Meditation for a Calm Body and Mind

Melissa experienced a nasty assault more than a year ago, and even though she feels like she’s mostly dealt with the trauma, there are still some bad days. She’ll be casually reminded of the episode and start getting carried away in her thoughts, uncontrollably obsessing over tiny details and unable to focus. This makes her body tense and tight and when she notices this, she ends up berating herself for not relaxing …which only makes her thoughts race off faster. This can ruin her mood and her day, leaving her feeling like she’s “back to square one.”

A Place for Yourself 

If you have had this same experience of being overwhelmed and carried away with negative feelings, flashbacks and intrusive thoughts, try the following exercise. With this meditation exercise, you’re not attempting to do anything in particular, only to slow down, take a breath and notice what’s going on in your heart, body and mind. Think of it as a way to put a pause on a flood of feelings and carving out a space for yourself, where you can gather yourself and find some calm.

Meditation

Below you will find an example of meditation, as a tool to spend some quality time with yourself and clear your mind of all the negativity you don't need. Remember, this is just an example - you can create your own meditation practice, with whatever stimuli makes you feel good. 

You are in a beautiful, sun-soaked garden, sitting in the dappled shade of a giant tree.

Feel the cool, silky grass underneath you, hear the gentle whispering of the breeze in the leaves high above you and smell the fresh, clean scent of early summer, moving deep into your lungs.

  Take one deep, long breath, drawing this fresh, clean sunlight into your body, feeling it warming and cleansing you as the oxygen moves to every corner of your lungs.

Hold this for a moment. Feel how good it is for each little atom of your body to be vibrating with life and joy. Then release. Let go with every muscle in your body. And as you let go, imagine accumulated pain and sadness hidden in the spaces in your body being released, slowly, with your breath. Breathe out your tension, your worries, your doubts. Breathe them out into this beautiful clear summer day and know that they’ll float off and disappear immediately.

Take another breath. Imagine the warmth and light of this breath reaching even deeper into your soul now.

Imagine it rushing into your mind, into your heart. As it does, it refreshes and soothes you, healing up raw nerves and tiredness. In exchange, you let go of all the fears and anger you’ve been holding onto, and exhale long and slow, letting them go, knowing that you don’t need them anymore.

Keep breathing. Take the warmth and the light in, and let go of the stress, the pain and the fear.

Know that whatever happens, you are never far away from a nourishing breath inwards, and a cleansing breath outwards.

Keep breathing. Bathe every one of your cells in this fresh energy.

Imagine your cells being oxygenated, your mind being calmed and your spirit growing serene. Keep breathing. Eventually, you have released all your negativity, and breathed into its place a warm, golden sense of peace and relaxation. There is no rush. Everything is as it should be. You are whole. You are safe. You are where you should be.

You can stay in this wonderful garden for as long as you like. You can make the visualization your own.

Maybe you want to imagine pink light ribboning up from the earth and into your heart, or maybe you want to float in a sparkling stream and let the cool water carry you and wash away your stress. Basically, it’s your visualization, so you can do what you want!

How This Helps

The important thing is that when you feel overwhelmed, you have a simple technique to halt hurried thoughts and bring you back to the moment. Actively release stressful spots in your body and tight places in your mind and just give yourself five minutes to be peaceful, calm, and happy. Use this all throughout the days, weeks and months following a traumatic experience. In fact, there’s never a time in your life that won’t be improved by spending a few minutes like this.