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How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
How to Meditate: Meditation 101 for Beginners
10 Science-Backed Benefits of Meditation
What is Meditation?
Benefits of Mindfulness: Mindful Living Can Change Your Life
Mindfulness 101: A Beginner's Guide
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Duration
Enjoy this soothing meditation for stress and anxiety, and leave the session feeling refreshed and at ease.
Welcome.
Let's start by finding
a comfortable position.
So you may be seated with your
hands comfortably in your lap.
Your eyes closed, both alert and relaxed.
And if you'd like to, you can feel free
to also lie down during this practice.
The theme of this meditation
is calming anxiety.
So let's begin the meditation by noticing
the flow of the breath in and out.
Can you begin to follow the breath
in, perhaps the belly rises?
And follow the breath out.
Perhaps the belly falls?
Just rising and falling of
the breath of the belly.
Taking a moment to notice if there
is a sense of worry or anxiety
or stress right now, which may
be why you chose this meditation.
And if so, simply naming
inwardly what's present.
Oh, I'm feeling anxious or feeling
stressed and acknowledging the presence
of any activation in your nervous system.
That's step one.
Okay.
Now come back to the
breath, flowing in, out.
And begin to lengthen the exhalation.
One easy way to do this is to
breathe into the count of one.
And out to the count of two.
Beginning with a breathing practice like
this helps us to very quickly downregulate
perhaps an activated nervous system.
Taking three more breaths where
you're lengthening the exhalation.
The inhale comes naturally.
As you breathe, notice is there any
tension or holding in your body?
You may squeeze your fists and
then release with the exhale.
Now let's do a soothing practice so that
we leave this session feeling at ease.
We've connected with our breath
with any presence of activation in
our nervous system, acknowledging
it, any anxiety or worry, and now
let's do a body and breath scan.
And work to calm the anxiety by inviting
in this quality of rest, of ease.
I'll name a body part and when I do so
simply feel the felt sensation when I
name that body part, whatever's there.
There's no correct way to do this.
So let's try it out together.
Sensing your jaw, mouth.
Notice, if there's any tension or holding.
And you begin to release any
tension as I name body parts.
Sensing your ears.
Flow of the breath in and
out of your nose or mouth.
Sensing your eyes.
Notice if there's any tension or
holding in or around your eyes.
If you notice any, can you
begin to release the tension
simply through the noticing.
There's no need to force relaxation.
We're simply feeling felt
sensations in the body.
Sense now, just behind your eyes,
take an inhale and then exhale all
the way back through the midline of
the brain to the back of the head.
Allowing attention to drop from the back
of the head, down to the back of the neck.
Again here, noticing any tension.
When you do, any holding or muscular
tension, can you allow your body to
begin to gently release the holding?
It may be holding unnecessarily as a
result of an activated nervous system.
So we're simply allowing this invitation
of our body to relax and release tension.
Bringing attention now
to your left shoulder.
Take an inhale.
Exhale all the way down your left
arm into the palm of the left hand.
All of your attention is absorbed
in your left arm and hand as
you breathe in, breathe out.
There may be thoughts coming
and going and feelings.
That's okay, but allow
your attention to rest.
Arm, hand, perhaps squeezing
your left fist and releasing.
Okay.
Now bringing attention
to your right shoulder.
Take an inhale.
Exhale all the way down your right
arm to the palm of your right hand.
Breathing in and out.
You may squeeze and release
the palm of your right hand.
Allowing all of your attention to be
absorbed in your right arm, right hand.
Now let's do both simultaneously.
Inhale, both shoulders.
Exhale, both arms, both hands.
So you breathe in and out.
Perhaps you may close your
fist and then release.
Notice what you feel in your whole body as
we're a few minutes into the meditation.
Noticing all the sensation inside your
torso, your chest, your belly, your back.
Here too, are there any pockets of tension
you can feel into and then release?
Be with the breath.
Feeling into a particular
place of tension in your torso.
Breathing in.
And then with the exhale release
worry, release the stress or anxiety.
No need to hold this in
your body in this moment.
Bringing attention now to your left hip.
Inhale.
And exhale, sense your
whole left leg and foot.
So now as you breathe in and out, all
of your attention is absorbed entirely
in your left leg, your left foot.
A thought may come, but can you gently
reorient attention back to your body?
Simply feeling the felt sense.
What do you come upon?
What's here?
It may be numbness.
It may be tingling.
Or you may simply visualize
your left leg and foot.
However you do it is fine.
Bringing attention now to your right hip.
Inhale.
Exhale your whole right leg, right foot.
Attention absorbed in your right leg
and foot as you breathe in and out.
Noticing what you come upon.
Bringing attention to both hips.
Inhale.
And then exhale, both legs,
both feet, simultaneously.
Feeling the quality of sensation
in your legs and feet as
you breathe in, breathe out.
Feeling now your entire body globally.
So your legs and feet, arms and
hands, torso, head, neck, face, whole
body breathing in, breathing out.
So you may picture your
body or visualize it.
And then can you let go of the picture and
simply feel the felt sense of being here?
Thoughts coming and going, any emotions
or feeling tones are welcome to be here.
But our focus is on our
breathing and body sensation.
As you feel your whole body,
notice is there any place of
tension that wants to be released?
So do a scan.
Again with your breath, with the exhale,
releasing any tension that's here.
And now welcome in the felt
sense of ease, of wellbeing.
Acknowledging inwardly, in
this moment all is well.
Can you feel your body, your mind
begin to relax and be at ease.
We're inviting our nervous system
to relax, our mind, to relax.
Not forcing, but this is an
invitation toward the felt sense
of peace, wellbeing, and ease.
What do you find when you
invite these feelings in?
Perhaps a relaxed shoulders, open belly?
Your jaw is relaxed.
Can you allow this feeling, if
it's here, of ease and wellbeing
to saturate your whole body?
Notice as you do this, perhaps your mind
comes along and, and rests or relaxes.
But perhaps it doesn't, no worries.
Simply being with what's here as
it is, acknowledging any remnants
of worry, but also feeling grounded
and a quality of ease, peace,
wellbeing in your body and your mind.
Okay.
We'll close here.
So begin to reorient your
attention to the room.
And thank you for your practice.
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