[Kelly Boys, Mindfulness Trainer] Hi, welcome to this meditation for working with anxiety. So if you've experienced anxiety lately or you might be feeling that in this moment, now's a chance to do a practice. So get comfortable, find yourself in a supported seat where you can be both alert and relaxed, you can feel yourself sitting majestic like a mountain. If you'd like, you can place your palms on your thighs and allow your eyes to close. We'll begin by taking five mindful breaths, breathing in to the count of one, and then exhale to the count of two, breathing in to the count of one, exhale to the count of two. Do three more breaths at your own pace, inhaling to one, exhaling to two. Now let go of the breathing practice and notice the sounds. So the sounds, wherever you are, you may hear the sounds of the ocean. Opening all of your senses, feeling the touch of air on your skin, smell and taste, and if your eyes are closed, the shadows or light playing across your eyelids. Allow your whole body and mind to settle, feeling both alert and relaxed. We'll take a moment and welcome in the feeling of anxiety that may come visit you from time to time. So you're not welcoming it in at an extreme level, but just the small feeling of it that you might have in your body. We're getting close to it, drawing near to it, and becoming friends in a way with this challenge, with this anxiety, fear, or worry. So as you welcome it in as you would a friend, what is it that you experience in your body? You might feel tight shoulders or chest, you might wanna clench your fists and release them. Just notice, nonjudgmentally, with kindness, these feelings of anxiousness or worry that you may experience. So if at any time it becomes too much, simply rest back into the whole backside of your body, feeling your seat, muscles of your feet, coming back to those five mindful breaths in to one, out to two, and if it feels right in this practice, we're going to welcome in and attend to the feeling of anxiety, so meeting the quality of worry, maybe an image comes to you, a memory, a situation. Can you allow that to play out before your eyes? Just see it again with this sense of allowing without judging. And importantly, can you feel the space around your feeling? So you are aware of the worry, you're aware of the contraction in your body or the tension, and now can you draw attention to the space around that? So you may feel out all the way into the fingertips and your toes, crown of your head, the space around your body or the surface that supports you, feeling the quality of spaciousness and care. And then coming back to that contraction, back to the feeling with an open hearted welcoming, allowing it to be here, not refusing it, just making friends with this emotion that can come and go. And what's it like a few times to go back and forth? So coming back to the feeling of spaciousness, of resting your seat and the souls of your feet, taking a few breaths there, feeling that maybe letting go of the anxiety, feeling of being held, and allow your attention to come back to the anxiety or the worry and attend to it, feeling it, welcoming it, allowing it, just as it is as if it's here and it has a message for you. If you were to listen for the message, what would it say if it were to whisper a message into your ear? What would that be? So we're listening and befriending the emotion of anxiety because we know it will come and go in our experience. So any last moment of listening for the message, and when you're ready, lean right back into that spacious holding presence, and you feel a sense of your spirituality, the sense of being held. There's a deeper allowing here that's beyond your mind, so tune into that and then see if you can just let go for the next five breaths. Allow your breath to come naturally in and out. Attuning to your deepest knowing, receiving any messages that you've encountered in this meditation, maybe making a commitment to yourself that you'll return for this part, for this emotion and listen more. And when you're ready, allow your eyes to gently open. They may rest on the floor in front of you, noticing all of your senses, bringing your attention back to the space around you, and maybe just saying for a moment thank you to yourself for being here for this practice and for working with your anxiety and meeting it. This is deep, powerful work. Thanks for being here with me.