Erin Wilbanks 6/15/22 Erin Wilbanks 6/15/22

Let Your Pain Migrate

To listen to the guided version of this meditation, please click here.

Today, I want to guide you through a little meditation for pain.

A lot of times when we’re experiencing pain, the first thing we want to do is get rid of it. We resist + maybe even focus on it so much, that all of our attention can make the pain worse.

Today, I invite you to try something that’s been helpful for me lately.

Before we jump in, let’s settle in. You can be seated or lying down for this. You may be in a chair or on the floor - whatever will work best for you. Take a few moments to get comfy. Fidget, wiggle, roll the head side-to-side. Whatever you need.

Take a few deep breaths. Inhale through the nose - expand the belly.
Easy breath out - open mouth - sigh it out.
Take a few more like that.

I invite you to keep taking cleansing breaths (in through the nose, out of the mouth) or let your normal breath return. Breathe in + out. In + out.

Maybe right now you’re experiencing pain. Maybe you have chronic pain. Bring your attention to the area of the body in pain. Whether it’s your neck, jaw, hip, low back, knee, ankle, arm, doesn’t matter. Notice the sensations there. Is it tight? Tingling? A dull ache? A sharper pain?

If you’re like me, I experience most of my pain to one side - my left jaw/ neck, left hip, left knee, etc. It’s easy to keep all my attention on one side of my body. Maybe you experience that, maybe not.

Today, we’re going to play with allowing that pain dissipate into the rest of the body. So bring your attention to the pain.

Find some place in the body that’s opposite the pain - physically in the body + in sensation. If it’s your left hip that bothers you or is in pain, notice how the right hip feels. Find a place that feels good- where there is no pain, or less pain. Where you feel strong, relaxed.

Start to envision that good feeling traveling across your body to the other side. Whatever that good feeling is to you - maybe it’s relaxed sensation, strength, maybe it’s an absence of pain, something more neutral. Allow that to spread through your body - especially to the side where pain exists.

Take a deep breath.
Beautiful.

Now bring your attention back to the area of pain. Can you start to allow that pain to travel to the other side of your body? The side that feels good, relaxed, neutral. We aren’t trying to force the pain out or get rid of.

Can you start to let the pain + the sensation in that one area travel throughout the body?

If your first instinct is a little bit of pain or fear- because you don’t want more pain in the body of course - that’s ok. You can just sit with that today. Maybe you return to this meditation + allow that sensation to dissipate or envision it breaking down into pieces that float throughout the body. They are so small + the pain isn’t as noticeable.

You can spend as much time here as you need. Feel into the body’s sensation of moving pain around the body.

Can you start to integrate the body into one whole being? Allow the pain to mix with the relaxed sensation.

Maybe you still have attachments to pain being a “bad” thing. Allow “bad” side of the body to intermingle with the “good” side of your body. Something to play with as you sit to meditate or the next time you feel an increase in your pain + awareness. Allow those feel good parts of the body to meld into the other side. Allow the pain to melt into the opposite side as well.

Take another round of deep breaths.

Start to bring some awareness back to your body.
I hope you enjoyed this mediation.

Erin Wilbanks 6/15/22 Erin Wilbanks 6/15/22

Anxiety Reset 4-7-8 Breath

To listen to the guided version of this meditation, please click here.

Today I want to lead you through a pretty simple pranayama practice or breath work.

As the title of this suggests, this is a great tool for when you have anxiety.

Before we get started, I want to take a moment to fully acknowledge any anxiety you’re feeling. Maybe even say out loud, “I am feeling anxious.” There’s a real sense of lessening the power that anxiety can have over us by simply acknowledging that “yea hey I am feeling anxious right now.” So maybe take a moment- write it down, say it out loud, or simply notice a thought to yourself.

So today we’re going to be doing the 4-7-8 breath. It’s pretty simple. I’ll count you through a few rounds. We’ll inhale for a count of 4, hold for a count of 7, and exhale for a count of 8. What this does - the longer exhale - allows the nervous system to receive the signal that it’s time to settle or calm.

If inhaling for 4 feels too long, or holding for 7 feels too long - shorten them as you need to. The idea is that your exhale is longer than the inhale.

If you need to re-settle in your physical space, you can be seated. My favorite way to practice this is lying down. Get comfy in bed or anywhere else that feels relaxing to you. Maybe keep the feet planted on the Earth, knees bent. Help support the physical body + notice the grounding beneath the feet.

We’ll start with a few rounds of cleansing breath - inhale through the nose, expand the belly.
Sigh it out, let it go. Repeat x2.

If you need a few more cleansing breaths, feel free to pause and take them.
Otherwise, we’ll start our 4-7-8 breath.

Take an inhale for a count of 4, 3, 2, 1… Pause at the top + hold the breath 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
Gentle exhale out the nose or mouth… 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

We’ll repeat this a few more times. Inhale for 4. Pause for 7. Exhale for 8.

Keep breathing like this at your own pace. If you need to shorten the length of each breath in or out, please do. Spend a few moments in silence focusing on this breath pattern - in for 4, hold for 7, out for 8.

Notice what arises during the pause. That in-between moment.

I hope you enjoyed this simple practice. It’s another tool to keep in the back of your toolkit for when you’re feeling anxious. Come back to the breath + slow some of those anxious thoughts in the mind.

Allow tension in the shoulders + jaw or wherever you hold tension to simply melt away.

Give yourself so compassion - anxiety can take such a toll on us. Give yourself time to rest a little longer. Maybe ask yourself, “what is it I REALLY need to do today?”