Ever felt the weight of the world crushing you? Struggled with relentless anxiety, stress or sleepless nights? Well, it's time to embark on a tranquil journey with me, Yogi Ray, as we unlock the transformative power of meditation. Experience the calming waves of mindfulness, activating your body's innate relaxation response, reducing your heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure. Tune in to this podcast and reconnect with your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations, enhancing your resilience and improving your sleep.
We'll move beyond the surface, diving deep into the realms of relaxation, visualization, and inner self-exploration. Visualize and feel the heaviness and relaxation of every part of your body, from your toes to your head. Allow your breath to guide you deeper into introspection, as we pose profound questions like "what am I?" and "who am I?". The journey continues as we discover the liberating power of forgiveness and self-control, managing stress, anxiety, and worry through the soothing mantra "Om Shanti". So sit back, relax, and let this episode guide you to a calmer, lighter, and more peaceful state of being.
Ever felt the weight of the world crushing you? Struggled with relentless anxiety, stress or sleepless nights? Well, it's time to embark on a tranquil journey with me, Yogi Ray, as we unlock the transformative power of meditation. Experience the calming waves of mindfulness, activating your body's innate relaxation response, reducing your heart rate, breathing rate, and blood pressure. Tune in to this podcast and reconnect with your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations, enhancing your resilience and improving your sleep.
We'll move beyond the surface, diving deep into the realms of relaxation, visualization, and inner self-exploration. Visualize and feel the heaviness and relaxation of every part of your body, from your toes to your head. Allow your breath to guide you deeper into introspection, as we pose profound questions like "what am I?" and "who am I?". The journey continues as we discover the liberating power of forgiveness and self-control, managing stress, anxiety, and worry through the soothing mantra "Om Shanti". So sit back, relax, and let this episode guide you to a calmer, lighter, and more peaceful state of being.
Feedback at soulshangout@gmail.com
Speaker 1:
Welcome to where souls hang out, and this is the show that connects you to inner and outer peace. I'm Yogi Ray, and thank you for joining me today, and also thank you for all the wonderful support and comments we've been getting lately. I'm very grateful for that, thank you. Today's episode we have a my soul meditation on reducing stress and anxiety. Now I'm sure we can all do with that, so get into a comfortable place where you won't be disturbed for the next 20 minutes or so and enjoy connecting to the stillness and the peace. And this is where souls hang out. Welcome to another my soul meditation podcast, and I'm Yogi Ray and I'm delighted to be leading you through this meditation that will reduce stress and anxiety.
Speaker 1:
Now it's all about thinking that can turn into overthinking, into excessive thinking, into obsessive thinking, and this all in turn, leads into stress and anxiety. Not there's anything wrong with thinking. We need to use this wonderful tool for sure. However, the balance between thinking and stillness, silence, peace is imperative to maintaining a healthy mind and body. So the connection to this place, to this wonderful place, is inside you, and this is the key to meditation. So this meditation is a practice that involves training the mind to focus on the present moment. It has been used for thousands of years as a way to promote relaxation, mindfulness, self-awareness, and is some of the ways that this meditation can help reduce stress and anxiety. Meditation activates and relaxes the response, so when you meditate, you activate the body's relaxation response. This leads to a decrease in the heart rate, the breathing rate and the blood pressure. Meditation also reduces the production of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which shifts the body to calmness and the mind to peacefulness.
Speaker 1:
This mindfulness is a key component of many meditation practices, in specific this one. It involves paying attention to the present moment without judgement, and you'll see that as we go through. This can break the cycle of worry, stress and they often contribute to the anxiety. It enhances the emotional regulation, so this means you may find it easier to manage and respond to difficult emotions, reducing their impact on your overall well-being. It increases self-awareness. You become more aware of your thoughts and feelings and bodily sensations. So this increases self-awareness to your identity and addresses sources to stress and anxiety more effectively. It improves your sleep. A lot of people who have a lot of anxiety and stress struggle to sleep. It enhances resilience. The meditation can help break the cycle of remuneration to repetitive thoughts and obsessive thinking, which is a wonderful thing, to release and get rid of unproductive and distressing thoughts. It alters your brain structure and also cultivates a sense of calm and equanimity. This means you are better able to handle life's challenges without becoming overwhelmed by stress and anxiety. It's a powerful tool and the more regular you are with this style of meditation or any style of meditation just become regular and, piece by piece, all this will take place.
Speaker 1:
All this reducing of stress and anxiety and depression and other unwanted emotions and stresses will all start to dissipate. So find yourself that comfortable space. We won't be disturbed for the next 15 minutes or so. Be yourself comfortable and relaxed. Just give yourself permission. Once you're relaxed, once you feel ready for this meditation, give yourself permission to be still, to be open and to allow.
Speaker 1:
Start feeling the heaviness of the body and, if you find that hard, just shift your mindset from whatever it is to heavy and think heavy and feel the heaviness of the body as the body sinks into where you're laying or sitting. Now you feel that heaviness. We're going to move around the body, focusing on the now moving around to different parts of the body, relaxing those parts, not moving them. Just visualise and relax and feel the lightness of each part, starting with the right foot. Just relax the right foot, the left foot, the right knee, the left knee, the right hip, the left hip, the right buttock, the left buttock, the right hand, the left hand, the right elbow, the left elbow, the right shoulder, the left shoulder, the right collarbone, left collarbone, right chest, left chest, the centre of the chest.
