Meditation For Crisis

This meditation is based on neuroplasticity and rewiring of the brain. For people that have experienced prolonged stress and are overwhelmed. This holistic practice will allow you to begin to see the world around you through a different lens, through a healthy filter. An excellent practice for boosting memory, reducing fear, and increasing focus and concentration.

Transcript

Hello,

My name is Maha Bodhi,

And today I'm going to teach you a powerful neuroplasticity meditation for the brain and nervous system.

This particular meditation is based on techniques developed at the Lazar lab in Harvard University.

It supports the healing of trauma and rewires the brain to allow a feeling of safety and well-being.

Before you begin this practice,

You can pause this meditation,

And it will be beneficial for you to look up a graph of the physical structure of the brain as we focus on three key areas of the brain today.

The first area would be the amygdala,

A small part of the brain that recognizes danger located in the back of the brain,

Close to the back of the neck.

This area is responsible for detecting threats and protection.

The fight,

Flight,

Or freeze response.

And if you have been in prolonged states of stress,

Fear,

Or trauma,

The amygdala becomes enlarged.

The good news is that now we know through neuroplasticity research that the brain is malleable.

That is why it's called neuroplasticity.

And through consistent daily meditation for at least eight consecutive weeks,

And through your powerful intention,

You are able to send a signal to the amygdala to reduce in its size and activity,

Allowing it to shrink into a normal and healthy size.

The second area would be the hippocampus,

Which is located right in front of the amygdala.

It has a curvy shape to it,

Kind of like half of a letter U.

The primary function of this area is memory,

Recall,

And your ability to retain information.

This is really useful if you had a response to a traumatic event,

Because memories can be often fragmented.

When you bring your attention back to the present moment,

You create memories that are based on the truth of this moment,

Which is often difficult when the hippocampus isn't functioning to its full capacity.

In this meditation today,

You will learn how to train your brain in this specific area to feel safe in the present moment and safe in trusting the people around you.

Allowing your memory to be based on the present moment instead of projecting fears and anxieties from the past into the future.

Know and trust that retraining the brain and the nervous system is possible and it is a worthy process to commit to,

As it will tremendously enhance the quality of every aspect in your life.

The third area in the brain is the prefrontal lobe,

Which allows for focus,

Attention,

And concentration.

Your ability to see things clearly and make better decisions.

If your brain is stressed or traumatized,

Your attention can be scattered and the level of your concentration can be poor,

Causing severe anxiety and depression.

As brain scans have shown that the levels are lowered in gamma-aminobutyric acid and neurotransmitters in the brain,

Particularly in the prefrontal cortex.

This holistic practice will allow you to begin to see the world around you through a different lens,

Through a healthy filter.

When you are viewing life from a place of fear in an effort to protect yourself,

You emotionally injure people around you,

Including yourself.

When you feel safe in your body and in your mind,

You trust in your ability to show up and interact confidently with others,

Increasing your ability to connect with people,

Giving and receiving love generously.

This in turn increases your ability to take measured risks,

Stretch yourself outside of your comfort zone and grow.

It will improve your productivity and therefore you get better at the work that you do,

Increasing the level of your income,

Abundance and prosperity.

It also enhances your relationships with loved ones and it boosts your level of joy,

Happiness,

Vibrancy and vitality.

So let's begin,

Find a quiet place where you will not be disturbed.

Coming into a lying down position,

Extend your arms by your side,

Flipping the palms to face the sky.

Extend your legs,

Separate the legs,

Open body,

Open heart,

Open mind.

Close your eyes.

Begin to ground yourself in your body using your breath.

By deepening your breath,

You are reducing the level of cortisol in the bloodstream and inducing the relaxation response.

Inhale all the way down to the pit of the belly and feel your belly expand,

Feel the ribs expand,

The chest expand and then retain and hold the breath for a moment,

Keeping the eyes soft,

The jaw soft and the whole body relaxed in the retention.

Now open your mouth and exhale it all out to the very bottom.

See the breath completely.

Take a full breath in through the nose,

Inhaling fully and deeply,

Expanding the upper cavity of the torso,

Pausing the breath at the top and at the same time you soften and relax.

Open the mouth,

Exhale,

Softening the belly.

Last one,

A full and deep long breath in through the nose.

Allow the medicine of your breath to work its magic in your body as you pause the breath at the top.

Open your mouth and empty that breath,

Completely washing the body from the inside,

Increasing oxytocin in the bloodstream and promoting vagal tone.

And now just let go of any control in your breathing and begin to wiggle your tongue and really feel the sensation in your mouth as you wiggle the tongue side to side and towards the top of the mouth,

The bottom of the mouth and all around your mouth.

And then stick your tongue out,

Open your mouth wide and stretch your jaw as if a doctor was checking your tonsils.

And then release.

Close your lips,

Bring your attention to your throat and make some humming sounds.

Hum.

Hum.

Hum.

Hum.

Stimulating and auto-tuning the healthy functions of the vagus nerve.

You are remodulating your biorhythm to feel joy,

Rehearsing happiness.

Keep that smile on your face for the rest of the practice.

Bring your awareness now to the amygdala,

The small region of your brain that governs your stress response.

Right there at the back of your head,

Close to the back of your neck.

