Category: Meditations

  • A Meditation for Frustration, Anger, & Annoyance

    A Meditation for Frustration, Anger, & Annoyance

    Frustration, anger, or even annoyance can make you feel very depleted. It can keep you stuck because you can feel very low or even depressed. However, it is really important to honour these feelings, but it is choosing to stay in these feelings that can make you stuck. Honouring your emotions and seeing what they are connected to will enable you to let go, to release, and to pick you up. It’s really important to place a level of understanding to those emotions. And they don’t need to be a 10 out of 10, angry anger. These emotions can be small but still impact you.

    If we perceive them as a piece of information that is highlighting something for you, and not see them as good or bad: they are just trying to show you something. Then when you work out what that is, you have options and possibilities to move forward. I often explain that when you are triggered, which can cause anger, frustration, and annoyance, the trigger isn’t about another person or the environment – it is about yourself. This can often lead to past events, past experiences, past relationships. You may find yourself recycling the same thing over and over again. And it’s really hard in the moment to see that you actually have a choice. I respect that with people, that it can hard for them to look and be with their emotions in order to understand it.

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    Most of the time, a part of your brain is actually trying to keep you safe. But there are many ways to move out of this emotion. I’m often telling people that it is really important to write these things down. The main reason for doing this is to get it out of your headspace. The narrative that is in your headspace will just keep repeating it. You can break that cycle by writing it down. Now you can actually see it in front of you and then you can break it down a little bit more, and ask certain questions.

    These questions need to be relevant to what you are feeling and the situation you are in. You always have to bring it back to you – why are you feeling angry, frustrated or annoyed? It could be as simple as this person doesn’t make me feel valued, my partner isn’t listening to me, I feel stuck in the same routine, nobody notices me at work, my parents have never praised me, my children are not hearing me, etc. For instance, if somebody doesn’t make you feel valued, it’s often important to understand the position of where that person is, to see if they are capable of giving you that. Asking it of someone can simply not be enough for some people. It comes back to, do you value yourself? If it is in a work setting, for example, you can ask yourself if this is right job for you or is there something that you could do in the workplace to help you feel more valued. If it is in a relationship, when was the last time you both sat down and had a good talk with each other, but both of you listened to each other, and is there something you also need to do within that relationship?

    These are the kinds of things that I help my clients with because people don’t always know how to do this with themselves. It’s not something we are actually taught and so it is a skill you have to learn and implement day to day. It’s like with children: children don’t often listen to their parents because children are children. It is something that needs to be taught.

    Once you start practicing these kinds of questions and listening to yourself, and asking yourself what you can change or move, then you will learn to hear the answer quicker and to trust it. This actually builds up your self-worth, your trust in yourself, and help you with your confidence. If anybody has a question that they would like answering, please write in, get in contact, and I will answer these questions in my upcoming podcast and future posts.

    This meditation will help you with connecting to those emotions of frustration, anger, annoyance, irritation, etc. But it will help you to slow it down so you can hear, because in these moments we don’t hear ourselves fully when we are in the emotion. The video is below. Enjoy it and if you would like to share your thoughts, please do.

    With love and honour,

    Yvette

  • Meditation for Being in the Moment

    Meditation for Being in the Moment

    We are more grounded when we allow ourselves to be who we are, and learn not to create a reality of who we are. When you own your past and present this then creates a deeper harmony with yourself and grounds you more.

    When we allow the stillness of the mind, we then create a pathway to calmness, which in turn can still those negative thoughts that run in our heads. Give yourself a discipline of practising how to breathe; you can then learn how to become calm, focused and more positive in your future.

    Bringing the awareness to yourself can enable you to direct your focus. It helps you to take charge of your own wellbeing. Use all the tools that you have available to open up all the possibilities that are there for you.

    You can learn how to let go of troubles and emotions because you learn how to have them. When you allow this to come into your way of thinking your path becomes lighter, freer, and happier. Even learning to believe in you starts to open yourself to the universal energies, which have high understandings and this in itself helps you to see the true balance that is within us all.

    My question that I would like to ask you all is do you believe that it is easy to allow your emotions to overtake you; do they then make you feel tired, depressed, and very heavy about life?

    Can you also see that a part of this could be due to grief, which can come from many places: a death of a loved one, a pet, or a lost friendship, the loss of oneself through ill health, or the changing of one’s circumstances in life. However, how many of you are hard on yourself? Your mental thoughts can also tip you over and rule you.

    This meditation is about bringing you to the moment and it is something we can often talk about, about being in the moment, but we don’t necessarily understand what it means or what it looks like. If you can imagine and see your life, you would probably be dashing from one point to another thinking about what you would need to do tomorrow or next week. You might even be looking at what didn’t go well for you in the previous weeks that have just been. However, this can go on day after day, minute after minute. And it can really throw you off balance. This isn’t being in the moment.

    Being in the moment looks completely different. You may look at something from the past to improve it, but you feel settled. You may look for something that you want to achieve in the weeks to come, but you wouldn’t be whittling or worrying. You would be more focused, have a lot more clarity, and you would be more settled within yourself. You would have appreciation for everything that you have done or need to do. And you would extend an understanding to yourself of your efforts or where you are in the present moment; an understanding that is filled with compassion, both for yourself, others, and for the world around you.

