Hello and welcome to the nourishing Amy podcast where you can learn tips habits and mindset, changes to find out who you are to love who you are and to live your best life. Every week, we will look at ways to overcome things, like stress, anxiety, and feeling overwhelmed, so that you can find your sparkle again. This is a meditation podcast and a visualization podcast and even just saying that sounds so
crazy. This is something I never thought that I would do, but I have had so much positive feedback from the last episode. And also when I was doing my NLP practitioner qualification, we did a section On trance and hypnosis and meditative States. And I got so much great feedback from the group that I was working with that. Yeah, I think I just took it for granted that this is something that I am good at even saying that I'm good at something.
Sounds so weird to me. So I'm definitely going to be doing a podcast episode with you guys about confidence and identity and believing in yourself. Later on. But yeah, this is something that is so crazy to me and something that I think I have just taken for granted that I've been doing meditation myself personally for quite a while. And I didn't realize that people like this stuff and they want more of this stuff in their life. So here we go.
What I'm actually going to do is jump into the meditation. Now, and then I'm going to talk a little bit about the benefits of meditation, meditation, visualization and things like that afterwards, because I'm fully aware that some people are probably just here for the meditation itself. So, if you are unfamiliar with how this came about, my previous podcast episode episode 5 has a visualization and meditation
activity. Just at the end, it's quite short but it's a really Nice warm like fuzzy feeling visualization and I got such positive feedback. I was even getting emails about it which was so crazy and I had quite a few people commenting saying that they really loved it and it was something that they took time out of their day to do, which was out of the ordinary for them. So I thought, hey let's do a whole podcast episode on just that so let's get stuck into it and then if you feel like
Glistening afterwards. If you want to know, a little bit more about how I utilize meditation within my life, to help achieve an emotional feeling or state that I would like to be in, then you're more than welcome afterwards. So for your meditation, what I want you to do to start off with is just get comfy, get somewhere, comfortable, preferably sitting down or lying down. So, you might be. Finishing your day at work, you might be starting your day and you might still be lying in bed.
You might have had a big day with the kids and you've been able to find yourself a few minutes to just sit down. And chill. So wherever you are, whatever you're doing, I want you to really just take a moment to honor that you are able to prioritize yourself just for this 5 minutes. This five-minute meditation is time that you are choosing to take for yourself and that's a big thing. So, let's get comfortable.
And as you're sitting or lying with your eyes open, just take a nice deep breath in through your nose. And out through your mouth. And another breath in through your nose. And out through your mouth and as you're taking that breath out your mouth. Just Close Your Eyes. And just keep your focus on your breath. And just feel how nice it feels to be sitting or lying Wherever You Are. And how nice it feels to be giving yourself this time. And to begin, I just want you to be focusing on.
Some of the sounds that you can hear around you. Because the reality is that even in the quietest of spaces, there's still sound and they're still noise and that's okay. What are the things that you can hear that are close to you? And what about the things that are a little further away? And just being okay with those noises. And just taking a moment. To really bring your focus into your body. Focus on the weight that you can feel as your body starts to relax.
Focusing on your feet. if you're sitting down focusing on the weight of your feet against the ground, your feet, grounding you into the Earth. If you're lying down. your feet and the bottom of your legs, and that weight against The surface that you're lying on. And bringing your attention to. Focusing on relaxing, all of your muscles, in your toes, and your feet. Up your legs up the bottom of your legs. Around your knees, the back of your knees. Up through the tops of your
legs. Up to your bottom. Feeling the weight of your bottom, sitting on the chair. Or lying on the surface that you're lying on. And just really focusing on. That relaxed feeling that you now have in the bottom half of your body. And breathe into that relaxing feeling. Feel your muscles relaxed. And now bring that relaxation and that feeling of your muscles being heavy. Up to your lower back. With every breath that you're taking in the relaxation, is moving through your body.
