- Hey there, I'm John.
Welcome to this meditation to help you reduce stress.
Before we do anything else,
I'm going to ask you to pause
wherever you are at this moment
and take notice of how you're feeling.
Try watching and listening carefully and curiously
to what's going on inside you right now.
Now take a deep breath, focusing your attention
completely on the inhale and the exhale, hold that breath.
Now we'll take a deeper breath
and this time send the oxygen into your body
and give it permission to still and relax.
And with your third breath, the deepest one yet,
repeat to yourself silently, I am here.
Now how do you feel?
Taking just three intentional breaths
can help you shift into a calmer energy state.
It's a quick and easy way to help alleviate stress
and a great gift of care you can give to yourself.
Now from this space, that's more still and more calm,
gently close your eyes if you haven't already,
allowing your body to settle
into a position you can hold comfortably.
Begin again to take slower, deeper breaths.
Allowing your breathing to ground you
and still you even further.
Giving yourself permission right now to focus on you,
making yourself your first priority.
Your wellbeing and self care are your focus.
Continue to take slow, deep breaths,
allowing each inhale to be a bit deeper
than the one before it,
feeling your lungs expand out as you inhale,
holding it for a beat,
contracting everything back in as you exhale.
As you continue to breathe this way,
feel the journey of the breath through your body.
And notice any places where you may be holding stress.
Unfurl your brow,
unclench your jaw,
let your shoulders drop down from your ears
and open your palms.
And now allow your breath to return to its normal rhythm
and pattern,
but keep your focus on it and allow it to be your anchor
during this meditation.
If you get distracted by a thought or a sound,
simply acknowledge that it occurred
and then gently let it go
and return your attention to your breath.
When we are stressed,
our perception of a situation isn't as clear as it could be.
Our heightened emotional state tends to include
not only the stress, but our judgements about it.
These judgments, along with stories
we may be telling ourselves about the situation,
bias our view and cause us even more stress.
So right now I invite you to call to mind the situation
that you feel brings you stress.
Watch it, if you can, from a place of curiosity,
as if you were simply gathering information.
Ask yourself, how true is my perception of this situation?
Am I holding old judgments or stories about it
that are clouding my view?
As you notice these judgments or stories,
acknowledge them as having served you in the past
and now give them permission to drop away.
You don't need them anymore.
Let them go.
Now, without those judgments or stories,
does the situation look or feel any different to you?
From this clearer perspective,
we can begin to see how our own judgments
and resistance to the situation
can cause them to appear more severe than they actually are,
which brings us to the next step in this process,
acceptance.
Accepting a situation is acknowledging that it is happening.
Not necessarily that we agree with it or approve of it.
Our very resistance to a situation brings us stress.
Without the resistance, we see the situation more clearly.
And then also we're open to see
potential new solutions we hadn't before.
See if you can begin to allow yourself
to acknowledge and accept that the situation is happening,
knowing that in this moment, you are safe
and you are okay.
Continue breathing with your eyes closed.
Just let your attention start to focus back on my voice.
When we're stressed, we aren't able to see
a situation clearly.
By giving ourselves the gift of pausing and reflection,
even if only for a few deep breaths,
we allow ourselves to see the situation more clearly
from this safer, more still space.
We can ease our resistance to it,
which in turn eases the stress.
Now let's take three more deep breaths together.
Take a deep inhale in, holding it for a beat
and exhale it out.
Again, an even deeper breath than the one before it
feeling it weave in and out of your muscles and cells
and exhale it out.
Last time, your deepest breath yet
sending that oxygen through your entire body
all the way down to the tips of your toes
and when it reaches the top of your head and you're ready,
you can open your eyes.
Thanks for joining me for this meditation and be well.
(soothing music)