Meditation for Overcoming Holiday Stress and Everyday Overwhelm (84)

Welcome to how the Wise One Grows. This podcast is a space where we come together to reconnect to our inner wisdom, to one another and to the natural world. The intention of every episode is to empower you with a deep sense of self-awareness and self-trust as you cultivate a fulfilling and authentic life. I want to start today's episode by thanking the people who make this podcast possible. Thank you to the Dream team. The members of the Dream team support the operating costs of this podcast and help put this work out into the world, and you can join the Dream team for as little as $3 a month. So if you want to show your support for this podcast and to keep it going, you can click the link in the show notes to join, and not only will you be supporting this podcast, but you will also get a shout out in an upcoming episode and a handwritten postcard from me. One more bit of housekeeping before today's meditation is just to remind you that we had Liz Bowden back last week in episode 83. So you first met Liz in episode five, where we talked about microdosing mushrooms, and Liz came back in episode 83 to talk about the history of psychedelic mushrooms. So I highly recommend going back giving those episodes a listen and listening to Liz's wisdom. Today's meditation is one that focuses on helping you when you feel overwhelmed. So it helps you to bring your attention inward, to regulate your nervous system and be in the body and learn what your needs are and how to communicate them. So it's a great thing to use over the holidays, but really a great meditation for always. So I recommend that you download this episode. In the show notes there is the exact timestamp for when the meditation begins so you can have this as your go to for those moments of overwhelm where you just need to drop in and reconnect. So find a space that feels safe and supported for you and we'll get started. So today's focus is going to be on turning your attention inward. So we are in the midst of a very overstimulating time of year. I think about 15% of the population identifies as a highly sensitive person and that means sensitive to things like sounds, smell, external sensory things that can dysregulate our nervous system and make us feel out of balance. So I know for me I am really sensitive to sound, so just a lot of noise makes it hard for me to focus. It makes me a little bit irritable because I can't regulate, I can't drown out that noise and listen within. So it's really heightened during the holidays, when we're at parties. There's a lot going on, there's a lot of music, a lot of noise, and that's not a bad thing, right. However, it's really important to notice the way that these things impact you internally and focusing on your internal sensations. So this is really helpful because when we can learn how to listen to what's happening within us, it kind of helps us stop blaming others, right? So if I notice that there's noise going on and I'm feeling irritable, rather than being mad at the person for having the music too loud, I can listen to, like, oh, sound is creating this experience in my body, and this experience in my body is causing agitation, not that external force, so that it helps us cultivate a keener sense of self awareness of what might be off balance, what might needs regulating, so that we can tune in and balance these things, calm ourselves down and communicate our needs to ourselves and to others. So that's a long winded way of saying that we're going to focus on tuning in and listening to your internal sensations right now. So let's just start with the breath. Take a big breath in, fill your chest, fill your belly with air and exhale. Open your mouth, let it out Again. Inhale, fill your chest, fill your belly with air, exhale, open your mouth, let it go One more. Inhale and exhale and take a moment right now to draw your attention inward. So what part of the body wants attention Right now? What's speaking to you? You don't have to overthink it or go too much into it. Just notice where you're immediately drawn. Maybe it's the chest or the stomach, the throat. Just notice where attention goes and try to stay there. Try to send your breath to that point. Notice if any external things start to pull your attention away. Maybe some sounds, maybe thoughts. Just notice it and then gently bring your attention back to the breath and back to that part of the body that's calling you. Maybe the awareness wants to stay on that one point. Maybe some other parts of the body, some other internal sensations start calling you. That's okay, just often, and hold space for those two. Just know that you can be with what's happening within you right now. You can be in this moment. You can breathe with this moment. Even as you deepen the breath, maybe any parts that were once feeling dysregulated or tense start to soften, start to relax, be, repeat in your mind. I can be in my body right now. I'm here in my body. I can be with this Again, noting any time you get caught up in those external things be it a thought, a sensation, a sound and gently bring your awareness back into the body, notice what's happening within you, notice the breath and its ability to soften that experience and your ability to be with this sensation, to be with this moment, and just take a moment to notice how you feel now, notice if it's any different from when we began and know that with every breath, you have the ability to reconnect to this space within you, to regulate your nervous system and return to your internal home, no matter what is happening around you. Just take one more breath together, in through the nose and out through the mouth, and you can slowly open your eyes as you return to this space.