    It might seem like a lot to ask for or to possess. But when we are in the present moment, present within ourselves, we are more capable of going through the ups and downs of life, no matter how big or  small. Because most importantly we can understand that we are always in a state of movement and change, something we can flow with on a regular basis, coming to our own sense of self and inner power. 

    With Love

    Yvette xx

     

  • Creating the Connection – Meditation

    Creating the Connection – Meditation

    It is amazing how we always use the phrase, ‘I’ll give myself time later’ or ‘I’ll set aside time for a meditation’, or a walk, or something for ourselves. From the moment we wake up, till the moment we go to bed, that is all our time. It is a funny concept that we don’t always have time, and yet that full day is all the time we have for ourselves – even when we are working, or doing things around the house or with our kids, that time is always there for us.

    Imagine if you had been taught that while you were brushing your teeth, having a shower, eating your breakfast, driving to work, and at work, that you could meditate and be mindful in every single moment. Meditation in a way is about stilling the mind and the chatter, and the negative talk that you have with yourself. And mindfulness has always been about being mindful about what you are saying, how you are saying it, what you are telling yourself.

    If we had been taught this, we wouldn’t have a need to set any time aside because we would have accepted that all the time that we have is at our disposal to meditate and be mindful – at any point of the day (although I’m sure we would find some other excuse). We have to learn to recognise why it is we tell ourselves that we will put time aside, but then never use that time. And sometimes it’s more about breathing, reconnecting to ourselves, and asking a simple question.

    Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it

    – Leonardo da Vinci

    A lot of people might then say – is this my head giving me an answer or is it my inner knowing/intuition. Basically, this is diverting ourselves from what we really need to see. And that is ourselves. As humans we are really great at diverting, and some of us then begin to take one small problem and create it into a bigger one without even realising it. This is often because of an anxiety or fear that it can create. We sometimes don’t want to face it, because we feel it is too great, too big. But the best thing you can do for yourself is to allow space to connect with yourself and work through the obstacles you are facing. This can be done at any time, any where.

    The meditation is a short one – again, doesn’t require you to set aside time. Maybe you listen to it when you have a break at work, before you go to sleep, while you are watching the TV. See where it can fit into your life and the time you have, where you can ALLOW yourself the TIME to do it. It is designed for you to connect into your body and mind as this is the place clarity can be found. Clarity is never outside of us; it is always within us. Direction is within us, so is the answers we may be looking for.

    Since you are the only one who knows the truth of yourself, allow yourself to build up that trust, connection, confidence, and self-reliance. Enjoy the meditation…

    If it helps you then please feel free to share it with anyone.

    Simply click here for the free meditation – Creating the Connection


    Love and Blessings,

    Yvette Karan

  • Meditation – The Return Journey of the Heart

    Meditation – The Return Journey of the Heart

    Meditation of the Heart Chakra – Creating the Connection

    Reiki offers a connection of the chakras to help heal and guide you through life, teaching you an incredibly useful discipline that will help you make time and space for you. Modern life can often make us feel all mixed up and thrown off balance, Reiki is a way to learn to bring that balanced connection back to your life. Life is forever moving and changing, and so grounding yourself with a deeper inner connection to yourself can guide you to where you want to be. That deep connection can then help you bring peace, clarity, direction, and understanding. An understanding that becomes clear through this journey.

    My own journey was prompted by something my grandfather used to say to me…

    “To get somewhere, you need to know what you want – what is your desired outcome?”

    He would say that if you choose to walk blindly through life, then that’s okay. But if you want more, then you really need to wake up and know who you are. You need to create time and understanding of and for yourself so that you can truly reach a place of peace and connection. I have always used my grandfather’s words wisely and while training over the years in many different therapies, it all began to unfold for me. Over time I started to know what I wanted. A big part of that is also to know what you don’t want.

    Have you heard the phrase many times before that it is not about the destination but the journey? This is true. There are many different ways, different roads and paths to follow, different disciplines and different hearts. One understanding can often be found in many. Sometimes it is as simple as just opening your eyes to see. To clearly see the lessons around you, the understanding and guidance that is on hand to help you.

    Never be in a rush – truly you have time, you have the space, but most importantly, don’t ignore you. There is nothing more important in life than you. Allow yourself to face who you are and love everything there is about you. Allow yourself to feel peace with all that you have done and all that you think and know that you are – become friends with yourself, even if you feel you have made mistakes in the past. We all have. That is normal, it is natural and human, be friends with it. Learn not to judge who you are or the people who have helped you to become the way you are, whether you think or know their actions and your reactions to be good or bad. When you stand on the bridge of understanding, all things will become clear and open to you.

