Being with Fear: Cultivating Calm Through Awareness

Duration: 5-7 minutes

Introduction:
This exercise is not about fixing or changing anything but about creating a gentle, safe space to notice and allow your experience exactly as it is.

Script:

1. Settle In:
   • Find a comfortable position, seated or lying down. Close your eyes, if that feels okay for you, or keep a soft gaze. Take a slow, deep breath in through your nose, and exhale gently through your mouth.
2. Anchor in the Present Moment:
   • Bring your attention to the sensations in your body. Notice the feeling of your feet on the floor, your hands resting in your lap, or the rise and fall of your breath.
3. Allow the Fear:
   • If fear or unease is present, acknowledge it gently, without judgment.
   • Say to yourself: “It’s okay to feel this way. I don’t need to change anything right now.”
4. Sit with It:
   • Imagine the fear as a guest in your home. It doesn’t need to be forced out—it’s simply here for now. Visualize yourself sitting calmly with this guest, offering it a space to simply be.
5. Create Gentle Space:
   • With each breath, imagine creating a bit of room around the feeling—like opening a window in a crowded space. You’re not pushing it away, just allowing it to have its place.
6. Anchor in Kindness:
   • Place your hand over your heart or another comforting spot. Repeat silently: “I am here for myself. I am safe in this moment.”
7. Reflect and Ground:
   • Take a few moments to notice how it feels to have simply been with your experience. When you’re ready, gently open your eyes and return to the present.

Sitting with Progress and Resilience

Duration: 7-10 minutes

Introduction:
This practice is not about reaching for progress but about gently noticing the steps you’ve taken and honoring the strength that has carried you through.

Script:

1. Find Your Center:
   • Settle into a comfortable position and take a deep breath in, holding it briefly before releasing it slowly. Let your shoulders drop and your body soften.
2. Notice the Path:
   • In your mind’s eye, imagine yourself standing on a path. There’s no rush to move—simply notice the ground beneath you, the air around you, and how it feels to be here.
3. Reflect on Small Steps:
   • Without striving to find them, allow moments of courage or persistence to gently come to mind. These might be as small as getting out of bed on a hard day or as simple as pausing to take a breath.
   • Say to yourself: “Each step matters. I honor my journey, just as it is.”
4. Hold Resilience Gently:
   • Visualize resilience not as a force to be summoned, but as a quiet strength already within you.
   • Imagine this strength as a soft light, glowing steadily in your chest, whether you notice it every day or not.
5. Anchor in the Present:
   • Place a hand over your heart or your lap and silently repeat: “I am enough, just as I am in this moment.”
   • Take a deep breath and let this thought settle into your awareness.
6. Reflect and Return:
   • When you’re ready, take one final breath and gently open your eyes, carrying this gentle awareness with you.

Allowing Patterns to Shift Naturally

Duration: 6-8 minutes

Introduction:
This exercise invites you to gently explore patterns or thoughts that may no longer serve you, without forcing them to change or disappear.

Script:

1. Create Stillness:
   • Sit or lie down in a comfortable position. Close your eyes if that feels right, and take three slow, deep breaths, feeling the air move in and out of your body.
2. Notice What Arises:
   • Let your attention rest gently on your thoughts. If there’s a pattern or feeling you’ve been holding onto, simply notice it. There’s no need to label it or change it—just let it exist.
   • Say to yourself: “This is here right now, and that’s okay.”
3. Visualize Openness:
   • Imagine this pattern or thought as a stone resting in your hand. Feel its weight, its texture. Acknowledge its presence with kindness.
   • As you breathe, picture the stone slowly softening, becoming lighter—not because you’re forcing it, but because you’re simply holding it with gentleness.
4. Allow Space to Be:
   • With each breath, imagine a spaciousness growing around the pattern. It may shift, it may stay the same—either is okay.
   • Say silently: “I don’t need to fix this. I allow it to be.”
5. Anchor in Possibility:
   • Place your hands in your lap or on your heart and repeat: “I am open to change, but I don’t need to force it. Healing will come in its time.”
6. Reflect and Ground:
   • When you feel ready, open your eyes and take a moment to notice how it feels to have given yourself this space.