Jessica (00:09):
Hi everyone, my name's Jessica, and welcome to this month's Healing Circle call. I'm so happy to be with you all and delighted to be leading this month's session in September [October] 2024. And I want to take a moment just to allow us to take a breath and center ourselves. Here on the east coast of the United States, fall is slowly starting to come into the world, leaves are starting to change. And we begin with some dormancy and maybe a minute to catch our breath and reflect. We hold these Healing Circle calls on the first Monday of every month, and again, my name's Jessica, and I'm so glad to be with you all. I thought we just get right to it.

(01:17):
I want you to begin by taking a deep breath and hold it for five seconds. Exhale and relax. Take another deep breath, as deep as you can, and hold it for another five seconds. And as you exhale, just imagine blowing out all of your stress. Take a third deep breath and hold it, and as you exhale, you blow away any stress you've been holding onto, saying to yourself, "Relax now." This could very well be something that you revisit when you're kind of feeling it, when you're in the middle of it, if you will. If you become stressed in the future, you simply take three fully in and deep breaths, holding it at the top of your inhalation for five seconds. And when you exhale, just release and exhale out any stressors that you feel. And on the third breath as you exhale, you simply say to yourself, "Relax now."

(03:13):
I want you to begin by slowly blinking your eyes and with each number I say, blink once. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and 0. Allow your eyes to gently close, and when you do this, you feel a wave of relaxation sweep over you. Now, I'd like for you to focus on the sensations you feel at the top of your head. Just notice how the very top of your head feels.

(04:20):
And now let's focus moving down to your eyes, noticing how your eyes feel, and ask them to relax just a little bit more. That little movement in your eyes is called a rapid eye movement, it's completely common. These small eye movements allow for you to feel calm. Notice how the back of your head may feel against a surface that it may be resting against. How heavy does your head feel right now? Let your focus move to your nose and feel the slight sensations of the air moving in and out with your breath. When you breathe in, imagine that you're being filled with calmness, and when you breathe out, imagine your body feels heavy and deeply relaxed. Wonderful.

(05:37):
Now focus on your ears. Notice how they feel, what they may be hearing around you. Try to hear every single noise. When sounds come into your ears, they act as little waves of relaxation taking you even deeper. Notice the sound of my voice and how soothing it might be for you. From here forward, you're only going to be hearing my voice guiding you. All other sounds passing through will only take you into a deeper state of relaxation.

(06:27):
Now focus on your mouth and how does it feel, and what do you notice? Can you sense the flavor of something you recently tasted? Perhaps you can imagine biting into a fresh apple, since we're in the fall. And notice how your mouth feels, the tastes you're experiencing. And now move your focus down now onto your neck, and if there's any tension, just ask it to release just a little more. And notice how your neck feels right now, and just feel all the sensations in your neck.

(07:26):
Now focus on your shoulders and move your attention slowly going down each arm, down all the way to each fingertip. Are your fingertips touching anything right now? Feel the sensations on your fingertips. Allow your focus to go to your chest, relaxing this area, as well as your upper back. And if you notice any tension, ask it nicely just to release just a little bit more.

(08:15):
Now imagine you're focusing on your heart and feeling it beating strongly supporting you. Relax your heart and notice how good it feels to do this. And now focus on your lungs. Feel them gently expanding and contracting with your breath, delivering oxygen to your body. Allow your focus to move down your vital organs and digestive system. Just notice your belly and how it feels. Observe it working and digesting effortlessly for you. Now, notice your lower back and how it may be pressing against a surface that you're on or leaning back against. And if you feel any tension, just say, "Please relax just a little more."

(09:30):
Focus now on your pelvis and hips and notice any sensations you're having there. This takes you even deeper into a state of relaxation, allowing your focus to move down each leg now, slowly relaxing those as well. Your legs may have been taking you so many places over the years and they deserve to fully relax. Witness this wonderful wave of relaxation moving down to your knees and down your lower legs, all the way to your feet and to the very tip of each toe.

(10:25):
Now that you've relaxed your body so very well, I'm going to count down from 10, and with each descending number, your conscious mind will relax even more so, letting go of any beliefs that you feel may be holding you back from your goals and your dreams. Imagine that you're standing at the top of the stairs and when I begin counting, you're going to slowly move down the stairs. Okay, we ready? 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and 0.

(11:38):
It's natural that your conscious mind gives less and less importance to the words that I'm saying, allowing your subconscious mind to be present right now. From now on, you choose to be relaxed. You choose to find yourself in a place of calm. You choose to be in control of all you do because your health and wellbeing, body, mind, and soul, is so incredibly important to you. Remember that it's natural for you to be healthy and happy, just as it's unnatural to have illness or to find your place, yourself in a dark place.

