I Need to Feel Calm Again — 10 Minute Guided Meditation for Anxiety, Stress & Irritability

I just need to feel calm again. Maybe that's all you're asking for today. Not to fix everything, not to solve every problem. Not even to have a particularly good day.

Just simply to feel like yourself once more. Because sometimes the smallest things start getting under your skin. A noise, a question. Someone asking you to do one more thing.

A message arriving at exactly the wrong moment. And suddenly your patience feels very far away. Your shoulders are tight, your jaw is clenched. Your voice is sharper than it's meant to be.

An underneath all that irritation. There's often something much quieter. You're tired. You're overloaded.

You've been holding too much together. So if you felt unusually irrectable today. If everything seems a little too much, there's nothing wrong with you. Your nervous system is simply asking for a little space.

This is calming anxiety. I'm Martin. This is your moment. Sometimes it's anxiety.

Sometimes it's exhaustion. Sometimes it's simply a nervous system that's been switched on for too long. So find your quiet place now. Somewhere comfy where you won't be disturbed.

And let's catch that tension. Today we're going to use alternate nostril breathing. In yoga it's known as nadi shadana. I think of it as balancing the breath.

It's slow. It's rhythmic. It gives your mind one gentle thing to do at a time. We'll breathe in for four and then out for six.

You can use your thumb and your forefinger if you will. If you're comfy doing so, use your right hand. Rest your thumb gently beside your right nostril and your ring finger beside the left. Let's begin.

Use the right nostril gently with the thumb and breathe in slowly through the left. Ready? In. Two.

Three. Four. Close the left. Release the right.

Out. Two. Three. Four.

Five. Six. And just relax. Just be at peace with this moment for you.

And then once more. Ready? In through the right. Two.

Three. Four. Close the right. Release the left.

And out. Two. Three. Four.

Five. Six. Let's do one more. Ready my friend.

And through the left. Two. Three. Four.

Out. Through the right. Two. Three.

Four. Five. Six. And just relax.

And really. Imagine you're breathing in calm.

Now ever you imagine that. And then with every outbreak. As if taking a sigh at the end of a long day. Allow the tension to melt.

To evaporate. To find true peace and tranquility within this moment. And then once more. Breathe in through the right.

Two. Three. Four. Out.

Through the left. Two. Three. Four.

Five. Six. Maybe roll your shoulders. Let them loosen.

Imagine the muscles on your forehead and between your eyes.

Relaxing. Finding calm. The muscles in your hands. Loosen it.

You don't have to force yourself to relax. Just stop holding yourself quite so tightly. Now imagine if you wish. You're standing somewhere peaceful.

Perhaps somewhere familiar. Somewhere you feel safe. Maybe later afternoon. The light is soft.

The day is beginning to lose some of its intensity. And imagine all the heaviness that you've carried. The conversations, the decisions, the worries. The things you didn't say.

The things you wish had said differently. You allow them to float to the ground. The weight on your shoulders no longer there. As you breathe.

You find space within. So within this moment in your mind's eye. Repeat these wonderful words and see them in your thoughts. I am allowed to slow down.

I do not have to carry everything at once. I can feel irritated without becoming irrational.

My feelings are signals. They are not instructions. I can pause before I react. And that pause is where your choice live.

So once more, on the outruth, visualize and repeat. I am allowed to slow down. I do not have to carry everything at once.

My feelings are signals. They are not instructions. I can pause before I react. I am safe in this moment.

I am here in this moment. I can be gentle with myself while I find my balance.

And then my friend, perhaps most important of all, I am allowed to feel calm again. You do not have to become a different person.

You don't have to become endlessly patient. You don't need to suppress how you feel. You simply need a little more space. Now relax and unwind.

And take with you today's three daily caring tips. One, when you notice the first flickers of irritation today, don't try to argue with it. Take one slow breath all the way out and give yourself three seconds to respond. Two, ask yourself, "What am I actually feeling underneath this?

I am overwhelmed, hungry, unnerved. Sometimes irritation is simply the messenger." Three, tomorrow, use anchored daily to check in before the day gets away of you. Thirty seconds, just enough time to ask yourself, "How am I actually doing right now?"

And remember my friend, you don't have to wait until you're overwhelmed. So slowly bring your thoughts back into the space around you. Wiggle your fingers and toes. Feel the surface beneath you supporting you, holding you.

Take another slow breath in and as you breathe out, slowly open your eye. Take this little bit of calm with you. It's not perfect calm, it's not permanent calm. It's just enough to see you through the day, enough to pause before you react, enough to soften your voice, enough to give yourself another chance.

And if you need this feeling again, come back tomorrow. Use the anchored app daily to check in just thirty seconds, a tiny moment to notice yourself. And if someone you love has been feeling unusually tense, irritable or simply not quite themselves, share this episode with them. They may not need fixing, they just may need somewhere safe to put the weight down.

Be gentle today with who you are. You don't have to carry everything. Breathe, soften, come back to yourself. I'm Martin, I'll be here again tomorrow.

Sit to yourself. Be kind.