Finding Rest and Inner Peace: A Guided Meditation with Lisa Dawn
In this episode of the Healed Now What Podcast, Lisa Dawn shares her personal struggles with exhaustion and the need for deep rest. She guides listeners through a serene, step-by-step meditation designed to help ease the body and mind, fostering a sense of inner peace and relaxation. Concluding the session with a reading of Mary Oliver's poem 'Wild Geese,' Lisa emphasizes the importance of self-care and making space for oneself amidst life's busyness. Tune in to rejuvenate your spirit and find your center.
Finding Rest and Inner Peace: A Guided Meditation with Lisa Dawn
In this episode of the Healed Now What Podcast, Lisa Dawn shares her personal struggles with exhaustion and the need for deep rest. She guides listeners through a serene, step-by-step meditation designed to help ease the body and mind, fostering a sense of inner peace and relaxation. Concluding the session with a reading of Mary Oliver's poem 'Wild Geese,' Lisa emphasizes the importance of self-care and making space for oneself amidst life's busyness. Tune in to rejuvenate your spirit and find your center.
Hey friends, Lisa Dawn here. Welcome back to another episode of the Healed Now What Podcast. So I'm wondering listeners, anyone else feeling exhausted today? this week or just in life in general. I know I am definitely feeling the need for some deep, deep rest this week. The past few weeks, probably months, I've felt the draw to go inwards, but had other commitments ever been there where you just had to push through, even though your body was giving you subtle or not so subtle signs that it was about to crash. So I've been feeling this tension building up from a summer that has been jam packed, just so full of life, visitors, family, friends, and just a lot of activity and events, which is amazing and fun and beautiful and also likely a little bit too full for my body. So last week I ended up injuring my shoulder and That pain ended up spreading up into my neck and then ultimately began pulling on my ribs in the front of my chest, so Needless to say I knew it was time to take some much much needed rest I have not been this tense in my upper body in many many many years, so I'm feeling so much gratitude for the abundance of life while simultaneously feeling the exhaustion of not taking enough space for myself over these past few months. So I thought today I would take a bit of my own medicine and keep this episode really short, just taking us through a beautiful little guided meditation to help ease our bodies and our minds. How does that sound? Sounds great to me. So if you are driving or not in a place where you can carve out a few moments, that is just for you, I suggest just bookmarking this and coming back to it. Okay. So first you may just want to check in with your body. And maybe ask it and just notice what position would feel most supportive for me right now. And now take that moment or two and find that position that feels just right in this moment. And once you're there, just find the surface that you're sitting on. Find your sense of weight on that surface. Invite your bones to be heavy and your muscles to be soft. Just let yourself settle and arrive. And now invite your legs to give into gravity, feel your feet on the ground. And if you can, maybe even just push them into the floor a little, and then stretch your toes up towards the ceiling and then rock your feet back and forth. So we're just rocking our feet back and forth. Taking a few moments here. And then you might allow your eyes just to wander around your environment. Just noticing any shapes, patterns, colors, or textures. Let your eyes freely enjoy this meandering around. If they feel called to land on something, just let them stay there and soften your gaze. Notice if there's something pleasant. that you're looking at. Now, when you begin to notice a bit of a settled feeling, the invitation is to close your eyes or lower your eyes and just soften your gaze and take a moment to notice what does settling feel like for you? Is it a sense of just more presence, more breath? Is it warm or cool? Does it just feel more weighted? more aware. Maybe you're becoming aware of more comfort or stillness within or around you. What is that like? Notice how it is to just be sitting here and receiving care from me. And now just take your hands and gently cup your elbows and give them a little tug a few times. Just very gently pulling on the joints. Then you can release them and allow your body to begin rocking from side to side. Just let your body sway. How is this for you? What are you noticing? Now place one hand on your forehead and one hand on the back of your neck as you continue this swaying motion side to side. With one hand on your forehead and the other on the back of your neck, what's it like to self connect in this way? I'm just going to spend another moment or two here. Now take the palms of your hands and place them gently over your eye sockets, applying just a little bit of pressure. If you have something in front of you that you can rest your elbows on, whether that be a pillow or a table. then please do so. Just allow your elbows to support your hands, cupping your eyes. Let your eyes receive the darkness. Notice the darkness. Notice how your eyes feel just to be resting with your support. Take your time here. Give yourself the space. Give your eyes a break. And now just notice. If there's a place within you that feels just a little bit more centered and grounded, and let's take note of this place by perhaps even locating it. Where is this space that just feels a little bit or a lot more centered and grounded? What is the quality of this space? Is there a word that comes to mind about it? Just notice anything that your body is offering up. about this place within you and just check in to see if your body is called to any more movement. Would it like to go back to swaying side to side? Is there anywhere that your hands would like to go? Just check in and see if there's any place on your body that requires a little bit more support from your hands. So as we begin to round this off, Slowly begin to sense the room that you're in, gently preparing yourself to open your eyes and bring yourself back to the room. You can do this by wiggling your toes or pressing your feet into the ground, maybe even interlacing your fingers and stretching them, really just taking your time to open your eyes, or you can choose to stay here as long as you need. with your eyes closed. And I'd like to just finish with this poem called Wild Geese by Mary Oliver. You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair. Yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile, the world goes on. Meanwhile, the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain are moving across the landscapes, over the prairies and the deep trees, the mountains and the rivers. Meanwhile, the wild geese, high in the clean blue air, are heading home once again. Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls you to like the wild geese, harsh and exciting, over and over announcing your place in the family of things. Thank you for being here. Thank you for tuning in. Thank you for carving out this space for yourself. I hope you enjoyed today's show. Rest well, my friends. Until next week, bye for now. As always, thank you so much for listening. Life is busy. So it means even more that you're carving out time in your day to be here. Listen, we've got so many great episodes coming up, so please make sure you subscribe to follow along on Apple podcasts or Spotify. And for those of you who like to watch your podcasts, we are now uploading them to YouTube. And if you appreciate these episodes, please do us a favor and leave a rating or a review and share it with anyone you think could benefit. See you again next Wednesday.
