Welcome to this meditation with me Henry

Shookman on working with stress. Stress

is a universal human phenomenon and you

know it's terribly widespread today in

the way we are conditioned and

socialized and the way we lead our lives

with a constant pursuit of productivity

etc. many pressures on us all the time.

Uh I personally grew up with a lot of

stress from a very difficult chronic uh

illness throughout my childhood uh that

was highly stressful and the moment I

started to meditate around the age of 25

it made a massive difference to how I

dealt with stress. So I hope to share

something of that right now.

We might think of stress as a thing that

we want to kind of eliminate and there's

a lot of research that meditation can

greatly help with that. But it's a

counterintuitive way. The way to reduce

stress is not to fight it. It's actually

to learn to allow it and include it.

That is the meditative approach. So

let's come into a comfortable seated

position and we'll see how this can

work. Yeah. Get yourself settled.

Find a comfortable position.

Close the eyes or lower the gaze with

the eyes open if you prefer that. You

know, make any micro adjustments of the

body that will help you settle in.

Just be in a position that feels good to

you right now.

Let's take a deeper inhale, fill the

lungs,

and slowly let it out.

Let the breath turn. And once again,

fill the lungs. Hold it a moment and

slowly exhale.

And one more time, filling the lungs,

holding a moment,

and releasing

and letting the breath return to its

natural rhythm.

So, we're going to begin by becoming

aware of the body. Feel your feet on the

floor or whatever surface is beneath

them. Just sense the contact that

they're making. Feel

your seat

below your buttocks and whatever they're

resting on. Feel that contact

and perhaps some pressure

and be aware of your head. Now

just sense your head and let it be in a

restful position.

Now let your shoulders, arms, and hands

relax. Let them go slack. Let them hang

like old ropes.

Let your legs also be

completely relaxed, loose.

So both arms and both legs

are really

at ease. They're not doing anything

slack.

And let the whole torso, the chest area,

the the belly area, and the whole back

of the body, let it all be

relaxed,

at ease.

So, just see if you can get a quick

sense of the whole body. may almost be

like a mental image of the whole body

just sitting here

being still

and coming into its own state of rest.

So stress shows up as a physical

sensation

in the chest. Some research suggests 94%

of people experience stress in the chest

area

if they look for it as a physical

sensation. So just see now how's your

stress level right now?

Can you sense any kind of sensation in

the chest that might be associated with

it? Perhaps a certain kind of tightness

or a certain heat or

sense of

activation in the chest

or weight or density.

Then just back off from that and bring

your awareness to the surface of your

whole rib cage, the skin around your rib

cage.

Let that

sheath around the rib cage become soft

and warm

like

warm wax.

Let it be warm.

And notice that in its softness and its

warmth,

it can contain

and allow

any other energies that are within the

chest area.

So whatever other kinds of energy

may be

subtly

arising

in the upper torso.

This softness

encircling them

softness of our rib cage

and of the sheath around the rib cage

that's warm and soft.

It can hold all energies.

It can allow them.

So, we're not actually trying to get rid

of anything.

We're developing or rediscovering

our capacity

to allow

any sensations that are uncomfortable

or uneasy.

There's a way in which we can already

be able to allow them

and include them.

It's as if there's a part of us that has

an inbuilt capacity

for patience,

for a certain flavor of kindness,

of compassion

for ourselves.

We allow ourselves

to be as we are,

including with the stress we sometimes

feel.

And to notice

that we can hold it, we can allow it,

that actually

destresses us.

It wakes up

a more patient

and compassionate

side to us.

One that is already

somehow welcoming

of our very own experience

just as it is.

So just resting for a moment more

with whatever warmth

and kindness toward ourselves

we can taste right now.

Not making any demands on ourselves.

Letting ourselves be as we are.

Perhaps tasting just a little bit of

well-being

in spite of whatever

difficult feelings we may be

experiencing.

There's another kind of well-being

that's here for us, part of our makeup.

Okay, let's gently start to come out of

the sit. Bring a little movement into

the upper body. You might sway a bit

from side to side. You can move the

shoulders.

Raise the eyes. Look around you. Have a

little stretch.

Great. Thank you so much again for

joining me. Please feel free to use this

and any of this little set of

meditations anytime you like. Anytime

you're needing a little hit of quiet, of

calm, of resetting yourself, just go

through any of these meditations and

make uh make them your own to use as and

when you wish. Have a wonderful rest of

your day.