Settling Your Nerves

In today's session, we'll practice calming down and settling our nerves. Let's get started. Since so much of our anxiety comes from a scattered mind that's caught up in the future or the past, ideas and judgments, it's helpful to calm the mind by giving it something specific to focus on. So at the beginning of each meditation in this series, I'm going to ring a bell for you. When you hear that bell, bring your full presence and focus to the sound all the way until that moment when it dissolves into silence.

Here we go. Let's do that one more time. To help us settle in more deeply, let's take a deep breath together. Breathing in fully through the nose. Breathing in.

And then out slowly through the mouth. Inviting the jaw to relax. The teeth don't need to be clenched. Inviting the neck and shoulders to soften. As well as the hands and the belly.

Just letting the breath come back to its natural rhythm. Not needing to breathe deeply or in a way that you perceive to be right for meditation. Just lettingthe breath be normal and at ease. And with every exhale, feeling your body relax a little more deeply. And letting the thoughts in your mind settle, like snow in a snow globe.

In this moment, there's no place else you need to be, nothing else he needed to do, and no problems you need to fix. And see if you can just let any excess energy that might be in your body sort of wash over you and through you, like waves crashing and then retreating. So that you become a place of stillness. And any anxiety or worries or chaos in the mind kind of just has this space to move through you, but not have to impact you. Letting your peace and groundedness reside someplace deeper.

As you just feel your body breathing. And experience the ease of not having to do anything or get anywhere. To close this meditation, I'm going to ring the bells two more times. And when I do, just let the sound soothe your mind, focus your attention, and bring your full presence to the bell as if it were the most important thing in the world right now. And once more.

So if your eyes have been closed, you're welcome to open them now. And you did a great job today. But you can come back to this meditation at any point throughout the day when you find yourself needing a little bit more calm. Take care.