Managing Stress in Uncertain Times

Hi, and welcome to this guided meditation. So if you have selected this exercise, there's a good chance that you might be feeling stressed right now. And that is totally okay. There is just so much going on in the world at the moment and it can feel really overwhelming. It could be down to COVID, could be down to tense political climates around the world, being apart from family, or perhaps you've lost your job and you're feeling a general sense of unease about what the future holds. And it could be all of the above and more. So I'm really sorry if you are feeling overwhelmed and stressed. The good news is that you are taking some time to be kind to your mind and your body, and I'm so grateful that you're doing this meditation with me. So to start with, I'd just like you to take a moment to get comfortable wherever you are sitting. You can also lie down for this exercise. This time is for you, so it's really important you feel nice and relaxed. And just to help get you settled into this moment, start by taking a big, deep breath in through your nose and out through your mouth. Right now, it is so easy to get caught up in thinking about everything that's feeling stressful at the moment. And to overwhelm yourself trying to fix the situation or to change it. But all of this thinking can lead to more feelings of worry and uncertainty. And all of this activity in the mind can actually be really exhausting. You can probably relate to feeling tired when you've been physically rushing around all day, but the mind gets really tired as well. So if you're feeling physically or mentally tired right now, think of this exercise as a break for both the mind and the body where we come into the present moment. I know it won't change stressful things that are happening, but my hope is it brings you a moment of calm and clarity and a much needed break. You might have very strong feelings about what is happening and that's completely okay, but taking the time to rest the mind like this means that you're hopefully more able to respond in a more skillful way to those feelings rather than just simply reacting. There is so much that we can't control, but it is always within our power to give ourselves time to rest. The technique we're going to do is called a body scan where we intentionally focus our attention on our body. This is a really fantastic technique for when we do feel stressed or overwhelmed as it helps to break the cycle of thoughts by coming out of our mind and into our body. So just taking a moment to make sure that you are comfortable and remember you can also lie down for this. So let's start by taking two big deep breaths, breathing in...