Releasing Stress with Our Meditation

By now, you may have read my many, many blog posts and pieces on manifestation and setting intentions while you meditate. While this can be really important, and I’m always a fan of working towards things in life (even during meditation), part of being healthy and accepting your own limitations is knowing when to relax and step back a bit. Even when you’re manifesting, part of the process is stepping back, letting go, and trusting that what you put out there will eventually find its way to you, that or something even better. So, there are times when your intention should solely be one of just releasing stress and healing.

That may seem obvious and unbelievably simple for some, but for people like me who are constantly obsessing about accomplishing things, it can be the hardest thing to do to simply relax, breathe out your stress, and heal.

There are many ways to do this, but what I find works best for me is opening up the Expand app, going into the “Timer” section, and setting a 15-20 minute “Relaxation and Healing” signal meditation exercise. Depending on how I’m feeling, I set the background noises to either rain, a mountain stream, or the sounds of a campfire. For me, the sounds of nature are truly refreshing. They allow me to feel completely at peace, but everyone is different, and that’s why the Timer section of the app is so great. You can cultivate your own experience to create the best exercise that’s personalized for your needs.

As the session begins, I imagine bringing in a healing white light with each inhale and feel it expanding and surrounding me with each exhale. I conduct a bit of resonant tuning to build a little energy, but when I’m trying to really relax, I may not do this as much as I normally would, as I’d rather keep my energy levels lower. After a bit of time focusing on my breath, I go through each area of my body and check in with it. If I feel any stress, I breath into that area and see the stress melting away from it as I breath out. If my mind wanders, I gently bring it to the things in life, however big or small, that I feel gratitude for, and I cultivate that healing, light-hearted feeling of gratitude and allow it to grow and flow through my body. For those who love to use their dolphin for healing, now is a great time for that, as well.

I’ve found that when I listed to the ‘rain’ background noises in the Timer section of Expand, it sometimes helps for me to visualize this rain falling from the sky onto my skin. And as it touches me, I can imagine it cleansing all the stress and pain off my body and washing it away. For those who are visual in their meditations, that could be a fun, healing exercise to try.

Aside from checking in with myself to release any stress physically, I do this mentally and emotionally, as well. I’ll ask myself how I’m feeling today and try to live in that feeling for a second. If it’s positive, I may live in that feeling a bit longer and try to grow it. If it’s negative, I’ll try to gently breath it out and allow myself to move to thoughts of gratitude instead.

While releasing stress, I tend to be in a more mindful and grounded state so I can pay attention to what my body and soul needs within the moment and cultivate my meditation from there. Sometimes, I just want to wander in my imagination. Sometimes, I want to use my dolphin to heal. Other times, I see myself healing with white light. The most important thing for me in my sessions releasing stress, relaxing, and healing is listening to myself, trusting that I know what I need in the moment, and following myself and my guides to ensure that I get what I need out of the mediation experience.

Recently, as my stress levels have been increasing, I’ve been trying to conduct a 15-20 minute session of relaxation each evening before I go to bed to help relax and heal myself from the stressors of the day. While I’ve only recently began this, I’ve already seen the difference it’s made in my life, and it’s becoming a crucial part of my stress relief journey, becoming a pivotal part of my healing routine.