Feeling overwhelmed can be so uncomfortable that we often want to rush to make it go away. Here’s a practice to slow down, meet yourself, tap into your agency, and connect with clarity.
We often treat experiences like restlessness, uncertainty, or the overwhelm of difficult emotions as a problem to be solved. And of course, it’s normal to want relief. So how can you tap into your agency, even when things are swirling around you and you’re not sure how to move forward?
Today, teacher Chery Vigder Brause leads a guided practice that’s centered around meeting ourselves exactly where we are. In that pause, where we encounter ourselves without trying to fix anything, even if just for a moment, we actually create a space where we can get clarity on how to respond to ourselves, others, and the world.
Cheryl Vigder Brause is a nationally recognized mindfulness and meditation teacher, writer and speaker, specializing in leading corporate clients, schools, and individuals across the country in programs and meditations on stress management, boosting happiness, and living their best lives. She is the Co-Founder of Pause to be Present, a mindfulness and meditation studio. To learn more about Pause to be Present’s programs, visit www.pausetobepresent.com.
A Meditation to Tap Into Your Agency When Things Are Chaotic & Uncertain
Read and practice the guided meditation script below, pausing after each paragraph. Or listen to the audio practice.
- Today we will exercise our power to pause, to take a breath, to down-regulate our nervous system, and to choose how we want to meet this moment. Let’s begin. I invite you to gently arrive in this moment, where so often busy going, doing, and moving, trying to get somewhere else, instead of arriving exactly where we are.
- Arrive fully in this moment. Find a comfortable posture or position with your body. You can be seated or lying down for this meditation. Get comfortable. Feel free to move a bit until you can settle the body into a comfortable and supported posture. If you’d like, you can gently close your eyes or simply lower your gaze.
- Take a slow, deep breath, breathing in through the nose. And a long steady exhale through the mouth. Notice how that feels. Notice how it feels to simply stop all that forward momentum and simply allow yourself to fully arrive in this moment. Again, take a nice slow breath in, feeling that air fill your lungs and torso. And then slowly and fully exhale. Feeling the release of air and the release of tension in the body. One more slow, deep breath together, breathing in fully, and breathing out.
- Remind yourself that in this moment and in this meditation, there is nothing you need to do right now. There’s no way you have to be in this moment and nothing you need to fix or change or accomplish.
- I invite you to simply pause to be. Rest in the fullness of this moment just as you are. Notice how that feels to simply be here. Give yourself permission to simply be present.
- Notice what’s here for you. Are there sounds around you? If so, simply notice them. Can you feel a coolness or a warmth of the air on your skin? Can you notice the contact your body is making with the ground beneath you? Can you notice what is beneath you supporting you? Can you let yourself be supported?
- Now, take a moment to relax the body. Sink into the ground beneath you. Notice if there are any places of tension or tightness in your body. We often hold our stress as tension in the body, in our muscles and our back and neck and face. Become aware of your own body and where you may be holding tension, what feels tight or constricted.
- This is another moment of choice: the power of the pause to simply become aware of how you’re showing up in this moment and then choosing how to be in this movement. Are there areas of tension in the body? And if so, can you breathe into those areas? And as you exhale, can you invite in ease? Can you let go of tension? With each inhale, create spaciousness and openness in any areas of tension or tightness. And with each exhale, a letting go.
- Often in our busy modern lives, we’re stressed, anxious, tense, or nervous. Another choice we can make each day is to exercise our own ability to pause, to connect inward, and to regulate our own nervous systems. In fact, one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself to improve your wellbeing and health is a regulated nervous system. It not only boosts health, but it aids sleep and digestion, can improve focus and clarity, and can help you make wise choices in navigating life.
- Take another moment to check in. How do you feel? What is your emotional landscape right now? You may feel tired, you may feel excited or nervous or anxious or at ease. Simply notice whatever is happening in your inner experience in this moment.
- Gently bring your attention back to the feel of the breath in the body. Notice where you feel that breath moving in and out. Notice how you can sit and receive the breath. Perhaps you feel your breath in the rise and fall of your chest, or the movement of the belly, or the air passing in and out of your nostrils. Just notice where you feel that breath and just focus your attention there for a few moments. There’s no need to change the breath. Just allow its natural and easy rhythm to move in and out of your body. With each inhale, feel the spaciousness in the torso. With each exhale, imagine the body receiving the message, It’s okay to soften. It’s safe to slow down. You might silently say to yourself, as you breathe in, I calm the body. And as you breathe out, I soften and release. Breathing in, I calm my body. Breathing out, I soften and release.
- Take a few more slow, deep breaths. With each inhale, create space and openness in the body. With each exhale, there’s an opportunity to relax, to release, to let go.
- Your mind will wander, and that’s okay. This is a moment of mindfulness, a moment of choice. You are noticing that your mind has gone and been distracted, and you are cultivating the power to place your attention where you want it. Gently bring that attention back to your breath without judgment, without criticism and with a gentleness. Each noticing that the mind has wondered is not a failure, it’s a moment of mindfulness, a moment of care, of choice, a moment of gentleness with yourself, an opportunity to exercise that mental power to place your attention where you want it. It’s a beautiful reminder that every moment is an opportunity to begin again.
- Now gently bring your awareness to your whole body. Notice how it feels to sit. See if in the next few moments, you can make the choice to let go of any need to change anything. To let go of any reflexive criticism, of any notion you’re doing this wrong. See if you can hold yourself with gratitude for simply showing up for this meditation with an open heart and an open mind. Notice how that feels. Whatever you experience, see if you can choose to meet your experience and yourself with kindness. This is another choice we have.
- Try this phrase: What if it’s not a problem? What if I’m experiencing discomfort in this moment? And what if it’s not a problem? What if my mind is busy in this movement? And what it’s not a problem. What if i’m feeling restless in this moments? And what is it’s is not a problems? This is a choice we can make each day. Seeing life’s challenges not as a problem to fix or a signal that something is wrong, but instead choosing to meet our experience with curiosity and as an opportunity to learn and grow and navigate what’s happening in this moment with more ease, less resistance.
- If you like, place a hand on the heart. Feel the warmth of your own touch, and silently offer yourself these few gentle phrases, allowing them to and in the mind and heart. May I be kind to myself in this moment. May I meet myself with tenderness just as I am. May I know that in each moment I have the power to pause and to choose how to meet myself, how to meet others and how to meet this world with care and tenderness.
- Let’s take a breath together, a nice inhale, breathing in. And a beautiful exhale, breathing out. Begin to sense the whole body grounded, supported at ease.
- As we come toward the close of this meditation, reflect for a moment on the idea that this moment and every moment you can practice mindfulness, awareness, and choice. Every moment is a fresh opportunity to practice, a new beginning. As this new year begins, know that you can return to this place of presence, tenderness, beingness and choice again and again.
- When you’re ready, slowly bring your awareness back to the room you’re in. You can wiggle your fingers and toes. And when it feels right, I invite you to softly raise up your gaze or open your eyes. Thank you so much for practicing with me.