Ep 07: Guided Meditation
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Perfectionist in Recovery
Guided Meditation
[00:00:01] Hello and welcome to the Perfectionist in Recovery podcast. My name is Marcy Parks and I am a perfectionist in recovery.
[00:00:10] So I just want to say thank you for those of you who are listening. Thank you. For those of you who have given me feedback on the podcast. I shared last week, this is just one of those things that was not on my 2020 plans that has come from the pandemic, and I've actually really been enjoying getting to share this dialogue with you, so thank you. That being said, for those of you who have shared with me that Episode three, the volume of the music was a little too loud for you to be able to hear the meditation clearly - Thank you for that feedback. I've heard you! For this meditation today, I'm going to be doing it without background music. That way you can actually hear more clearly. So with that, for those of you who are listening, the more feedback you can give me on the podcast, the better. That way I can continue to improve the podcast and make it something that's more enjoyable for you to be listening to. If you are already enjoying the podcast, please, please feel free to share it. Share it through your social media channels, and definitely leave a review on Apple podcasts. Leaving review is the best way to support it, but definitely spreading the word sharing with your friends to help again sustain and promote and support the podcast and the work that I'm doing, so - thank you again for listening. Thank you for being here. Thank you for supporting the work.
[00:01:45] Now, for today, for my guided meditation today, I am really excited to get to share another meditation episode with you.
[00:01:58] I was picking up my daughter from daycare yesterday and one of the teachers was sharing with me that the kids were listening to the podcast and that just made my day.
[00:02:09] So before I get into the meditation, I wanted to share a meditation exercise that can be practiced with children.
[00:02:19] And this is not something that I came up with. It's actually from a book that we have for my daughter. It's called "Breathe Like a Bear" and in "Breathe Like a Bear" there are all these little meditation and breathing exercises that you can do with children, and our favorite is the hot chocolate breathing.
[00:02:37] I'm going to share this practice for those of you who are parents that might want to share or start encouraging breathing exercises and breathing practices and meditation practices with your children.
[00:02:51] The hot chocolate breathing is the way you practice it. You pretend that you've got a really yummy, rich and creamy, delicious cup of hot chocolate that is steaming hot. It is so, so hot and holding this cup in your hands, you want to start to cool the hot chocolate off so you can enjoy it. So taking a deep breath in.
[00:03:21] And blowing out on your hot chocolate to cool it off and the next time you take an even bigger breath in and as you exhale, blowing more slowly to cool off your hot chocolate.
[00:03:46] Breathing in again, take an even bigger deep breath in this time.
[00:03:55] Blowing out on your hot chocolate to cool it off, blowing out even longer this time.
[00:04:09] And then this time, it's finally cool enough to take a sip so slowly sipping on your hot chocolate, and because it's so delicious saying, "mmmmmmmmm," as you breathe out.
[00:04:28] Continue the practice by taking another long, slow sip of your hot chocolate, and an even longer, "Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm," as you breathe out to say how good your hot chocolate is!
[00:04:48] You can do this for a few rounds. After this first round, when your hot chocolate is all gone because it is just so yummy, you of course have to get a refill, which is again going to be too hot to drink to start, so you're going to have to cool it off and then drink it up once it's cooled off.
[00:05:06] If you are parents, I hope that you get to practice it with your kids and enjoy it. It's really fun. Searsha loves to play and do the hot chocolate breathing. It's definitely a favorite of ours.
[00:05:24] Now for the guided meditation today. Today, we're just going to be breathing mindfully and visualizing our breath as we breathe.
[00:05:37] If you're not already, find a comfortable seat, if it's more comfortable for you to sit in a chair, sit in a chair with your back away from the chair, your feet flat on the floor, if it's more comfortable for you to lay down right now, wherever you are, go ahead and find that comfortable position and we will begin.
[00:06:09] Once you are seated comfortably, I want you to take a moment.
[00:06:22] First, with your eyes open, just get a sense of the room that you're in. Looking around, just observing it, not judging it in any way, if there's a mess, it's OK. Just notice. Get a sense of where you are in the room, where you are seated or arranged in the room. And then taking a deep breath in through your nose and as you exhale, close your eyes.
