Bonus Meditation: Cloud Release For Food Allergy Anxiety

Feel anxious about food allergies? This 10-minute guided meditation helps teens and adults gently observe anxious “what-if” thoughts without being overwhelmed by them.

Using a calming sky and drifting clouds visualization, you’ll learn to notice your worries, label them, and watch them float away, without pushing or holding onto them. This meditation teaches that you are not your thoughts and provides a science-based approach to anxiety management. 

Perfect for anyone living with food allergies or dealing with anxious thoughts, this practice helps you: Observe anxious thoughts with curiosity instead of fear. Practice non-resistance and gentle self-awareness. Calm the nervous system through guided breath and imagery. Build a sense of emotional clarity and inner space.

Return to this meditation whenever worries arise, and watch your thoughts drift by like clouds in the sky.

Special thanks to Kyle Dine for permission to use his song The Doghouse for the podcast theme!
www.kyledine.com

Find Dr. Whitehouse:
-thefoodallergypsychologist.com
-Instagram: @thefoodallergypsychologist
-Facebook: Dr. Amanda Whitehouse, Food Allergy Anxiety Psychologist
-welcome@dramandawhitehouse.com

Transcript

squadcaster-fcf7_2_11-11-2025_192825: 0:01

Thank you for joining me for this guided meditation for food allergy anxiety. Start by finding a comfortable position seated, lying down or reclining back somewhere you can fully relax. Rest your hands, wherever it feels safe and supportive. That might be on your belly, on your chest, at your sides, or maybe on the tops of your thighs. Move them around a little bit and experiment with what feels the most comfortable for you. Close your eyes if it feels comfortable, and take a slow, gentle breath in and out. Don't force anything. Just notice what you feel as you breathe. You might notice tension in your shoulders or your neck, clenching your jaw, a flutter or tightness in your stomach, a rapid heartbeat, restlessness in your hands and your feet. These are all natural signs that your nervous system is on alert. These sensations are signals from your body that your brain is on high alert trying to keep you safe. As we practice together, notice how it feels to just observe these sensations without pushing them away. Instead of ignoring them or wishing they would go away like we usually do, we're going to pay attention to them, with each gentle breath in and slow breath out, you might feel some of that tension or discomfort soften or shift. You might not right away, and that's okay too. Your body is starting to learn that even when what if or worried thoughts appear, you can remain calm and steady. If you manage food allergies, a lot of those worry thoughts probably have to do with allergies. Memories of times that scary things happened or worries that scary things will happen in the future. What we're practicing today is remembering that you are not your thoughts and you are not your worries. Those are things that your brain thinks because that's its job and it will continue to generate thoughts. Some helpful, some unhelpful, some true, and some not true. A lot of the time, your brain is trying to protect you. Don't eat that. Watch out. Be careful. I remember when this happened, and that's okay too. These sensations are not dangerous. You can allow them to be here without judgment. So continue to take gentle breaths in and slow breaths out, and notice how your body might start to soften, settle, and release a little bit of that tension. We're not forcing our breath. We're not counting, we're not pushing or pulling on our chest or our shoulders or our belly to get deeper breaths in. In fact, we're not even trying for deeper breaths. We're just observing our breath. The goal when we breathe this way is just to have our exhale be longer than the inhale. This activates the vagus nerve, which is the communication line between the body and the brain that tells our nervous system whether it's safe or whether there's something we should be worried about. The long exhale is a signal to your vagus nerve to tell your brain it's okay to rest. Even if your mind feels busy, that's okay. The breaths will help your body shift toward calm before your brain catches up, you might even feel your heart rate slowing, your breath deepening, or your hands warming, all gentle signs that your nervous system is doing its job. We're going to shift our focus from our bodies Now imagine yourself lying on soft grass or if grass bothers you, maybe you're lying on a soft blanket or a hammock looking up at a beautiful, wide open sky. on a beautiful day, not too hot. Not too cold Notice what the sky looks like. Is it calm, vast, and bright blue with the sun shining? Or is it cloudy and dark? Pay attention to the clouds in your sky. The clouds are the anxious,"what if" thoughts that your brain sometimes creates? What if I accidentally eat something unsafe? What if I have a reaction? What if my friends forget about my allergy? What if I get left out? Notice how each cloud has a shape, a size, a color. Some are small and light. Some are bigger or darker, some are moving quickly. And some don't seem like they're moving at all. Some look so close it seems like we could touch them, and some are far away. They're all just clouds moving through the sky. Focus on a particular cloud and give it a name in your mind. That's a what if about eating out. That's a what if about my epinephrine. Notice the thought without judgment. Just give it a name. Now watch as that cloud continues to float across the sky, it might linger for a moment and eventually it will drift farther and farther away. It might look like you can touch it, but we can't reach up there and push it. We don't need to shove it away across the sky. And make it leave faster and we don't need to grab it and hold onto it and make it stay. We're just observing. Some clouds might seem to return or not move. New ones might appear and that's okay. That's just your brain doing its job, trying to protect you. Notice that you can watch the clouds come and go. Without being swept away by them. Your attention, your calm and your body are free to rest underneath the sky, but you are the one observing the clouds. You are not the clouds. Continue to take a slow breath in and let it out gently. With each exhale, Welcome, growing feelings of groundedness and calm. If a cloud covers the sky we can see the sun shining from behind it sending its rays peeking out and sometimes even creating a beautiful silver lining around the cloud. We don't have to see the sun in this moment to know that it's still there shining and even when the whole sky seems dark, we can't see the sun or the blue sky at all. We know that the sun is still there. And we can remind ourselves that it won't be cloudy forever. Continue to breathe. With your exhale longer than your inhale, notice how your body feels. You might notice your shoulders soften your jaw on clench your chest. Feel lighter. You might notice that your stomach lifts and lowers more easily as you breathe or that you can feel the breaths going deeper into your body. Each breath strengthens the feeling that you are not your worries and you are not the clouds. Your body can remain calm while your thoughts come and go. Take one last slow breath in and let it out. Fully notice the sky above you and, and remind yourself that the sky can look different from moment to moment and from day to day. You can carry this practice with you anytime when a"what if" thought appears,, whether it's about allergies, relationships, work daily life, remember that the thoughts are just clouds. You don't have to push them away or hold onto them. You can simply observe them and watch them drift away. Wiggle your fingers and toes when you're ready come back to the present moment. Feel the surface beneath you and slowly open your eyes whether you're looking at it or not. The sky is still above you. And the sun is still shining,