Ep 83: 25 Minute Meditation Finding Your Center In Difficult Situations

by Elsie on August 30, 2010

Space- Artwork for Ep. 83 of Elsie's Yoga Class

These past few months I nearly got overwhelmed by anxiety.

This hasn’t happened to me in a LONG time.

I lost control of my rational thought process and simply dove into a feeling that was suffocating and terrifying. I can’t say that I was in any way comfortable. The only thing that pulled me out of it was my toddler Hunter. She forced me to get out of myself and engage her. The moment that I disconnected from her off I went into a very uncomfortable sense of overwhelm.

I refused this.

Take Control of Your Anxiety and Fear

Instead of allowing myself to be pulled by this avalanche of anxiety and fear I chose to meet it, with softness and full consciousness. I looked at it straight in the eye. I used a technique that I heard in a podcast, and I sooooo wish that I remembered what episode and what this guy’s name was because I would share it, believe me, but at this moment, finding the episode would take me YEARS, so that will wait. I may update this post to add the info.

Anyway, the technique was to feel where the emotion was in my body, fully. You are to notice which was its winding, clock wise or counter clock wise, and slowly unwind the feeling the other way until it dissolves. At first just moving into that hard ball of tension in the middle of my diaphragm was enough…but as I practiced this technique I began to see that I could literally unravel the anxiety!

Unraveling- It’s all about creating space, space to feel, to choose, to remember, and to find your ground. Most importantly, finding space helps you remember that you are part of something so much bigger. Anxiety is about disconnection and isolation. It’s an emotion that rises when you absolutely become limited and small. As you unravel the feeling, you begin to get more spacious, there is literally more room in your body, your breath, your mind, your heart, and you can step back a bit and see things as if you are watching from a bird’s eye view.

You are ok. You truly are. You are more than ok in fact 😀

A couple of days ago I received and email from one of you requesting a more breathing centered practice. Although this simple audio meditation is not specifically about the breath, there is no way to escape the breath. Space is breath.

Every time choose to center myself and incorporate this very accessible and easy meditation practice, you get the opportunity to re-attune yourself to align with something more than anxiety and fear.

I want that!

Listen, practice and do this and tell me what happens! I’d love to hear if this works for you
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Do you have any techniques for dealing with anxiety and challenging situations?

Remember I’m here to serve you, so feel free to comment and tell me if meditations like this offer you support and ease 😀

BTW, the following is the song that I used in the meditation. Was that not the most beautiful song?

Sacred Journey of Ku-Kai Sampler, Vol. 1-4Kitaro
“South Wind” (mp3)
from “Sacred Journey of Ku-Kai Sampler, Vol. 1-4”
(Domo Records)

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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }

Lauren August 30, 2010 at 8:00 am

Elsie, beautiful! Meditation is one of my favorite parts about yoga. And, yes, the song was beautiful! Thanks for this. Meditation is the key to the best me. I also “tap”. EFT (http://www.eftuniverse.com/). It is simply tapping on various meridian points while talking about issues that are bothering you, even past ones, and then saying positive affirmations. It not only works well on me but also my three children (5,3,1) and our two dogs. Thanks, again, Elsie! And, oh yeah, congratulations on taking a leap into the unknown. I think this upcoming time will be awesome for you and the online classes. I know I look forward to it!

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Elsie August 31, 2010 at 4:22 pm

Lauren! I’m soooo gonna have to check out the “tap” thing. You know I’ve heard about it, and I believe we did it in a workshop once…but I vaguely remember why, hee hee.

I love to learn new stuff like this for the littles! how empowering for them to learn this so young!

Very thankful that you shared this with the kula 😀

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Leslie August 30, 2010 at 3:18 pm

Wow! So beautiful and empowering… I was on my deck in my peaceful backyard and I felt as light as the air as if I might just be picked up on the next breeze like a feather would be. So much space, so much peace… Thank you so much

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Elsie August 31, 2010 at 4:20 pm

Leslie, OOOOOH yeay 🙂 I recorded it while sitting under a tree, with the loveliest breeze blowing.

I am so glad that it served you, tons of love!

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Jen August 23, 2012 at 12:11 am

Elsie, I’m doing the 60 day yoga challenge on Facebook and have done alot of your asana podcast, but tonight I had a way too full belly to practice, so decided to do this meditation. So incredibly lovely. I’ve been trying to incorporate more meditation into my practice, but this is my first one with you and first one longer than about 12 mins. I thoroughly enjoyed it and will return again and again.

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Elsie August 29, 2012 at 3:31 pm

Jen! It’s sooooo lovely to hear! I’m so very glad 🙂

Meditation I think is one of those things that at first having someone guide you a bit can serve wonders towards sustaining and maintaining your own personal practice! Thank you so much for giving this a shot!

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