Meditation

Guided meditation

What Is Meditation?

Meditation is a mind, body and sole practice that aim to help you refocus your attention on your breath. In focusing on ourselves and our breath in this way we can find clarity, develop concentration, and enhance emotional positivity. The idea here to develop the skill of meditation that in turn allows you to, attune to and remain in the present moment.

Meditation focuses on the interactions among the brain, mind, body, and our own behaviour and reactions. Through practice, and by developing and learning this new skill, we learn to move into a peaceful and energized state.

The practice of meditation empowers us to observe your thoughts or feelings without judging them, knowing and acknowledging that they are there without the need to do anything about them in this moment. The benefits of meditation can come from practicing only a few minutes a day.

Task:

Guided meditation

Youtube has a wealth of guided meditations that you can try out and see what works for you.

Here are some examples

https://www.headspace.com/

Can be accessed as a website or App Head space also has a free trial so you can try it out first

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jyy0ra2WcQQ

The Honest guys, Youtube channel for a softly spoken guided meditation

Scripts:

you may want to read a script out loud or in your mind to support your learning and practice of meditation. After reading you script you may want to take some time to think about it, repeating important elements to yourself again.

Or you may want to add something different to your script, you may even want to write your own.

Here are a few to get to started:

Guided Meditation for Self-Compassion Script:

Stand in front of a mirror and begin to see yourself. Don’t rush through it, as you normally would and try to keep all judgmental thoughts away. Whenever you get the impulse to criticize your appearance, resist it and throw it away. Look into your reflection’s eyes. What do you see? Is your reflection angry? Sad? Content? Notice and allow whatever feeling you see in the mirror flow through you openly. Don’t be afraid to let your reflection cry or be angry. These emotions are part of your heart. They are normal and expected. With your eyes, trace your reflection in the mirror. Notice your nose, your lips, your teeth and your skin. Repeat to yourself the mantra: I am beautiful. Slowly, as the negative feelings dissipate, your reflection begins to smile and so do you. Gently wrap your hands around yourself and give your reflection a big hug. I love me

Guided Meditation for Sleep Script:

(Do this while lying in bed, ready for sleep) With your eyes closed, begin to focus on your breathing. Take in a nice, deep breath through your nose and feel it fill up your lungs. Feel your belly fill up with the air, then let it go. As you breathe, you feel the bed rising up to meet and support you, and you allow yourself to grow heavier and heavier with each breath. Feel your body sinking into the softness of your bed. As your body becomes still, your mind begins to drift. You see a green meadow, soft and peaceful. You feel the breeze blowing against your cheek. You feel the grass underneath your feet. You listen and you hear the stillness of nature. You breathe and look around the meadow. You see the houses down in the valley and the mountains in the distance. You fill your lungs with air. In and out. In and out. With your mind clear of any other thought, you tell yourself this affirmation: I am peaceful. I am peaceful. I am peaceful.

Guided Meditation for Stress Script:

Close your eyes and begin to take a journey through your body. Do a mental check of everything you feel. Make yourself aware of any pain. And any happiness. Any fear. And every hope. Acknowledge them. I suffer. I am happy. I fear. I hope. Repeat these mantras for as long as you need, until each of these areas has received the acknowledgement it deserves. Understand that suffering is just as normal as joy. Begin to understand that fear goes hand in hand with hope, and that these feelings are what makes you alive in this present moment. Slowly, visualize each of these four feelings. First your suffering, then your happiness, then your fear, and after all, your hope. See them standing before you in a line. Take a small, assured step towards your suffering and embrace it as hard as you can. Then do the same for your happiness, fear, and suffering. You are alive.