

Scanning through the eyes,

Noticing any tension under the eyes,

Scanning the ears,

Behind the ears,

Noticing any tension.

Scanning down the sides of the face,

Through the jaw,

The cheekbones,

The chin,

The mouth,

The lips.

Just noticing sensations,

Noticing points of tension,

Asking yourself to bring any movement into anywhere that feels particularly tight or tense,

Allowing it to loosen up as it needs to.

Scanning down the back of the head,

Down the neck,

Through the shoulders,

Through the sides of the shoulders,

Noticing any points of tension through the neck,

Through the sides of the shoulders.

Scanning down the chest,

The arms,

The forearms,

The back of the hands,

The palm of the hand,

Scanning through the thumb,

The index finger,

The middle finger,

The ring finger,

The small finger.

Scanning the whole hand,

Noticing sensation,

Tension,

Through the shoulders,

The arms,

The forearms,

The back of the hand,

The front of the hand,

Through the fingers,

Giving yourself permission to let go of any tension.

Just allow the shoulders and the arms,

The forearms,

The wrists,

The hands to just drop,

Releasing all tension from these.

Now scanning through the spine,

From the back of the neck,

Down to the upper part of the spine,

Through down the middle spine,

The lower spine.

Now scanning back up the spine,

Noticing any areas of tension,

Discomfort,

Particular sensations,

Just observing,

Noticing,

Being curious.

No need to change,

Force anything to be anything other than it is in this moment.

Now scanning through the chest,

The torso,

The abdomen,

The solar plexus area,

The middle abdomen,

The navel,

The lower abdomen,

Scanning through to the hips,

Just noticing any points of tension,

Sensation,

Discomfort,

And relative ease at any point in the whole torso,

Through the chest,

The solar plexus,

The upper abdomen,

The middle abdomen,

The navel,

The lower abdomen,

The hips.

As you scan through,

Just noticing what you can feel,

Not trying to change the feeling,

Just observing,

Seeing if you can pinpoint a particular sensation that requires your attention.

Often the sensation that requires our attention most is that which is the most heightened sensation,

Perhaps the greatest point of tension,

Something that requires our attention,

Requires us to accept it,

To lean into it,

To observe and be curious.

Just pinpointing,

Locating a point of tension,

A particular sensation,

Just being able to follow it through with your mind,

Connecting the mind to the body,

Scanning the torso and the spine,

Perhaps the same sensation corresponding with a point in the torso,

A point in the abdomen or the chest,

A point in the spine.

As you pinpoint this sensation,

I invite you to curiously observe the sensation,

Trying to get a feeling,

A felt sense of awareness,

Tuning into this with your mind's eye.

What is this sensation telling you about the way you feel?

Perhaps if you can't locate a particular sensation,

Noticing whether there's an emptiness,

A lightness,

A natural flow of energy through the torso,

Whatever your experience in this moment is completely okay,

Just noticing,

Observing,

Accepting.

Or if you can locate and pinpoint a particular sensation,

Just asking yourself,

How intense is this feeling?

If 10 is extremely intense,

The most intense that it could be,

And 1 or 0 is completely neutral,

Just rating the intensity of the sensation out of 10.

As you scan through this part of the body,

Through the chest,

The abdomen,

The spine,

Pinpointing the particular sensation and just anchoring your attention into it,

Asking the sensation what it needs from you,

Just moving right through into it,

Getting a felt sense of awareness and perhaps even a picture of the sensation.

Perhaps the sensation has a color.

What kind of color does the sensation have?

Just taking a moment to notice perhaps one bright radiant color,

Perhaps a mixture of colors,

Perhaps some darkness or a gray cloud associated with the sensation.

Just gaining a felt sense of awareness,

A picture of the sensation,

Perhaps gaining a sense of what it might look like,

A particular object,

A shape,

A texture or pattern.

Just tuning in,

Understanding as the sensation is met with your attention,

Just asking what it needs from you in this moment.

Perhaps it might help to place one hand on the area where you feel the sensation,

Noticing what type of emotion might be associated with this sensation.

What type of feeling is it?

Is it fear or self-doubt?

Some angst?

Some sadness underneath?

Perhaps a little bit of bubbling?

Maybe some fire or some anger there?

Whatever you're experiencing is completely okay and warranted.

There are no right or wrong emotions.

Our emotions can be used to tell us something about our experience and what we most need.

As you attune to this feeling and the sensation,

Just asking the sensation and feeling what it might need from you in this moment.

Perhaps some gentleness or tenderness as you place the hand on the sensation,

Giving the sensation compassion that it might need to soften.

I invite you to bring some breath into the sensation.

As you inhale into this part of the body,

Just opening the sensation through the inhalation,

Expanding.

As you exhale,

Just releasing,

Softening,

Sinking.

Feeling supported by the surface supporting you,

Guided through my voice,

Soothed through your breath.

Breathing into the sensation a few more times,

However many times feels right for you.

If you've asked the sensation what qualities it needs from you,

Whether it be compassion,

Gentleness,

A smile or some joy,

Some ease,

Just breathing that quality into the sensation through your breath and exhaling to release.

Practicing a few more times,

Opening on the inhalation,

Softening and letting go on the exhalation.

Each time you might like to picture the shape of the sensation moving,

Shifting,

Releasing,

Letting go through the body.

Just noticing if this occurs or if it doesn't wish to shift and it wants to hold.

Just accepting,

Giving the sensation full acceptance,

Allowing it to do as it wishes.

No need to force,

Just curiously observing whatever happens and whatever it requires from you,

Even if that's just accepting it as it is without it changing.