Speaker 1:
Relax the belly button, the stomach, lower back, middle back, upper back, right shoulder blade, left shoulder blade, spine. Relax the throat, the neck, the back of the head, top of the head, forehead. Relax the right ear, the left ear, the right cheek, the left cheek, the right eyebrow, the left eyebrow. Relax the space between the eyebrows. Relax the right eye, the left eye, the tip of the nose, upper lip, lower lip, teeth, tongue, chin, jaw, face. Relax the head. Relax the torso. Relax the right arm. Relax the left arm. Relax the right leg. Relax the left leg. Relax the whole body, from the tip of the toes to the top of the head. Relax the whole body, the whole body. Relax. Feel the lightness of the body. Feel how light the body is, how relaxed the body is as we bring our awareness now to the breath.
Speaker 1:
With every inhale and every exhale, with each breath, we'll be counting the breath backwards from 21 to 0. And we'll just be counting each breath, like this one I am inhaling 21. I am inhaling 21. I am inhaling 20. I am exhaling 20. I am inhaling 19. I am exhaling 19. Go all the way down to 0. Just focusing on the breath and counting the breath, nothing else. And if you make a mistake or lose count of where you are, let's go back to 21 and start again. Just check that you're counting the breath. Counting the breath and counting, counting of the breath. If you reach 0, you must go back to 21 and start again. Just check that you're counting the breath. Go back to 21. If you need to Now relax all effort, stop counting the breath and allow the breath to be that natural, automated state of breathing. You're relaxed. You are now going to become more deeper into relaxation.
Speaker 1:
Physical stillness, complete, 100% physical stillness. Find yourself that you're physically still. Now. Just bring your attention and your awareness just to that dark space in front of your eyes, the screen of the mind in front of your eyes, and at this point you may see complete darkness, or faces or colors, whatever that is, just notice that. And now you're going to bring into our imagination and visualization the number three on that screen in front of your eyes. Visualize the number three, the number three, visualize and what it looks like. Visualize the number three and then take a deep inhale and then, on the exhale, repeat to yourself the three, three, three. Now the number two. Visualize the number two on the screen in front of your eyes and number two. See the number two. Visualize the number two. You know what the number two looks like. Visualize and see the number two. Now Take a deep inhale and on the exhale, repeat to, to, to, now the number one. See the number one. Visualize. See clearly the number one on that screen in front of your eyes. Take a deep inhale and on the exhale, just repeat one, one, one.
Speaker 1:
Now you've moved deep and let's go a little bit deeper. I'm going to count backwards from ten to one, and you're welcome to listen or repeat with me. Repeating would be better. So take a deep inhale. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six Now you're getting deep. Five, four, three You're in the depths of relaxation. Two and deeper One. So now you're deep in relaxation. Your body is 100% relaxed, your mind is aware.
Speaker 1:
So we start asking ourselves some deep questions here. Just allow the answers to come, don't interfere, just allow them to download the first question we're going to ask ask yourself over and over what am I? What am I? What am I? And you'll start to get a list of things coming through. Don't judge them, just allow. What am I? Now we're going to shift that question just slightly. Ask yourself over and over who am I? Who am I? You're still getting a list of answers coming back. The first few might be just basic, but just allow yourself to go deeper, to find out who you are. Who am I? Who am I? Now let's move on from that question.
Speaker 1:
The next question is what am I grateful for? What am I grateful for? What am I grateful for? And allow that list to build without judgment. Allow the list to build. What am I grateful for? What am I grateful for? And now let go of that question. Let go of all the questions and just be. Take a deep inhale and then a long, slow exhale as we move into statement of permissions.
Speaker 1:
So you're going to give yourself permission to feel in certain states of mind. So the first one just repeat to yourself over and over I am at peace with myself. I am at peace with myself. I am at peace with myself. I am at peace with myself. Let's move to the next statement. I am at peace with others. I am at peace with others. I am at peace with others. I am at peace with others. Let's move to the next statement.
Speaker 1:
I forgive myself for all of my actions. I forgive myself for all of my actions. I forgive myself for all of my actions. I forgive myself for all of my actions. Just allow me to move to the next question, the next statement. I forgive all others for all their actions. I forgive all others for all their actions. I forgive all others for all their actions. I forgive all others for all their actions. Just allow me to move into the final statement of permission. I give myself permission to be at peace. I give myself permission to be at peace. I give myself permission to be at peace. I forgive myself. I forgive others. I give myself permission to be at peace. I take a deep breath in and release that breath.
Speaker 1:
Now just shift your awareness and focus to the mantra of Om Shanti. Om is the vibration of the sound of the universe and Shanti is peace, om Shanti. Repeat that over and over and over again. Om Shanti, om Shanti, om Shanti, om Shanti, om Shanti. Now allowing the stillness and the silence and the peace to settle in, just acknowledge the peace, the stillness and the silence in and around you and acknowledge how relaxed and calm you feel. And whenever you feel ready to make small movements, just take your time. We may want to stay here a little bit longer. Just a regular use of meditations like this will give you the control back over stress and anxiety and worry. Om Yogi Ray, enjoy the peace, enjoy that space that you found inside you today. Namaste, om Yogi Ray.