Now up to the middle of your back. The top of your back and your shoulders. Up through your stomach and your chest area. Right up through to the tops of your shoulders. And now you can feel your muscles relaxing. From the tips of your toes, right up to the top of your shoulders. And as you keep breathing, you can feel that relaxation running down through your arms. Relaxing, the muscles in your arms. Down to your hands. And down to your fingertips.
And that feeling of relaxation moves up into your neck. Into your head. And you can feel your muscles relaxing. In your forehead. Feel your eyebrows, relax the muscles around your eyes. Your cheeks. Your mouth. Your throat. And you can even feel your tongue relax in your mouth. And as you're breathing, Remembering that, it's okay. If there's thoughts that are arising for you, Not attaching to those thoughts, just watching them float past. As if your mind is a blue sky.
And Your thoughts are just clouds as they pass by. It's okay that they're there. They're allowed to pass by being okay. With the idea that you don't need to attach to those thoughts. They're still going to be there for you when you finish. And as your body is feeling more and more relaxed. Starting to bring your focus to your left hand. and as you breathe in, there's a color that's coming in to your body through your left hand. And it trickles up your left
arm. And that color begins to circulate through your body as you're breathing in. It's collecting any tension within your body. Any thoughts that aren't serving you and as you breathe out that tension, those thoughts. They start to move out through your right hand. and with every breath that you take in, that color comes in through your left hand. and with every breath that you take out, That color takes with it, any of the tension. Any of the limiting thoughts, the stressful feelings?
And just breathe in. Watch that color coming in through your left hand. Watch as it circulates through your body. And watch it leaving with your exhale, through your right hand. Focusing on your breath. Breathing that coloring through your left hand. Exhaling that color out through your right hand. and now, just bringing your attention. To your toes. And your fingers. And just starting to wiggle your feet and your hands. Start to bring your attention back into the room around you.
Back into your body, what can you hear? Fluttering, your eyes open when you're ready. And before you move. Just take a nice deep breath in. And really exhale and feel that relaxation.
And being proud of yourself, you did that. remember that this feeling of relaxation is always in you, even in the moments, that it doesn't feel like it's there that it's gone, and it's been replaced with those That tense feeling in your body, all those thoughts that are maybe not serving you as well as what they could be. You can come back to this relaxing feeling you can focus on your breath. You can focus on that color coming in through your left
hand. And circulating around your body and taking with it. Any of that tents. Tense thought or the limiting thoughts or beliefs that you're having. It's always inside of you.
And I think that's the really cool thing for me about meditation and visualization, is that You know, we have this stigma, all this perspective that you have to meditate every day and, you know, for some people that works really well for them, but for others, it doesn't seem practical and it doesn't feel like it's something that's achievable and that's okay. So it's looking at.
How can you make something like meditation or visualization work for you rather than feeling like you're working against it? And it's just something that you have to do How can you utilize it to your best ability and take advantage of it when you need it? The most Of course, like anything. We're all going to feel the benefits of something more. If we do it more often, but if making it work for you, at the moment, looks like grabbing out this podcast, saving this episode.
And when you're feeling overwhelmed or stressed, or you can feel that tension Rising within your body and you listen to this episode for a few minutes to relax. Well then that's more relaxation during that day or in that moment. That you would have done normally and that's an amazing thing. So how can you make this work for you? How can you start to bring awareness and understanding around feelings emotions or moments? That make you feel a way that you don't particularly want to
feel? And how can you then bring in at all something like meditation or visualization? To bring yourself back to how you would really like to be feeling I know for me, when I feel like I'm pressed for time, I get quite overwhelmed and that feeling of overwhelm leads me to feel pretty stressed. And I know that when I feel stressed, I am not the best version of myself. I can get irritable and I can get Snappy, especially if I'm hungry. As well.
