Season 2 EP 6: Busy Mind Guided Meditation
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Perfectionist in Recovery
Busy Mind Guided Meditation
Hello and welcome back to the perfectionist in recovery podcast. Today is meditation day! I have shared on this podcast before how beneficial a meditation practice can be to maintain a creative practice and keep us connected to our own internal voice. I like to share meditations regularly on this podcast for anyone who would like to start a meditation practice, but isn’t really sure where to begin, or for anyone who needs a little guidance. The reason that I think meditation is so beneficial for creatives specifically is because as a creative person, we spend a lot of time in our heads and that can get a little overwhelming sometimes, especially if your creative energy starts to spiral into anxiety. Meditation, however, is a way to help us get back into our bodies, and when we are grounded and connected to our bodies we can actually take action to channel all of those ideas as they swell up in our brains. Not to mention, there are LOADS of health benefits to meditation, but specifically for creatives, it can be a useful tool for keeping us grounded so we can actually create.
And if you are not into the meditations, well, just pretend like they don’t happen! Lol
But if you are enjoying dipping your toes into meditation and would like to explore more, I wanted to share with you my top three favorite meditation apps, so I made a blog post sharing just that! If you go to my blog at www.marcyparksart.com/new-blog, you will find my Top Three Favorite Meditation Apps! I promise, this is not a sponsored post, these are just the apps that I use personally and love and I wanted to share them for anyone who is interested in developing a deeper meditation practice.
Now, for our practice today!
Today’s meditation is intended to help settle a busy mind. Now, there is no way to force your mind into stillness, but there is a way to be a better witness and observer of what your mind is doing the stories it loves to tell you.
To practice at home:
First find a comfortable position for your body. You are welcome to sit up right or lie down. If you are feeling more tired and needing more support at the moment, come to lie down in a comfortable position. Make sure you have good padding underneath you wherever you need support. You can pause this recording for a moment to take some time to get yourself comfortable and then come back when you are settled in and ready.
Sometimes, if the mind is really busy, we can settle it down by actually moving our bodies. If you are lying down, this might just be rolling your wrists and ankles, maybe even turning your head side to side. IF you are seated or lying down, maybe roll your wrists out a little, slowly and gently, then make fists with your hands, then relax them, and do that a couple of times. If you are seated upright, you can start to roll your neck, making gentle and slow circles with your head - first letting your chin fall to your chest, then rolling one ear to one shoulder, then the other ear to the other shoulder, and if it feels comfortable, even letting your head roll back and your throat open up. You can even coordinate this movement with your breath. Exhaling chin to chest, inhaling one ear to one shoulder, exhaling chin to chest, inhaling your ear to the other shoulder. Do what feels good, but take a few moments and feel into these movements, whatever you choose to do. Feel into your body.
But now, feel the back of your neck lengthen. Feel your shoulder blades flatten and smooth down against your upper back. Feel your chest, broad and open. Feel your chest swell on an inhale. Feel the whole barrel of your chest, top, bottom, front, and back, all parts swell as you breathe in deeply, then soften as you exhale.
Take a moment to take 3 full deep breaths in this way.
Now return to your natural, easy breath.
See if you can keep your awareness on your natural breath, still.
Feel the coolness of the inhale and the warmth of the exhale.
To help keep your attention focused on your breath, maybe even start to say to yourself, silently, “Breathing in” as you inhale and “breathing out” as you exhale.
And anytime your mind starts to wander off, which it will, just notice and bring your attention back to repeating your mantra - “breathing in” as you breathe in and “breathing out” as you breathe out.
And if your mind gets caught up in a fantasy, or dream, or memory, just take note of what it is your mind is reaching for, and without any judgement or condemnation, come back to the breath.
“Breathing in” and
“Breathing out.”
Take note of any feelings or sense of urgency around the thoughts that captivate your attention. Take note of how enticing they are, or how fascinated you are by them, then, come back to the breath.
“Breathing in” and
“Breathing out.”
And then, let all of that go. Let go of your mantra.
Just feel your body for a moment. Feel the room that you are in, feel the temperature of the room, feel the temperature of your skin. Notice how you feel in this room, in this position that you are in.
Then slowly, transition back out of the meditation.
And as you integrate back into your day, take with you this understanding of your mind and your thoughts and how captivating they really are. Take care today to notice your thoughts and what thoughts are pulling your attention away and which of those thoughts have anything to do with the present moment. And when you can, remind yourself that you are breathing in and you are breathing out.
Thank you so much for meditating with me. Until next time.
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