Welcome to the last part in this 30-day Learn To Meditate series!
Over the last 2 weeks we have showcased Holiday Phillips' FREE Guided Meditation Videos - 5-8min 'how to' guides to help you learn the basics of mindfulness and meditation.
The 30 day series guides you through one meditation a day in the aim of managing stress and criticism - from getting into a relaxed state, meditating for a specific purpose, giving you time for silent reflection and closing the practice.
How are you finding your practice?
What changes have you noticed? What is motivating you to meditate each day?
Not yet checked out the first 2 posts in this series? Then hop over here for all the details you need to get going. Days 1-10 here!
Day 21 - Body Relaxation
INSTRUCTIONS
Do a quick body scan to see how your body is feeling.
Identify any particularly tense areas.
Start to take slow & deep breaths.
On the inhale imagine breathing into those particularly tense areas.
On the out breath imagine releasing that tension.
Continue to breathe like this - releasing more tension on each out breath.
Day 22 - Heart breathing
INSTRUCTIONS
Place one hand on the heart.
Take a moment to notice the warmth & comfort of your hand on the heart.
Breathe in and out, imagining that you are breathing in and out of your heart.
If thoughts come up, just bring awareness back to the breath.
Day 23 - Self Compassion Break
This works by taking something in your life that is causing you pain or difficulty & repeating 3 phrases that replace your self-critical voice with a compassionate one.
It's a hard one to self guide, so I'll guide you through this one again!
Feel free to use my phrases, or adapt them to what works best for you.
Day 24 - Mantra
INSTRUCTIONS
Pick one of the following phrases or choose your own.
Begin to breathe slowly, on each out breath repeating your phrase in your mind.
Continue to breathe & repeat throughout the meditation.
Mantras
- May I be happy
- May I be healthy
- I am enough
- I accept myself as I am
- I am loved and cared for
Day 25 - Gratitude For Someone Else
Today we focus on someone who you feel grateful for.
I'll give you quite a lot of guidance in this one and scale it gradually back as we move through the next 3 days.
Day 26 - Gratitude For Something
INSTRUCTIONS
Bring something to mind - no need to think it through too much.
Take 3 deep breaths to root into the present moment.
Hold that thing in your mind and take a few moments to really feel it.
Now let that sense of gratitude just be there and come back to focus on the breath.
Continue to breathe to the end of the meditation.
Day 27 - Gratitude For Yourself
Today we bring our focus to something about ourselves that we feel grateful for. People can find this challenging, but once you master this it makes such a difference to how you feel about yourself. Just do your best :)
Day 28 - Your Own Unguided Meditation
Today we'll build on all the amazing work we've done together over the last 27 days with 5 minutes of unguided meditation.
Feel free to use any of the meditations we've done up until now or simply sit in silence with your breath.
Day 29 - Your Own Unguided Meditation Part 2
Another day of 5 minutes of your own meditation, unguided.
Day 30 - Intention Setting
This has been an amazing 30 days and I hope it's just the beginning for you!
The most important thing is to really connect with why you will keep meditating.
With that in mind we close with a final intention setting meditation.
Enjoy x
Want More Meditation?
Intent on bringing meditation to the next generation of meditators, Holiday has trained for years with some of the best meditation teachers in the world to help you with your meditation practice.
She founded Breathe & Stop – a modern meditation training rooted in science and free from fluff and facilitates regular meditation events - check out her events page for details.