(12:42):
Now, hear yourself saying, every day in every way, I get better and better. In order to make change, I challenge myself. Change is not comfortable. In fact, it is inconvenient. So I feel comfortable with the change I am making and maybe I'm not changing enough. When I have a negative thought, I acknowledge that I feel this way and then I release it. Should another negative thought arise, I catch it quickly and I say with confidence, "I acknowledge that part of me feels this way, but this thought does not help me right now."

(13:55):
Every day in every way, I get better and better. Whenever I am presented with feelings of stress, I know my breath is there to soothe me and guide me into relaxation. Every single day I become more aware of all the phenomenal things going on in my community and the world around me. When I feel that darkness is surrounding me, I know that the way to see light is to take three deep breaths, relaxing my mind, my body, and my soul, and my spirit by doing so. Each day in every way, I get better and better. In order to make great change, I challenge my thoughts.

(15:18):
From now on, I challenge every single negative and unproductive thought that arises. From this point forward whenever you find yourself having negative, unproductive thoughts, you're immediately going to say to yourself the word, "Stop." Let me say that to you again so that it's perfectly clear. Whenever you find yourself having negative and unproductive thoughts, you will immediately say to yourself the word, "Stop," and as soon as you say the word stop, you're going to find that the negative thoughts that you are having will in fact, stop. This gives you the opportunity to start a brand new thought process. So, how do you feel? Notice how you feel right now and take great note of exactly how you are feeling in this moment.

(16:44):
Now, let's come to conscious awareness, bringing back everything that you learned for the better. Number one, we're going to slowly come back into the present moment. Two, we're going to be feeling fresh, new energy coming in as we breathe. Three, we are bringing back all that we have learned today together. We're almost there. And four, here we are back together. You've done some very powerful work by practicing this meditation. If you can do it every day without skipping a day for at least 21 days, you're doing some incredible work for yourself and this is how you can create change.

(18:07):
I want to take you on one more guided meditation, and this is a particular favorite of mine, and it has to do with a little bit of a more difficult subject, anxiety and regret. To help you reduce anxiety, start by taking a moment to again relax your body and soften any unnecessary tension in your belly and shoulders. And find a posture that feels both relaxed and alert, and now close your eyes or look downwards and rest your hands in an effortless way. Take a few moments to scan your awareness through the sensations of your body, and whenever possible, soften and release obvious areas of physical tension. Being aware of your body, your body's breathing, your chest rising and falling with each breath.

(19:15):
And now imagine that you're standing in the street outside of where you live with two very heavy suitcases, and know that one of those suitcases is full of your worry, and the other is full of the regret you may have. Take a moment standing there in the street holding these two heavy suitcases and think of each one. Think of the future, how it will come on its own accord, and whenever it comes, and that most of what we worry about will not happen. Standing in the street, reflect about the past, and that other heavy suitcase, and consider how the past can't change, but all we can do in the present is learn from it and put in whatever corrections make sense and becoming more skillful in working through and then moving on.

(20:30):
Standing there in the street, feel the weight of these suitcases and absorbing the wisdom of your own reflections right now, make a conscious decision. Do you want to drop any of those pieces of worry in one of the heavy suitcases, or do you simply want to drop that suitcase all together? Simply drop it. Let it stand there in the street. Leave it. As you're still standing there in the street with the other suitcase so heavy about the past, make another conscious decision. Do you want to drop it? Do you want to leave any of those pieces behind? Do you want to leave the whole thing behind? Do you want to drop the whole thing? And just drop it? Let it go. Let it be.

(21:29):
As soon as you've dropped those two suitcases, you walk into your home and you take your seat right where you are and you plop down, so relaxed. Like someone's coming home from a long trip, dropping their suitcases as soon as they come into that front door and just letting go. Rested in the present, just breathing. Resting in your natural well-being of your parasympathetic nervous system. Resting in the fundamental well-being of awareness itself. Awareness which does not worry or regret, resting as if this is meaningful for you. Allow yourself to simply rest. Feeling a sense of peace, of joy, of well-being, a natural happiness. And this natural happiness is always your true home without having to carry heavy suitcases of worries about the future or regrets of the past. Simply rest here in your body right now with total relaxation throughout your body and mind. Take a few moments, come back to the present with us. Maybe wiggle your body around as you're able.

(23:06):
Hi, welcome back. I'm so happy you joined tonight and that you're listening wherever you are in the world, and whatever time of day it might be, because this is being recorded. This and six, seven, eight years of monthly Healing Circle calls are available on our website that you can access anytime that you want, and any time that you need that it works for you. Again, we do these on the first Monday of every month at 8:00 PM Eastern time. I hope you'll continue to join us and come back again and again. Thank you again so much, it's been an honor to be with you. Take care, and be well.