Earth and Breath: A Guided Meditation to Relieve Anxiety
That old familiar, yet never welcome feeling.
Heart beating too fast. Thoughts stampeding through your mind like a frightened herd of horses.
Unable to feel comfortable, unable to focus on any one task or thought.
An ache in your chest, like it’s a wound up too tight.
You’re untethered, free floating, unable to feel the ground. Your facial muscles are tense and your mouth or hands won’t stop moving.
Some call this anxiety.
In the ancient wisdom science of ancient India, there’s another term for this feeling. It is simply that you have too much air in your being, cold, light, and moving, like a rough wind whipping at your face on a cold, fall day.
When you feel this way, the remedy is to get grounded, to connect with the earth, that solid, fertile, giving, ever present source of abundance and renewal.
Your very breath was breathed by dinosaurs, your bones were once stardust. Once upon a time, your blood flowed in rivers and spilled into the sea. Once upon a time, a part of you grew as a tree, spreading roots as far underground as your branches reached for the sun. Your body is your tether to eternity, and the knowing that this moment too shall pass. Everything will be okay. Draw your strength from deep inside, and from deep below. Let your your worries about your family, your health, your finances, global warming, and war in other nations receed to the background of your experience. They are real concerns, but they are not everything. Connect to the vastness of your elemental body, and trust in the safety of this moment. With presence, and patience, you will find your way back to your eternal nature, the kind you had as an infant, when no thoughts of past or future had yet to cross your mind. In this moment, connect to that innocence of presence, rooted in each breath, in each sensation in your body. Resolve to be present today, returning to your breath and connecting to your body when the winds of instability begin to rise.
Connect with me at www.lilyrussoyoga.com and www.awakenedheart.org
Join me on retreat, this January 11-16 in Mexico for Ayurveda, Yoga, Self Love, Sound Healing, and Ecstatic Dance
