Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Angela A. Wix, author of Llewellyn’s Little Book of Unicorns and Secret Psychic, and editor and contributor to the new Finding Your Calm.
As we move into the tail end of 2023, a rising sense of inner anxiety tied to current external world events tells me to take care. Whether you’re facing heightened anxiety and panic attacks, burnt out with responsibility and the pace of modern life, or struggling with any number of our current world challenges and traumas, finding our calm has become a vital act. With that in mind, I challenge you to take a moment now to practice letting go in stillness. With that in mind, I challenge you to take a moment now to practice letting go in stillness. This exercise is from Finding Your Calm, which offers guidance on twelve different methods to release anxiety, relieve stress, and restore peace within your life.
Settle comfortably into your space. You can practice this meditation sitting or lying down. If you fall asleep, that’s okay. Take some deep breaths now and consciously relax. Relax your feet, your calves, your upper legs. Moving up, now relax your hips. Take another deep breath and feel it filling your belly. Relax your abdomen. Relax your chest.
Continue to move up, feeling the tension release from your neck. This relaxing sensation trickles down through your arms and into your hands. It spreads into your face now, and you feel your jaw, your lips, and the muscles around your eyes and in your forehead all relaxing. Take another deep breath now and feel your body melting even more into the surface that’s gently supporting you. Sit in this relaxed state for a moment.
When you’re ready, rest one hand on your heart and the other on your belly. Feel the energy in your hands. You might sense it as movement or a thickening sensation in the space at your palms. See this energy as a vibrant light. It moves from your hands into your heart space and abdomen. Feel the warmth as it fills your body and expands out to your limbs and up to your head. Savor this sensation for a bit before moving on.
In your mind’s eye now, see yourself standing at the top of a set of stone stairs. With your bare feet, take a step down, then another, and another. The stones are rough underfoot and the air that was initially warm starts to feel damp and cool. You run your hand along the mossy stone walls as you continue making your way down. With each step, it’s as if you’re removing the weight of the day from your shoulders. The stairs continue downward, until the sunlight from above is almost entirely out of sight. Finally, you reach the bottom, feeling light and free. There you find a door and looking at it you know there is something fantastic waiting for you on the other side. You take a step forward and wrap your hand around the cool knob, turn it, and swing the door open.
On the other side you find a luxurious space for relaxation. Perhaps it’s a beach with turquoise waters. Maybe it’s a reading nook stacked with pillows, blankets, and books with a window revealing a drizzly autumn day. Or it could be a giant bed topped with cozy comforters, ready to envelop you. Wherever you find yourself, move fully into your space and take it all in.
As you’re getting ready to sit down in your space, you notice a small table with a beautiful box sitting on it. Step closer and look at the details of this box. You pick it up, turn it over in your hands, and open it to see that it’s empty, waiting for you to fill it. Set it back on the table and take a deep breath. Once again feel your muscles relaxing all over and ask that any remaining tension be released. Any pain and discomfort you have rises up and away from you, like steam into the air. See it form into a bubble and then solidify further into a gemstone. It hovers in the air in front of you until you take it and place it in the box, where you then close the lid. The box and its contents disappear and are no longer your concern. Take another deep breath and feel the lightness that remains in your energy and body.
Now fully immerse yourself into your space. Sit in your nook and watch the rain falling, the wind blowing in the trees. Sit on your beach and listen to gentle waves rolling in. Dive into that bed and feel yourself sink deeply into the folds of its embrace. Whatever your space looks like, sink into it. Take all the time you need to enjoy this moment of relaxation.
If you choose to drift off to sleep from here, you’re welcome to. If you decide you want to make your way back out to the day, see yourself stepping away from your lovely space and know that it will be here waiting for you whenever you decide to return. Move back through the doorway now and, without looking back, sense the door close behind you. Now move up, up, up, and back into the daylight ahead. Take a moment to get yourself back into the present moment. Feel your body. Wiggle your fingers and toes and take a good stretch. Drink a glass of water. If you’d like, jot down the details of your experience in your journal.
Hopefully this brief practice will leave you with a place to start in finding your calm, but don’t forget to keep looking for what works for you. Maybe that means exploring aromatherapy, chakra work, astrology, Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), your innate body wisdom, empathic self, and the wonders of the vagus nerve. You can explore these and even more relaxation methods by checking out the book Finding Your Calm.
Our thanks to Angela for her guest post! For more from Angela A. Wix, read her article “3 Ways to Find Your Calm.”
