In this week’s Guided Meditation, teacher and author Meri O’Brien offers an anxiety-free practice by connecting with a calm and stable awareness when stressed.
Often, the most difficult part of experiencing anxiety is the feeling that we are helplessly caught up in a thought loop that continues to get stuck and stressed. It’s hard to release anxiety, and we long for the kind of support that will actually help us escape those anxious web entanglements.
In this week’s Guided Meditation, teacher and writer Meri O’Brien offers practices that help you find a calm center again when you’re caught up in stress or anxiety.
SOS meditation to release anxiety
Read and practice the guided meditation script below and pause after each paragraph. Or listen to audio practice.
If you are doing this meditation, it can be that something is a bit stressful or anxious, or that your body and mind are really tense or caught up in it. I’m here to find your center once more and support you to help you build a calm and steady consciousness. Make sure you sit comfortably. Whether your mind is very busy or your body is nervous for now, we still take the time to settle down. You might want to lie down on the ground or on a chair or bed in the lounge. When you’re ready, gently close your eyes. If that feels okay for you, know that you have this time and space just for yourself. Remember, you don’t need to understand something or try to fix something mentally. During this time there’s nothing you really need to worry about. There is no problem solving. This time you gave yourself for meditation, so let go of everything else for a while, simply allow yourself to exist, ground yourself here and now, and follow these instructions as much as you can. Start by letting go of any agenda to relieve stress and anxiety, or to actually remove some of your experience. Instead, we relax, practice and reconcile with it just like we did in this moment. Breathing deeper, slower and more fulfilling in the stomach. When you breathe in, make sure your belly expand like a balloon. Exhale and soften your belly and calm down. Again, it takes a long, stable, smooth breath and fills your stomach. And long, stable, smooth breathing. If something about this exercise feels uncomfortable for you, you can freely make your breath naturally. If you have a sense of tension in the air or breathing, you can make your breath more gentle and much more subtle. You may want to place your hands or both hands on your belly. Focuses on the sensation of breathing in the abdomen, allowing the movement of breathing to calm and calm you. You are fine. Keep breathing in your belly like this and make sure you can soften and relax as you exhale. It begins to melt the tension and softens inside your body. You really entrust your body weight to gravity, knowing that the ground below you can take your weight and support you, and it’s safe to let go and relax the tension here. If at this next inhalation point and it feels fine for you, hold your breath for a count of three. So inhale 1, 2, 3, hold your breath, then breathe. Continue like that, hold your breath for a 3 count and then let go. If for some reason it doesn’t feel right, then just continue as before. Now, after exhaling the next breath, let go of all control of your breath. It calms the body into its own natural rhythm of breathing, but continues to focus on the rise and fall of the abdominal breathing. Again, you can place your hands or both hands there and feel your hands go up and down. that’s it. If you take a breath and think about it and get lost again, that doesn’t matter. Be mentally careful of yourself with every distraction you draw. Next, feel the rise and fall of the belly, leading the focus to breath. Take your breath in a moment, let everything else go, rest here in the present moment, breathe, rejuvenate this time and use your inner power. Note that the flowing sensation of the moment you breathe makes your body sway and embrace. Don’t forget that distraction is normal. You can go back many times as you like, settle in your breath and soften your current moment. Continue practicing like this. As this practice begins to come to an end, you inhale another deep, slow, full breath and let go. Exhale and exhale in two more identical ways. Breathe again, this time inhaling your shoulders and lifting them up a little towards your ears. Exhale and relax your shoulders. Then start wiggling your fingers and toes. Open your eyes, look around the room and incorporate the colors and shapes around you. When you are ready to spend the rest of your day now, intend to take this more central energy with you and you on the rest of your day. Thank you for your practice. Go gently with yourself today. And as always, let’s get out there, be kind, brave, and become the change we want to see.