Everything lets go and shifts,

Changes in its own time when it needs to,

Through acceptance,

Through the gentleness,

Self-compassion,

Soothing of the breath,

Mindful attention.

We give the sensation permission to disarm,

Just noticing any changes,

Shifting sensations,

Sensation moving to any part of the body,

Any other part,

Just following it with your mind.

As you do,

Just tuning into particular emotion you associate with your experience right now.

Can you identify a particular emotion,

Perhaps just a feeling without a label or name,

It's completely okay.

If you can pinpoint an emotion,

Just gaining an understanding of the association with a thought or a belief.

Perhaps when you asked the sensation what it needed from you,

That might be an indication of the emotion behind it.

Perhaps the sensation is trying to protect or uphold an emotion,

Keep an emotion in place.

Just asking what experience,

Belief or thought might be associated with the sensation or emotional experience.

What can you identify in your mind as you associate the feelings in your body with particular thoughts,

Beliefs,

Memories?

What state is your mind in right now?

What is the patterning of your thought?

Do you find your mind running from the sensations or is your mind running through experiences?

Do you find yourself perhaps checking out and getting distracted?

If so,

That's completely okay.

Just acknowledging your mind wandering,

Not trying to force it to do anything different,

Just allowing it to be.

Curiously observing your mind as it wanders around and possibly eventually comes back to the sensation and the belief,

The experience,

Maybe the memory associated with this feeling,

With the emotion or sensation.

What can you identify?

What is happening within your mind right now?

Do your thoughts slowly,

Gently flow from one to another between memories of the past,

Things about your day,

Things you need to remember for tomorrow?

Is it jumping erratically from one thought to the next,

Firing off many different thoughts at once?

Whatever it's doing is completely okay.

No need to resist,

No need to force it to change,

Just allowing your mind to flutter through,

Linking between thoughts,

Coming back to the sensations,

Feelings in the body,

Or if it's helpful,

Scanning through or even anchoring onto the breath as your mind moves through the natural flow of your breathing,

Moving back to the content of your thoughts,

Coming back to noticing any changes in sensations.

As your sensations may change or shift or move,

Just noticing any differences in the patterns of your thinking as you bring certain qualities that you need to the sensation,

The ideas of compassion,

Gentleness,

Self-care,

Nurture,

Focus,

Attention,

Joy,

Lightness,

Care,

Support.

How does the state of your mind change as you breathe helpful qualities through the body into the sensations?

What do you notice happening within your mind or the patterns of your thinking?

What is the mood of your mind?

Do you notice a change or does it stay the same?

Just tuning in for a moment to your whole experience,

Thoughts,

Feelings,

Beliefs,

Sensations,

Posture,

Breath,

Scanning your attention through,

Down to the legs,

Through the legs,

To the lower legs,

To the ankles,

Through to the feet,

Connecting the feet to the surface supporting you,

To the earth supporting you,

Noticing this connection,

A point to feel anchored,

Anchoring your whole experience between the connection of your feet and the earth,

Allowing your energy,

Sensation,

Thoughts,

Feelings,

Whole experience to rest in the connection between your feet and the earth,

Just staying anchoring here for the moment.

You might like to press your feet a little firmer into the ground just as a stronger point of connection,

Anchoring your whole experience here,

Staying grounded,

Supported,

Anchored.

As you're supported and grounded here,

Anchored into the earth,

What is one new belief you would like to take in about your ability to manage your feelings,

Thoughts,

Sensations?

Perhaps a belief associated with challenging experiences?

Perhaps a belief associated with managing discomfort?

Perhaps a belief about managing mental turbulence?

As you feel supported,

Anchored,

Grounded,

One new belief.

Keep that belief in mind.

Going to write it down at the end of this meditation when we arise.

Scanning through from the feet back up through the lower leg,

The knees,

The upper leg,

The hips,

Below the navel,

The navel,

The middle abdomen,

The upper abdomen,

The solar plexus,

The chest,

Through the lower spine,

Middle spine,

Upper part of the back,

Shoulders,

Hands,

Through the wrists,

Forearms,

Elbows,

Upper arms,

Lower part of the neck,

Through the neck,

The base of the skull,

The jaw,

The cheekbones,

The lips,

The nose,

The eyebrows,

The point between the eyebrows,

The forehead,

The crown,

The back of the head,

The base of the skull.

Scanning through,

Clearing,

Re-energizing,

Taking a few deep breaths,

Counting one,

Two,

Three,

Four on the inhalation,

Letting go on the exhalation to the count of six,

Five,

Four,

Three,

Two,

One.

Repeating this a few times,

Counting in for four and releasing for six.

Now scanning back into the senses,

Bringing your attention back into the room that you're in,

Things that you can hear both inside and outside the room,

Contact points,

The surface supporting you and the body,

Clothing on the skin,

Temperature of the air.

Opening the eyes now,

Gently,

Slowly opening the eyes,

Scanning the room that you're in or the place that you're in,

Noticing three objects that you can see,

Paying attention,

Scanning through,

Bringing your attention back into the room,

Bringing that new belief back into mind,

If you can remember it,

Or if not,

Perhaps a new self-affirming belief,

Something about yourself,

A statement about yourself to create your experience that you wish to following the work that we've done during this meditation practice.

At the end of this practice,

Once completed,

I invite you to go and write the belief about yourself down,

A positive self-affirming belief.

For example,

I am peaceful,

I am happy,

I am safe,

I am confident.

I invite you now to move along with the rest of your day or evening,

But before doing so,

Write that belief about yourself.

I thank you for joining this practice and I invite you to bring gratitude for your ability to tune in,

To be open and accepting of your experiences,

Your ability to commit to your transformation.

Thanks for joining.

Love and Light.