Stop Trying to Be Calm: A Meditation for Healing Fatigue & Anxiety

I'll be honest with you, today I'm feeling a little rundown, a bit deflated, a little bit bliss and usually as a therapist I try to breathe through it or fix it, but today I realized, maybe you're tired of trying to fix yourself too. This episode is for those of us who are exhausted by this self-improvement hamster wheel. It's just sit in the blood together for a moment, no pressure to be perfect, just permission to be. Hi, I'm Martin, I'm a clinical hypnotherapist and a former paramedic.

My goal is to help you navigate the chaos of the mind with practical grounded tools. If you're looking to go deeper into your recovery, check out my anxiety breaker course at calminganxiety.fm. Since the theme is the healing fatigue, we aren't going to do a complex rhythmic count that requires focus. We'll just use the physiological side, that double inhale and the long out breath, but with a surrender twist.

So with me, inhale through the nose and then just at the top take a tiny extra sip of air, really fully inflate the lungs and then let out a heavy vocalised...

With me, if you want, ready, inhale?

That extra little sip, it works wonders and the physiological out breath will act just as it's magic, so I can massage into the muscles around your neck and shoulders.

Do this again, but on the out breath, focus on your shoulders dropping away from your ears by an inch or two. Start deep breath in, that extra sip, and then out. The goal is not to achieve calm, but to physically dump attention. We'll do this for four minutes, emphasising that if your mind wonders, allow it to, it's normal, it's perfectly natural, we aren't fighting anything today.

When I meditate and my mind wanders, I smile, I'm never focused on perfection, I am me, you, are unique in who you are. Some techniques work, some days they work flawlessly, and then we have moments like today. Motivation seems elusive, any excuse not to get on with the day's work, but here's the thing, we can still perform maybe slower, maybe less efficiently, but I sat down today, I still recorded, I still edited, I didn't step backwards, I accepted the emotions, feelings, they wax and wane, I will never always perform at my best, and neither should you, and we should not be hard on ourselves when these moments come. So let's do another one of those breaths, deep breath in, that extra sip, and melt into the moment, allow the muscles to unwind, and just appreciate that you've given yourself this ten minutes of guided mindfulness to find your perfect moment of calm.

Relax now my friend, deeply and safely, embrace all that you are, and within this moment of calm, imagine if you will, you are a heavy stone at the bottom of a shallow, clear stream, aged and warm, the water your thoughts, your tasks, your to-do lists, simply flows over you, you do not have to swim, you do not have to move, you are just wrestling on the earth, letting the world happen around you, and then in this moment of mindful stillness, within the beauty of your mind's eye, imagine these words bright and bold in your thoughts, and then repeat them either silently or out loud. I am allowed to be unoptimised today.

I release the need to fix my feelings.

I am enough even when I am tired.

Peace is not a chore, it is my right. Feel the meaning, the intent of these beautiful caring words, and once spoken, I wonder if you could imagine them, the echo, the shadow, drifting down to entwine itself into the very fabric of your soul, to become part of you, so that you accept these moments, these off days, with ease, with acceptance, with gratitude, and then once more, imagine and repeat. I am allowed to be unoptimised today.

I release the need to fix my feelings.

I am enough even when I am tired.

Peace is not a chore, it is my right.

I relax now, ever deeper, with every out breath, feeling the tension, the blur, just melt away, and in this calm moment, this intimate connection of mind, body and soul, here are three caring tips. One, instead of a to-do list, write down three tiny things you have already done, even if it is just making a coffee. acknowledge the effort it took. Two, find one soft thing, a blanket, a pet, a sweater, and focus on that texture for 60 seconds, to pull you out of this fog, and three.

Turn off the overhead light for an hour early tonight, lowering the visual noise helps a fatigue nervous system feel safe. Now let's prepare to return to the day ahead and the world outside. Circle your fingers and toes, feeling the energy return. Now take that deep in breath and as you exhale stretch out the muscles in your arms and legs.

And now gently open your eyes and welcome back. Thank you, truly, for putting your faith your trust in calming anxiety. If you wish, please do share this on your social media, helping a friend, a colleague, without ever knowing it, maybe in their moment of need. And if you would like a deeper moment of help, please do check out the anxiety circuit breaker course.

It's at calminganxiety.fm. This 5 bespoke guided hypnotherapy sessions just for you and only $67.

And then simply to yourself today, be kind.