Anxiety Meditation 09

Transcript

Anxiety 9

Hello and welcome back once again.

We are almost at the end of this series now , so I’d like to take this time to remember what we have learned so far.

But first , let’s practice relaxing , relaxing the breath , relaxing the body , relaxing the mind.

Take a few deep breaths , you might become aware of things in your visual field , or thoughts that arise , Just allow that to happen , become aware of them , Then gently bring your awareness back to the sound of my voice.

The breath allows us to connect to the here and now , It’s easily forgotten that we exist only in the present moment , with no direct experience of the past or the future , so take one more deep inhalation , filling your stomach with crystal clear air , and then exhale slowly until all of the used air has been expelled completely.

When we breathe in a shallow way when we breathe in and only our shoulders and chest expand – we are not maximizing the amount of oxygen our body and our mind is getting.

Shallow breathing can contribute to and even cause anxiety.

When we inhale with our belly and expand it like a balloon , the diaphragm expands and let’s in maximum amount of air into the lungs , this increases the amount of oxygen our brain and body parts get , and can not only calm us down , but is essential to our health and general wellbeing.

Let’s practice , when you inhale , expand your belly like a balloon , it might be helpful to rest your hand on your stomach , you will automatically feel your chest and collarbones rise too , then exhale fully until you’ve expelled every little bit of used air from your belly.

So breathe in on a count of 4…1…2…3…4 expanding the stomach , then exhale on a count of 5…1…2…3…4…5

Just continue like that for a few moments…

And I want you to go deeper now still , and my voice will guide you , go with you as you descend into deep relaxation , I am going to count from 10 down to 0 , and when I have counted from 10 down to 0 , you will be as deeply relaxed as you can ever imagine , while still being able to hear the sound of my voice.

10…go deeper now, relaxing and letting go.

9…

8…just let go

7…

6…

5…deeper and deeper

4…

3…

2…

1…and all the way down to

0

PAUSE

Our brain is arguably the most complex organism in the known universe , billions of neurons with thousands of possible synaptic connections.

It is a wonderful thing allowing us to imagine, think and feel , and when we are operating from the intellectual mind – the mind that is intelligent and can reason, come up with new ideas , when we are operating from this part of the brain, we are mostly happy and positive.

When we feel threatened , we slip into the emotional mind , because it acts fast and instinctively and helps us to release the chemicals we need to either fight or flee , if we run into tigers, it’s very helpful.

But this mind is not an intellect , it can’t come up with new ways of doing things , it bases its actions on past experiences , past behaviors , of course, this mind doesn’t know the difference between reality and imagination , so the response might be based on things you have imagined – your negative thinking patterns.

Every negative thought is stored in our stress bucket , and eventually it overflows.

When it overflows , we can develop a whole array of disorders like chronic anxiety, anger, depression and related symptoms.

How do we stop it from overflowing? , We limit the amount of negativity we pour into it , we learn to think more positively and we learn to relax.

We change our mind and then we change our life.

You have already started this process , you are realizing each day that your mind is focusing on the positives more and more , and each day your confidence grows , as each day you take back control.

When we are relaxed , we are better able to take control of our thoughts , when we think positively and notice all the little good things that happen all the time , and we realize that it is only fear itself that can hurt us , we can free ourselves , we can breathe easy.

So take a few deep breaths now , filling your entire being with relaxation.

And we will go through our journey of the body one more time.

Now, let’s bring our attention to the top of the head , think about all those little muscles of the scalp , and just allow them to let go and relax.

Now all the muscles of the face , just let them go slack , your forehead…your eyelids…the space between your eyebrows , the cheeks…mouth…and jaw muscles.

Unclenching your teeth and relaxing your tongue , the more you physically relax , the more you can mentally relax.

Moving your awareness to your neck and shoulder muscles , letting all the tension drain away , as you think on down through your arms , and all the way down to the very tips of your fingers and tips of your thumbs.

Bring your awareness to your chest , bringing deep relaxation to your lungs and your heart.

Think on down to your stomach , and how it rises and falls with every deep slow breath you take , you notice how you’re breathing even more smoothly, even more slowly , as you relax more and more.

Now your back , the upper, middle and lower back , allowing the muscles along your spine to relax and let go.

Bring your awareness to your hips and pelvic area , take a deep inhalation and gently move the clean fresh breath to your hips , as you exhale deeply and completely , all the tension flows away.

Now moving your awareness all the down through your thighs, knees, lower legs and all the way down to your feet until your reach the tips of your toes.

All the muscles of your body are now so beautifully relaxed , so relaxed and easy.

When our body is relaxed , our mind is relaxed.

And I wonder if you can enjoy allowing this pleasant and comfortable experience of heaviness in the whole body to continue , continue for the next minutes…hours…and days , you are so much calmer now , so much more in control.

PAUSE

Let’s take a last deep inhalation , and exhale completely.

Continue to enjoy each breath.

PAUSE

And now I will count from 3 down to 0 and when I’ve counted from 3 down to 0 you will come back to the room so beautifully relaxed.

3…2…1…0

All posts in this category