[00:07:11] Now with your eyes closed, continuing to just breathe naturally, not manipulating your breath in any way, not changing your breath. Bring back into your mind where you are in the room. Bringing back into mind the four walls that surround you, the roof over your head, the floor beneath you, supporting you, holding you. Bring into mind the position in which you are arranged or seated or lying down. Feel yourself in that shape.
[00:08:15] Feel the parts of your body that are connected to the floor over a seat. Feel even your clothes on your body against your skin.
[00:08:42] And then start to feel even your skin. Feel the skin on your face. From your start to soften the skin on your face. Soften the area around your eyes.
[00:09:09] Relax your jaw.
[00:09:15] Maybe even swallowing here, then relaxing your jaw. Feel into any other parts of your body that you might be holding any tension and just consciously relax.
[00:09:49] Take a deep breath in through your nose. And as you exhale, just relax.
[00:10:05] And start to develop an awareness of your breath.
[00:10:16] Just feeling that steady inhale and exhale, again, not manipulating your breath - just feeling your natural steady breath.
[00:10:29] That natural pulse of your breath.
[00:11:25] Begin to lengthen your inhales and exhales. And breathe with a little more indention and tension. Breathing in and out through your nose. Taking a slightly deeper breath and a slightly slower exhale. Slightly longer inhale and slightly slower exhale. Observing the way the breath moves through your body. Noticing as you breathe in. The way your body expand and grow and create tension, and as you breathe out the way your body softens and hugs back in on itself. As you breathe in, everything growing swelling as you breathe out, your body softening, releasing. As you continue to lengthen your inhales and exhales a little more, I want you to now start to visualize a white light, a ball of white light resting at the base of your spine at your tailbone, at the base of your seat.
[00:14:06] So breathing here, visualizing, even feeling, if you can, this bright white light resting at the base of your tailbone. Now, as you breathe in, visualize and feel this ball of white light start to travel up the length of your spine to the crown of your head. As you exhale the ball of white light traveling back down the length of your spine, back to the base of your tailbone. Continue to breathe and feel that or see that ball of white light traveling the length of your spine. Notice if there are any areas of your spine that you skip over or maybe can't feel into as much. And just notice that and continue with the practice. Breathing in the ball of white light, traveling up the length of your spine. Breathing out the ball of white light, traveling down the length of your spine, back to your tailbone.
[00:16:30] And if you become distracted at any point in time, come back to the practice, come back to your breath, the length of your breath, the sensation of your breath - come back to the ball of white light.
[00:16:51] Traveling up the length of your spine as you inhale all the way to the crown of your head. And back down the length of your spine as you breathe out. As you breathe in once more, the ball of white light travels up to the crown of your head, I want you to visualize the ball of white light staying there at the crown of your head as you continue to breathe. Bring your attention to the crown of your head as you continue to breathe. Feeling there where the bright ball of white light rests. I want you to imagine, visualize, even feel, if you can, as you breathe that ball of white light starting to grow and bloom, and as it grows, I want you to visualize this ball of white light growing and encompassing you in its bright white light, almost like being held in this cocoon of white light that just surrounds your whole body.
[00:19:33] So as you continue to breathe in and out with your attention on the crown of your head, visualize the white light now raining down all around you and encompassing you in this soft egg of white light. Feel yourself held in this space, in this egg of white light. Every inhale and exhale. Breathing in that light. Feel yourself bathed in that light. Imagining or feeling what that light feels like on your skin, on your face. Again, the sensation of even breathing that light in. Feeling that warmth of the white light on your inside as well as your outside. Give yourself three more breaths here. Breathing in the soft, warm, white light. Held by this soft, warm, white, light.
[00:22:55] And then with your next exhale releasing the visualisations. Bringing your attention back to your breath. Bringing your attention back to the sensation of your breath, moving through your body. Bringing your attention back to your body in this shape, feel yourself in this shape.
[00:23:44] Feel again the point of connection between you and the Earth, the floor, your chair, however, you are arranged.
[00:23:59] Bring your attention again to your position in the room where you are seated, where you are lying down.
[00:24:28] Bring your attention back to the room - the four walls around you, the ceiling above you, the floor beneath you and, when you are ready, beginning to slowly open your eyes.
[00:25:05] Otherwise. If you'd like, you are free to continue to rest here. For as long as you please. Making any adjustments that you need to your comfort. And continuing to breathe.
[00:25:31] Until next time.
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