Explore how stress and relaxation physically manifest in your body to deepen your self-awareness and cultivate inner calm.

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This simple meditation explores your own physiology in relation to stress and relaxation, providing more context around both responses to deepen in relationship to them within our own beings. This is also a part of a larger meditation series incorporated in a Reiki Level 1 and 2 practice.

Stress And Relaxation Recognition Meditation

Hello, my name is Eden, and I am a therapist, Reiki teacher, and meditation guide. Now whether you've found this meditation through one of my Reiki courses or just through the web of life, These meditations are intended to deepen your relationship to your intuition and gifts. and facilitate an understanding of your own internal landscape. Each meditation is also a tool that can be offered to yourself or a client. So I invite you to notice what shifts within you before, during, after, beyond the meditation. Cataloging the effects with words and feelings and sensations. Just letting yourself take note. Allow it to be personal and universal. Let's begin. Find a comfortable seat and a tall spine. And just begin to breathe. tapping into this present moment more overtly. And... and out. Mmm. and out. There's no rush here. Allow yourself to start relaxing even more. becoming more present. And just noticing what it feels like to usher in some intentional calm into your body. Close the eyes. and stay here for as long as you'd like, just simplifying the moment. Now let's start to invite in a scenario that feels a little stressful to think about today. just starting to imagine the setting or the conversation. Maybe from the past or the future. that begins to invoke a little bit of stress. And as you do this, what has started to happen in your body already? just by putting your attention on this stressful scenario. in your actual physical body. Do your best to separate the physical sensations from any chatter or noise. that may be going on in the brain, any stories that are coming up. What do you notice? What physical sensations arise? Where? And just pinpoint the area of the body you're finding sensation in. Putting all of your focus there within your body. as if the mind drops into that area of the body. and perceives from here. And hold these sensations in your attention, your awareness, your mind's eye. or perhaps imagining they are being held in your palms. What is the texture? of the sensation. perhaps the shape. the color. the density, the weight. There are no wrong answers. And if this feels made up, that's okay. Let yourself make up an answer. What characteristics can you pinpoint about it? beyond it just being a feeling, your sensation. Do your best here to label it, describe it. Maybe a metaphor feels more accessible here. Allow the stress to be fully in existence with you right here. in this dimension, in this moment. and maybe even noticing that just by trying to label or add shape or characteristics to it. that there's a little bit of separation between you and the stress. Good. Nice work. Now go ahead and see if you can relax again. Releasing the stress and the stressful thought. Perhaps it's helpful to now imagine a place where you feel the most calm and carefree. Go there. Relaxing the space around the heart. the stress. the tension. that you had. Relaxing the entire body again on purpose. and taking this as slowly as you'd like. Can you find deeper and deeper relaxation? even after this period of stress. You are safe in your space now. Can you access that felt truth? Now what has happened in your body as you move towards relaxation again? What do you feel? Where do you feel it? Can you describe it in metaphor, shape, or color, texture? Weight Density. Again, if this is purely imaginal, that is okay. How can you describe it? So in-depth. that you feel you could share it with someone. who has no clue. to clue them in. What shifts did you notice as you went from stressed to more relaxed? Good. Now taking a few breaths, releasing the focus on the body. and coming back to a quiet stillness within your being. And with your eyes still closed, begin to notice the weight of your body on whatever is beneath you. all of those contact points. And notice that with each inhale, you take up slightly more space around you. Can you sense? that with each breath. You grow closer to the walls and the ceiling. without needing to see. Can you sense the walls around you? your furniture, your door. beginning to anchor yourself back into your space. through your own capacity to sense, not just within you, but beyond you. And take one final moment here to thank the body for its wisdom. Thank your mind for the ability to notice the internal. and external environments. and how that deeply informs our lives. Thank you, thank you, thank you.