Begin to send a signal to the amygdala to reduce in its size and its activity.

I am safe now.

I am laying down the warrior.

Thank you for your service but you are no longer needed.

I can take care of myself now.

Everything is okay.

I trust the people around me and I create an environment of pure love,

Joy and abundance.

I have everything that I need.

I am worthy.

I am enough.

Bring your awareness now to the hippocampus,

Inducing your ability to have excellent and good memory.

My memories are anchored in the present moment.

I have the most accurate memory.

I am improving my ability to have excellent memory and recall as I increase the size and the activity of my hippocampus.

I can see clearly what is in front of me in the present moment.

I am inducing neurotransmitters in the brain and increasing the necessary connections between areas in my brain.

My brain is intelligent and it knows what to do to have a healthy and accurate memory.

I am grateful for my super accurate memory.

I have the best memory.

Bring your awareness now to the prefrontal cortex,

The front part of the brain,

Closer to your forehead.

Soften the space between your eyebrows.

This is your emotional regulator.

The prefrontal cortex helps us with concentration and focused attention.

Send a signal to that area to secrete gamma-aminobutyric acid and induce neurotransmitters in the brain,

Particularly in the prefrontal cortex.

You know how to do this.

You were born with this capability.

Trust that there is an intelligence inside of you.

It is the same intelligence that is breathing you without you having to do anything about it.

Grab a hold of that steering wheel and direct this intelligence to work for you and do its job optimizing your prefrontal cortex and your ability to have an exceptional level of focus,

Attention,

And concentration.

I see things clearly.

I have the ability to focus and to concentrate on what is important to me.

Increasing the size and activity at the prefrontal cortex,

Promoting your ability to have excellent focus and concentration.

Moving now to the body as we begin a body scan that will induce the relaxation response and blood flow to the limbs.

Bring all of your awareness to your right shoulder and move your awareness from the right shoulder to the right elbow,

Right elbow to right wrist,

And almost like an x-ray vision,

Trace that energy line from the wrist to the thumb,

Wrist to index finger,

Wrist to middle finger,

Wrist to ring finger,

Wrist to pinky finger.

Moving the energy up from the hand to the wrist,

Wrist to elbow,

Elbow to shoulder.

Moving across the body to the left shoulder and down the arm all the way to the left elbow,

Elbow to wrist,

Tracing that line from the wrist to the thumb,

Wrist to index finger,

Wrist to middle finger,

Wrist to ring finger,

Wrist to pinky finger.

Moving the energy up from the hand to the wrist,

Wrist to elbow,

Elbow to shoulder.

Bringing your awareness now to your spine and just tracing your spine from the back of the neck to the upper back,

Low back,

All the way down to the tailbone.

Feeling safe in your spine,

Feeling safe in the back of your body so you're not holding your spine in fear.

Just feeling this warm and gentleness and support from the earth beneath you.

I am safe.

I am protected.

I know how to take care of myself.

And moving this warm and gentleness now to your chest,

Softening and opening your chest,

Localizing your awareness now to the middle of your chest and a little to the left,

Making that sacred connection with your heart,

That precious beating heart of yours.

Allow it to soften.

It is safe for you to open your heart,

To give love and to receive love.

Moving your awareness now down to the belly and allowing all the organs in the belly to soften to feel safe.

This warm and gentleness in your belly.

Moving down to the reproductive and sexual organs of the body.

Just practicing this unconditional love and self compassion towards yourself.

Moving to the right hip,

Tracing your awareness down the thigh all the way to the right knee.

Right knee all the way down through the calf to the right ankle.

Tracing that line from the ankle to the big toe.

Ankle to second toe.

Ankle to third toe.

Ankle to fourth toe.

Ankle to pinky toe.

Softening and opening the sole of the right foot,

Feeling your toenails,

Your toe tips.

Moving now to your left hip.

Choosing your awareness down the thigh all the way to the left knee.

Knee to ankle.

From the left ankle to the big toe.

Ankle to second toe.

Ankle to third toe.

Ankle to fourth toe.

Ankle to pinky toe.

Feeling the whole left foot with the toenails,

The toe tips,

And even the space between the toes.

Feeling the whole body just bathing in this loving awareness,

Your own presence.

Feeling contained and safe in your own body,

Comfortable in your own skin.

Sending yourself love and compassion.

Trust that you will be well and that you will overcome this obstacle because you have survived 100% of your life challenges up until this point of your life.

You are stronger than you think you are.

You know how to be here.

You know how to do this and you will come out of this stronger than ever.

Take a soft inhale through the nose.

Open your mouth,

Exhale.

Rub your thumb against each finger pad.

Wiggle your toes.

Lastly roll your head side to side,

Massaging your brain.

Keep practicing this meditation for the next eight weeks for you to really benefit from its effect.

Sealing in this new information and creating lasting change in your brain,

Nervous system,

And psyche.

May you be healthy.

May you be happy.

May you be at peace.

Blink your eyes open.

Much love,

Much gratitude.

Reviews

I have been trapped in narcissistic relationships for many of my 64 years alive. I really enjoyed your meditation focusing on the damage to my brain. I am committed to doing 8 weeks of this meditation. I wish to be healed!

Brought me a sense of ease during a particularly difficult day.

Really wonderful. Truly grateful for this. Thank you.