GH - Just Notice & Safe Passage

Focus: letting go. For people on the go it can be hard to take a break. What if taking a break is more productive than continuing to push? What if you can let go and still be enough? Take a few minutes for yourself today and find a deeper connection that will help you support your life and your loved ones. 

Transcript

Welcome to Guided Harmonies, the podcast where I put words to my therapeutic music. These are designed to provide short moments of reconnect – we don’t always have an hour to meditate. These take a few minutes to recentre. The music is key to allowing such depth in a short time. All you need to do is listen. Bring a gentle curiosity. And if you doze, worry not – for your unconscious brain will still be listening and when you come back to presence you will find you feel better. 

Today’s episode is about believing in yourself, no matter what, and not giving up on yourself. It is about learning to trust that sometimes you need to push and sometimes you need to rest. So if you feel like you have lost your footing, maybe that alone can be a positive thing because it will inevitably lead you forward again. . . ? 

Just Notice was written for my Somatics practictioner – who is always reminding me to ‘just notice and not to try and change anything’ - sound familiar? Safe Passage was written for a friend who is a highly respected professional classical musician. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone to compose it for her and I struggled with my own sense of self-judgment. 

And through my process, I learned that a friend’s loyalty and love prevails over self-judgment, even when I fight with feeling like I’m not good enough as I am. 

Let’s get started (chimes)

:08 As the music starts, see if you can bring a curiosity about where you are at right now – both here in space and in your life in general. 

:18 Just notice your breathing – do not try and change anything. 

:45 As you breathe, know that your body bustles below the skin. Your organs, blood vessels, nervous system. . . everything moves as it needs to as it adjusts to your latest activity. Your consciousness does not need to make any decisions. This is the miracle of our bodies and our brain – it just keeps going as best as it can.

1:55 – how easy is it for you to tune into this music. Is there something on your mind that gets in the way? How do your thoughts appear in your head? Are they a vision? A Colour? Maybe A movement?   

3:00 – while you consider this, think of something that is floating around your awareness – it can be anything: a current stress or simple plan – maybe what you are doing once this meditation ends. . . anything at all. . . 

3:52 - as you invite these thoughts, see if you can find that place in your head where this thought appears once again – it could be just behind your eyes or in the back of your skull – what do you notice? When you inhale, see if you can gently direct your breath toward that place, and maybe that breath can disintegrate that thought. Play with this. Make it into a game: Every time you start ‘thinking’ – direct your breathing right into that spot in your head that you feel it. Just play. Don’t take it too seriously. . .

4:00 – imagine that you can de-stress your brain, just by dissolving your thoughts with a simple breath. Maybe this will take practice but it is something you can always try because life continues to bring us things to ruminate on. . . 

Keep Breathing as the music shifts. . . these strings are here to hold you steady, no matter how you are feeling as you play around with your thoughts. 

:35 just breathe. Allow this music to embrace you fully and create a feeling of being held and rocked or swayed. This is here to comfort you.

1:47 No matter how much we can be independent and strong, Everybody needs external support sometimes. It takes more courage to let other people help us than we realize.

 2:20 – what is holding you here today – what chair, bed or floor? How does your body sit against it. Are you fully allowing your body to relax against it. 

2:50  Gradually and slowly scan your body from your toes, feet & ankles all the way up to the top of your skull. If you notice tensions along the way, see if you can send your breath into the tension and invite yourself to let go a little. It’s okay to allow yourself to be supported. 

What if you can let go and still be enough?

As you breathe, imagine that you can sit above your body and do a quick scan from head to toe. Gently feel the lightness and ease that your breathing brought in. 

Do not rush to open your eyes, if you plan to. If your breaths have deepened, you can energize them a bit before you let in the light. When you are ready, allow your eyes to crack open and move slowly at first.

Thank you for joining me today. Do you want me to compose you your own Guided Harmony? Feel free to reach out. Have a wonderful day and know you invested in your own wellness and this will reach all of those around you.