Hang out is a real emotion. You guys. so, I know that by doing something like a quick visualization or a quick meditation and just coming back to my breath and back into my body. I can be showing up as a better version of myself. I can be feeling better within me, but I can also be a better version of myself for everybody
else around me as well. And to me, that is the most beneficial thing that I can do. Because I also recognize that the people that cop, my wrath of stress or overwhelm is most of the time at the end of the day, and it's the people that are closest to me, my My family, my close friends, Aaron. And at the end of the day, they haven't done anything. It's not their fault that I've overwhelmed my calendar and I've put too many things in and now I'm feeling overwhelmed and
stressed. So why would I want to take that out on them? and so, I utilize tools like this to be able to be a better version of me. And I would really love to know what you think about that as well and whether that's something that you can commit to to being a better version of yourself. For you. But for everybody else around
you as well. And I would also really love to know your perspectives on the meditations or the visualizations that I do. If you have any other requests, I know last episode was a huge hit and I was not expecting that at all. I've had so many people message and email and stuff like that so I will definitely be doing a few more. I'm actually even thinking about doing a extended version of the one that I did in the last episode because I love that one. It's my favorite and it really
just brings about those fuzzy. Warm Happy Feelings that we really want to be feeling and one of my best friends, she actually sent me a message, it was so beautiful. And she said that by thinking about a moment and a memory that she had that she felt Lee good. It took her back to her wedding day and she could feel the sun on her skin.
She could feel that laughter, that happiness, that excitement within her, she could see the champagne and I was there and it was just the absolute best day, and I am so happy that just made my absolute week to get that message from her, that something as simple as doing a few minute meditation or visualization in my podcast, could take her back. Back to one of the best moments
in her life. And I think that's the really cool thing that your brain can't tell the difference between a memory or an imagination and real life. So to be able to really get back and step back into those moments and feel those feelings, your brain thinks that it's right back there and that it's back with those feelings. And those really cool like emotions And it feels like it can see everything and feel everything that's happening all over again. And I just love that idea.
So I'll definitely be doing a bit more of an extended version of that so that you guys can save that one as well. But I know for me, one of the more commonly used meditations or visualizations that I do is this one just to bring me back to that sense of calm. So that I am able. To tackle the rest of the day ahead of me or might be the rest of the night ahead of me, more efficiently. So a lot of the time, I'll do one like this, when I have just
finished work. So say, if I'm finishing my Sidney job and I get into my car, it'll either be before I start to drive home or once. I actually get home and I will even sometimes just literally sit in my car and do the meditation and then get out of my car, go. Side and I'm feeling a lot better. I'm feeling a lot Karma, I am thinking a lot clearer and I'm ready to take on the rest of the afternoon and the night.
With most probably, as it has been the last few weeks, my beautiful coaching clients every night and finishing my day off in a way that I really love. So I would love to hear from you guys to hear how you're implementing things like this in your life. And if you are enjoying the meditation or the visualization, And how you're feeling afterwards. So as usual, if you would like to get in contact with me, probably the best way at the moment is to hit me up on my Instagram.
So my Instagram is at a me underscore Rankin, the way that you spell. My first name is, am I? And my last name is RA n Ki n, so at a me underscore Rankin on Instagram, you can shoot me a message. You can leave me a comment, if you have Other topic ideas that
you would like me to talk about. I've got quite a few written down already that I am going to be talking about anyway, but if there's anything that you're interested in, or you're wondering about or you've heard me mention and you're not sure about something, please feel free to get in contact with me and yeah, thank you so much for listening. Thank you for taking the time for you. I really appreciate you and I hope that you have a fantastic
rest of the day, whatever. You choose to do with your time. If you liked this episode, I would love to hear from you. In our Facebook group. You can search the nourishing, Amy podcast community in Facebook and come and join us. We're talking all things life. Love overwhelm and everything in between you guys can share your funny memes your stories and all of the life stuff. I would also love for you to
What? And tag me on Instagram, you guys have no idea how much that absolutely makes my day. I get such a big smile on my face. Thank you so much for hanging out with me today and listening to this episode, I hope that you've got something from it and I really love to hear from you. If you would like to get in contact with me, you can shoot me a message over on Instagram. My Instagram handle is at a me underscore Rankin. Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or
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