Racing Thoughts - Quieting a Mind That Won't Stop Talking - Guided Meditation

There is a room in your mind tonight and the light is still on. Somebody in there is still talking, going over it again and again, turning the same thought over and over and over. Looking for a door in the wall that hasn't got one. You're not doing this on purpose though, nobody chooses a racing mind and it isn't your fault.

It's a nervous system that has been asked to stay alert for too long and has simply forgotten how to stand down. So here is what we're going to do for the next 10 minutes. We're not going to argue with the thoughts, we're not going to try to win, we're going to slow the traffic down until the noise becomes distant. Today is about racing thoughts and how to quiet and over thinking mind.

This is calming anxiety. I'm your host Martin. For the next 10 minutes there is nothing you need to fix, solve or decide. Just breathe with me.

A racing mind really gives you a clear hour. It gives you 4 minutes in the car before you go in. The 7 minutes before a meeting, the 20 minutes you finally have to yourself at the end of the day. So you choose the time you've actually got and the session fits it.

No guilt about the 10 minutes you don't have. So find your quiet place now. Somewhere to settle right down whichever your body prefers. Let your shoulders drop from your ears.

Unclench your jaw and if it feels safe let your eyes close. Today's breathing is the alternate nostril breathing. In yoga it has a beautiful name. Nadi Shradhana which means channel cleaning and here's why it works so well today.

Alternate nostril breathing gives your mind a small job which hand which finger which side which count. And over thinking minds do not stop because you ask it to stop. They stop because you finally give it something simple to hold. So take your right hand, fold your index finger and middle finger gently in towards your palm.

That leaves your thumb and your ring finger free. Your thumb will close the right nostril, your ring finger to close the left. Bring the hand to your face, light touch, no pressing and if lifting the arm is uncomfortable. Simply imagine it.

The brain responds to the rhythm, not the fingers. Let's begin. Close the right nostril with your thumb. Breathe in through the left to the ring.

Four, close the left with your ring finger, both closed, gently hold. Then release the thumb and breathe out through the right. Two, three, four, five, six. Now in through the right, two, three, four, both closed, hold and release and out through the left, two, three, four, five, six.

Beautiful. Just relax. Notice the out breath always longer than the in breath. That's deliberate.

That's the long exhale, which is the bright pedal of the nervous system. Next round. This time, let the count carry you in through the left to the ring.

Four, hold, two, out through the right to the ring, four, five, six.

Then through the right to the ring, four, hold, two, out through the left to the ring, four, five, six. Notice the difference. The thoughts may still be there, but they're slightly further away now, quieter, less urgent, like a conversation overheard from the next room. Now, as the breath settles, I want you to imagine these beautiful words in your thoughts.

See them brightly in your mind's eye as I say them and then repeat them, let the echo of them flow down to the twine itself into the fabric of your soul. I am calming my racing thoughts.

My mind is allowed to be quiet. I am not overthinking. I am the one who notices it. I am the sky.

My thoughts are only the clouds. I do not have to solve anything right now.

My anxious mind is slowing and relaxed, even deeper, even further and winding, melting into the surface beneath you, safe and supported, and then once more in the beauty of your imagination.

There's your lies and repeat. I am calming my racing thoughts. My mind is allowed to be quiet.

I do not have to solve anything right now.

My anxious mind is slowing.

I am safe. I am here. There is nothing to fear right now.

And to take with you from this moment of peace and tranquility, to guide and lead you through the days, the weeks and months ahead, here are your three daily caring tips. When a thought loops for the third time, write it down on paper. Your mind repeats things mainly because it is afraid that you would forget them. Two.

Set aside ten minutes earlier in the day to deliberately worry on purpose so that your mind learns that the night is not the appointed time. Three. Tonight, when you notice the racing starting, do one round of the alternate nostril breathing before you reach for your phone. You are stronger than you can imagine.

Now gently bring your awareness back into the space around you. Circle your fingers and toes. Take a deep breath in through the nose, hold, then as you breathe out, stretch out the arms overhead. And in your own time, open your eyes.

Thank you. Well done my friend. You didn't fight your mind today. You slowed it.

And that is a far, far more effective thing. If today helped, come and find all of this in my app, Ankit, which I built just for these moments. Set it to three minutes or twenty, whatever the day allows, and let it be the thing you reach for when the thoughts start to gather speed. And if you have a friend, family member or colleague whose mind won't switch off in the night, someone who's lying awake with the light still on in that room, please share this episode with him.

It costs you nothing and it might change their whole night. Until then, be gentle with yourself. You are doing so much better than you think. I'm Martin.

This is calming anxiety. I'll be here with you again tomorrow. So in everything, be kind.