What if we could give the mind just a little more to focus on in meditation?

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In this episode, I discuss:

• 01:13 Check-In and Grounding
• 03:57 Why Guided May be Easier for Some
• 05:51 Who Guided Meditation May NOT Work For
• 07:21 Guided Meditation Practice

Resources:

• Yoga Nidra Practice⁠

Episode Show Notes:

".....Hello, dear, beautiful human, welcome or welcome back. I am so glad you're here. Thank you, as always, for spending time with me.

I want to spend today, this final day, at least for now, that I'm going to spend talking about the intersection of meditation with neurodivergence, getting in to guided meditation. What that means, how is it different than other forms of meditation? What might be some of the benefits? What may be the drawbacks? And then we'll do a little practice together.

But first, as always, let's take a moment to settle in, check in, how you're doing, how you're feeling. Take a moment to start to allow your awareness to settle in to the points of connection between your body and whatever you are resting on, whether that is your feet in your shoes connected to the earth, parts of your legs, hips, glutes resting in your seat, or parts of the back body connected to whatever you are lying on. Feel those points of connection, weight, pressure. And perhaps allow that awareness to lift up and out the rest of your physical body. Notice any areas that are feeling a little tight or tired or sore today.

Allow that awareness to continue to expand to the sense of your breath. Notice the feeling of your inhale, and the feeling of your exhale. And take a moment to expand into that breath. Take a bigger, fuller, deeper, longer in through your nose. And a slow, complete out through your nose or your mouth. Big in, slow out.

Go ahead and settle back to a more natural breathing rhythm. Wiggle the fingers. Wiggle the toes. Turn the head side to side.

Ah, how are you doing? How are you feeling?

I am recording this for the last Monday in October of 2024, October ADHD Awareness Month.

And for some of us who have a brain that may have more of a tendency toward distraction, toward difficulty with focusing, sometimes more of a mindfulness-based meditation, which is so much of what we see offered out there in the content world can be challenging.

A lot of silence, a lot of empty space, a lot of opportunities for that little monkey mind to start swinging from branch to branch, for that brain to start reminding you of everything that you have to do and everything that you forgot to do.

And sometimes for some of us, having a little bit more of an anchor in a consistent voice guiding you through the meditation process may be a little bit easier.

So rather than there being periods of silence where it's really up to you to bring yourself back to the present moment, there's another voice there helping to continually bring you back to the present moment.

Guided meditation, just exactly as it sounds, guided throughout.

And there will typically be a piece at the beginning, which is helping you focus on either your body or your breath.

But you might find that there's a little more vocal coaching there.

And fewer periods of silence.

And then there will often be periods of visualization.

So guided meditation can be much more accessible, attainable for many of us.

And there's this interesting little caveat of this wonderful phenomenon that some of us experience called aphantasia, and that is the inability to visualize or to fully visualize.

And if you are a person who experiences this, and you have tried guided meditation, you have probably encountered frustration of, ah, I can't do that.

I can't visualize X, Y, Z.

And if that is you, I would encourage you to experiment with other types of meditation if you've already found the silence and stillness associated with much mindfulness type content does not work for you, then maybe experimenting with more movement-based meditations.

And again, I would refer you back to listen to some previous episodes for some ideas there.

But if you do like that voice present in your head to hang on to throughout, and you are a person who can visualize, you might find that the guided meditation is really helpful for you in staying present, staying present to what's happening in the moment, because you have this voice here in the moment going through the meditation with you.

And I would like to offer that for you today.

So if you're ready to go ahead and dive into a meditation, wonderful.

If not, go ahead and pause this and come back to it later whenever you are ready.

Guided meditation is best done in stillness.

So if you are ready to do it now and you're moving, finding your way toward a seat or lying down, and as always, thinking about trying to get really comfortable, so there's less chance of the body trying to speak up within the process because there's some soreness or a cramp or something like that.

So how could you elevate your hips a little bit so your hips are higher than your knees and your ribs can stack right over your hips and you can have that nice long back without feeling like you have to force, hold yourself there.

Or how could you lie down with props to support yourself so there's no discomfort in the neck or the shoulders or the low back?

And as you start to settle in to this supported shape, into this seat, or lying down, take a moment to come back again to the awareness of the points of connection between your body and where you're resting.

Take a moment to come back again to the sense of your breath.

Notice your inhale.

Notice your exhale.

And this time, as you inhale, imagine that you're bringing in a sense of calm, a sense of serenity, a sense of peace.

With that inhale, you're inviting in calm.

And as you exhale, you're letting go of any discomfort, any tension.

Each time you inhale deeply, inviting in that calm.

Exhale, letting go, surrendering, releasing.

Continue to breathe here.

Inhale, imagining, inviting in that peace and serenity.

Ah, exhaling, letting go of discomfort, of tension.

Go ahead and find one more big breath here.

And then we'll begin to bring some gentle awareness to different areas of your body.

And as you bring your focus to this area of your body, imagine allowing it to soften, to surrender, to fully relax.

As you continue to breathe in slowly, and breathe out slowly.

Bring a gentle awareness to your brow, and imagine any tension in your brow softening and melting away.

Bringing that awareness to your jaw, imagine any tension in your jaw softens, jaw completely relaxes, releases.

Bring a gentle awareness to your neck.

Allow any tightness in your neck to soften and melt away.

And then bring an awareness to your shoulders, and allow those shoulders to melt heavy down toward the earth, fully soft.

And then imagine your spine, and imagine your spine softening, relaxing, and letting go.

And then that awareness travels to your hips.

Feel the heaviness in your hips as they sink and soften down toward the support of the earth.

And as you exhale, that warm white light spreads out to fill your tissues.

Inhaling, filling the body with a warm white nurturing light.

And as you exhale, that light spreads out to fill your tissues.

Continue to breathe in.

Imagine this nurturing warmth coming into the body, spreading out to fill the whole body, all your tissues, all your joints, all your bones.

Continue to breathe, continue to visualize as you allow this sense of calm, peaceful serenity to fill and surround your entire self, continuing to breathe, continuing to soften and surrender.

And then allow your awareness to come to the sense of your chest and belly moving as you inhale, and as you exhale, feel that gentle lift and expansion with each breath in, and that gentle drawing in and down with each breath out.

Notice the movement as you breathe in.

Notice the movement as you breathe out.

Continue to feel this sense of movement here as you fill your lungs, fill your body, and the sense of movement as that air leaves your body.

Take another big breath in, and a slow breath out.

And begin to wiggle your fingers.

Wiggle your toes.

Turn your head side to side.

If you close down your eyes or soften your gaze, slowly blink or flutter your eyes back toward fully open.

How are you feeling?

How are you doing?

Maybe take a moment to reflect on how that was different for you, how that was the same for you, what you liked, what you didn't, what felt accessible or inaccessible.

Another really lovely example of a fully guided meditation is yoga nidra.

I am going to offer a link below to a recorded yoga nidra practice.

I would encourage you to try that one as well.

As always, please reach out to me if you have thoughts, questions, requests, and I will see you next time....."