    Ever feel something is missing – you may have found that you are or were looking for something, almost as if you feel something or someone is missing in your life – you may have no idea what it is or where to look – and as crazy as it sound it may be that you are in fact looking for YOU. You might have spent a long time looking for someone or something else that will give you love and understanding and a sense of completeness, but sometimes it’s actually the love and understanding of ourselves that we need to truly feel whole. Of course, all things that are missing could be valid, both people and experiences, and finding them can help our sense of wellbeing but sometimes finding  yourself amongst it all will actually reveal what you truly want out of life.

    The heart is a magical place of fulfilment and joy but often people feel disappointment or pain in their heart chakra. When this happens, you may want to run away and think that you will be better without it. Often that’s not the case. If you walk to the pain instead of away and become friends with it, just as you would be friends with the love and the joy, you will see something different.

    It may take a while but you can get there.

    The heart chakra is open at the front of our body and at the back. All new things that happen flow through the front of the chakra and flows back out. So, if we close the back because of the pain and suffering, when the new things come through it is difficult for us to feel the joy as it mixes with the pain. If we close the front, nothing new can come in and we are stuck with the pain and the suffering again.

    By creating the understanding and acknowledgement of the things that happen to us, whether we see or know it to be good or bad, will keep this flow open so we can experience all things with equal respect and acceptance.

    So, as we sit on the bridge of decisions, choices, direction, clarity, love and compassion, try to understand that the heart is the bridge between the realms of the soul and the physical body. As you stand on the bridge in life, the guidance is truly within you here and now.

    I have created this healing meditation inspired by a friend for opening the heart chakra and helping you achieve peace, clarity, direction, and understanding. Find a quiet moment in your day to take some time for you. Sit or lie down, be ready to listen, relax and open to deepening this link. It is my pleasure to share this with you and make it freely available for everyone to use.

    If it helps you then please feel free to share it with anyone in need. All the questions and answers are within.

    Simply click here for the free meditation – The return Journey of the heart

    Love and blessings,

    Yvette Karan`

     

     

  • Meditation for Breathing

    Meditation for Breathing

    Have you ever noticed  what happens to your body when you feel Stressed, does it cause shortness of breath, tense muscles, headaches, panic attacks, sweaty palms or simply make your problems seem worse?

    When an event happens that triggers you to feel stressed, your body releases stress hormones that instigate your  natural “fight or flight” response, our prehistoric survival mechanism to protect us from danger.  It is these hormones which are responsible for tightening your muscles, increasing your heart rate, and quickening your breath.  All to increase your alertness and prepare your body to either defend you against the perceived danger or run away from it.  As these physiological responses happen to non-life threatening events where you no longer need to fight or run you have no release …without a release your stress levels increase, heightening feelings of anxiety and panic and so the cycle is repeated.…  

    …being anxious tightens the muscles that help you  breathe, and you start to  breathe  faster and struggle to catch your breath. This is the same for when you get angry or frustrated – emotions which the body translate as stress.  Have you ever noticed that whilst stress may seem to be limited to the mind, it also shows through the body even when you have not mentally recognised a stimulant for stress?

    Thankfully we have been gifted with a very simple tool to help inhibit our body’s natural stress response…our breath…but can the key really be as simple as learning and training yourself to harness your breath fully?! We breathe all the time right!…but there is a difference between breath with awareness provoked voluntarily with thought and breath without.

    It is true that breathing is generally a simple thing for our body to do, something which we do naturally.  It is important however to pay attention to how you are breathing. As shown, your breathing patterns can indicate what your body is doing, even when it seems not to match up with your mind, and is especially significant when it comes to experiencing stress. Certain breathing exercises can help to reduce your body’s reaction to stress and bring clarity of mind – a simple task that when paid attention to, can help relax your body and help you move forward through otherwise potentially stressful situations freely. 

    You see your natural, physical response to a stressful trigger (the “fight or flight” response) is controlled by part of your involuntary nervous system (Autonomic Nervous System)  known as your sympathetic nervous system. It is this system which is responsible for increasing your heart rate, blood pressure and blood sugar to help you perform under stress. Conversely, your  parasympathetic nervous system (also part of your involuntary nervous system) does the opposite, inducing the “rest and digest” response after the perceived threat has passed, bringing the body’s reactions back to equilibrium. This is significant as the mind’s perception of stress can trigger the body to react in a fight or flight response, changing our breathing patterns and heart rate until they seem to be out of our own control –  regulating your breath voluntarily can break the cycle and help instigate your body’s  “rest and digest” response.   Therefore certain breathing exercises can help to calm the body and in turn your mind in the face of stress.  

    Practicing breathing exercises and bringing awareness to your breath daily helps train your body to use this response more naturally when faced with potential stress of a non-life threatening nature.  Helping you to remain calm under pressure, build strong relationships and meet deadlines.  

    We regularly teach our students, mentees and clients to connect to their breath and find it common place for many to only breathe in the upper section of their chest indicating a shortened fast breathing pattern – part of the fight or flight – as opposed to a deep full relaxing breath. Directional breathing is great method to help relieve this.  TIP:  bring a focus to your “belly” as you breathe, ensure your abdomen expands as your breathe in and contracts as you breathe out.  If you find this tricky then this is definitely something that will be useful to you so stick with it!