A Meditation for When Relaxation Seems Impossible
I recorded this because I did not want to meditate and had been putting it off. So we do it together and I keep it short.
About 10 minutes with Steven Webb's calm voice.
Nothing much is asked of you. Not even relaxing. You make a game of it instead. What can I be aware of right now? A sound, the heat on your skin, a bit of tension that lets go the second you notice it. Meditation does not have to be a big thing every time. Sometimes it is just sitting down and noticing.
Treat me to a coffee, keep the podcast free, and get my Weekly Calm every Sunday. It is all on stevenwebb.uk
Thank you for sitting with me.
Steven
Stevens new course: Finding Peace in Everyday Life (you choose how much to pay)
- Support Stevens work and links to other podcasts: stevenwebb.uk
- Donate paypal.me/stevenwebb or Buy Steven a coffee
Transcript
Welcome to this guided meditation. This is the meditation for when you don't want to meditate, basically. And I'm
Steven Webb:recording this now because I don't want to meditate. And I've been resisting it for a while. And I thought,
Steven Webb:what better way of meditating than recording a guided meditation and doing it along with you. And there's a
Steven Webb:lot of the time we procrastinate and we resist and We just don't want to sit down and do nothing
Steven Webb:for 10 minutes or five minutes or whatever. So I won't push it. Let's do a few minutes meditation. Just
Steven Webb:trying to settle the body when it doesn't want to settle.
Steven Webb:So the way I do this is bring
Steven Webb:my focus to my breath.
Steven Webb:I'm breathing in and I'm breathing out.
Steven Webb:I don't do anything with my breath. I just allow my breath to do that.
Steven Webb:And after a few breaths, I just allow the body to relax. Allow
Steven Webb:the shoulders.
Steven Webb:The arms,
Steven Webb:hands and the fingers and the legs and the toes.
Steven Webb:Anything that just comes to mind that you can relax. And
Steven Webb:you do this just by allowing it to relax, that's all.
Steven Webb:You don't have to do anything to your body to relax, you just allow it.
Steven Webb:And sometimes it helps to breathe in calm and
Steven Webb:breathe out relax
Steven Webb:And you can say it in your mind.
Steven Webb:And with each breath you can relax that a little bit more. By just allowing the body to relax.
Steven Webb:By finding parts of the body that could relax a little more.
Steven Webb:Maybe your eyes and your cheeks.
Steven Webb:Even your nose and your tongue and your ears.
Steven Webb:And you may notice that everything just becomes that little bit quieter.
Steven Webb:Even the atoms in your body that may seem quite agitated just become a little slower.
Steven Webb:And you recognise that you don't have to do anything with this moment. You don't even have to relax. You
Steven Webb:don't even have to change your breath you Just allow this moment to be what it is and just watch
Steven Webb:it with awareness.
Steven Webb:I'm aware I'm breathing.
Steven Webb:I'm aware my body's relaxing.
Steven Webb:I'm aware my mind's quieter.
Steven Webb:I'm aware the world's a little quieter.
Steven Webb:And if a thought does come up, you don't have to do anything with it. Just be aware, oh there's
Steven Webb:a thought.
Steven Webb:And if you find the thought really quite intrusive or it just won't disappear.
Steven Webb:Just thank the thought. Thank you.
Steven Webb:But we've just been awareness now.
Steven Webb:You can even do it as a little game.
Steven Webb:What can we be aware of?
Steven Webb:We can be aware of the feelings that arise,
Steven Webb:the sounds that are coming in,
Steven Webb:the heat on our skin.
Steven Webb:We can be aware of any pockets of tension in the body that once
Steven Webb:you become aware of them they just automatically relax.
Steven Webb:And notice with every breath you can still allow the body to relax a little bit more.
Steven Webb:There's almost always another level of relaxation.
Steven Webb:Another level of quietness
Steven Webb:new level of stillness.
Steven Webb:And we're just going to spend a couple of minutes just being aware of the breath.
Steven Webb:I'll keep an eye on the time. You don't have to.
Steven Webb:Your only job is to be aware.
Steven Webb:Welcome back.
Steven Webb:How was that?
Steven Webb:See, we don't have to make a big thing out of meditation every single time. Sometimes we can just sit
Steven Webb:down and be aware.
Steven Webb:I'm going to count back from five.
Steven Webb:Five. Four. Gently open your eyes. Three. Shake out your arms. Two.
Steven Webb:One. Just look around the room and even if you didn't close your eyes and even if you didn't really
Steven Webb:relax into this meditation, it really doesn't matter. Sometimes meditation isn't about a deep profound awareness or
Steven Webb:a deep relaxation. Sometimes meditation has just simply been aware of what's going on in the body right now
Steven Webb:and what's going on in the mind right now and Just stepping back and just becoming aware of it.
Steven Webb:Sometimes that's all we need to do.
Steven Webb:I'm Steven Webb and thank you for doing this meditation and thank you for doing this with me. I needed
Steven Webb:it. I needed this little bit of calmness. Boy, I've been struggling today and just
Steven Webb:doing this for you and doing this with you, that makes a big difference. These podcasts are, they don't
Steven Webb:have any sponsorship. They totally rely on the donation by you guys. So if you can
Steven Webb:and if you're able to, just drop me a coffee in the link below. If not, it doesn't matter. Enjoy
Steven Webb:them. A bit of inner peace in your world. Take care. Bye.