Podcast

Reena Merchant:

Today's episode is just with me, and it's about meditation. I love meditation because it can help us quiet our minds and get in touch with who we authentically are on the inside. It can help ease our worries and self-doubts and can really help us strengthen our self-confidence. I started meditating about three years ago, and now it's become such an integral part of my daily life that it's really hard for me to believe that I spent most of my life not meditating at all.

Reena Merchant:

I had heard a lot about meditation and about how helpful it is for stress relief, amongst many other benefits too. But I guess I just never really thought of it as something that I could do. For some reason, it always felt a bit out of reach, like something that would require a lot of practice, or something that would be really difficult for me to do considering how active my mind normally was. I just thought it would be something that would be hard. I always somehow felt silly thinking about trying to do it, and I guess I thought maybe it's better left to yogis in the Himalayas who really actually know what they're doing.

Reena Merchant:

Three years ago, however, life left me no choice but to start meditating. It's funny how life tends to do that, to just bring you to exactly what you need in any given moment. I was going through an excruciatingly painful experience in my personal life at the time, and I couldn't think of any way to bring myself peace and sanity other than to try my luck with meditation. The first few times that I tried, I had no idea what I was doing. I thought I was failing at it. Though, of course later I realized that there really is no way to fail at meditation. I would sit down to meditate and my thoughts would drift. I couldn't focus, and my legs would fall asleep if I tried to stay still for even more than just five minutes. I thought about giving up, but somehow, I kept going.

Reena Merchant:

Rather than continuing with silent meditation, which I was clearly struggling with, I decided to give guided meditation a try, and that worked much better for me, especially as a beginner. Because mind had the guided vocals of the meditation to focus on, it wouldn't drift as often. And when it did drift, I learned to compassionately observe my thoughts and to slowly and gently bring my focus back rather than getting mad or frustrated with myself. I began meditating daily and it started working so well for me in bringing me peace and calm and healing from the pain I was going through that I got hooked. I slowly built up my daily meditation time from 5 minutes to 10 minutes to then 30 minutes. And for a few months, I was actually meditating for three hours straight every single day.

Reena Merchant:

Now, of course, that wasn't sustainable with my busy work and life schedule, so now I meditate for between 15 and 30 minutes every day. I used to meditate in the evenings, but now I meditate in the mornings, because for me, I found that if I start my day by quieting my mind, I'm calmer, more focused, more aligned with my authentic self and more patient with myself and with others all day long. Even if I don't have much time in the morning, I'm really not a morning person, I at least try to squeeze in even five minutes of meditation before starting my day. It's completely changed my life and my perspective. Meditation not only helps me get through my day to day, but I really believe that it's made me a better person. It's made me more aware of and aligned with my authentic self, and it's helped me get clearer on how I can show up more confidently in my life.

Reena Merchant:

In today's episode, I'd like to share with you a guided meditation that I've recorded for you. The meditation is about trust. It might help you, whether you are just starting out and learning how to quiet your mind, or maybe just find a little bit of peace in your day. Or if you're interested in going a bit deeper during the meditation, it might also help you to start finding your intuitive voice and learning to trust it, which may help you in boosting your self-confidence. I hope you enjoy the meditation.

Reena Merchant:

This meditation is intended to help you trust your inner knowing. Sometimes identifying, listening to and trusting our inner voice can be challenging due to the complexity of the dialogue within us. Our inner dialogue takes place in our mind, our heart, and our gut. In this meditation, we will calmly reflect and quiet our minds and our hearts so we can clearly tap into our intuition. This technique has helped me through turbulent times and I'm hopeful that it will help you too.

Reena Merchant:

Before we begin, set your intention for this meditation. Is there a specific question or topic you are hoping to tap into your intuition about? Or perhaps you are just looking to more generally sort through your inner dialogue. Keep your intention in the back of your mind throughout the meditation. So, let's begin.

Reena Merchant:

Close your eyes, take a deep breath in and out. Let yourself become fully present in this moment, allowing all your thoughts and worries to float away. Let yourself feel gratitude for having this moment to just relax, to not have to worry or think about anything else. To just relax. Take another deep breath in and out.

Reena Merchant:

Now, with your eyes still closed imagine standing in an open field with your bare feet on soft, luscious green grass. Imagine now the warm light of the sun shining down upon you. The sun's light shines through you from head to toe and clears away any heaviness that you might be feeling. The sun's light leaves you with a warm, happy feeling in your heart. For just a moment, let yourself enjoy this warmth in your heart.

Reena Merchant:

Let this warmth wrap you completely in a safe and happy cocoon. Now let yourself remember your intention for this meditation, whether it was a specific question or a more general desire for clarity, bring it back into your conscious awareness and let yourself feel this intention completely. As you do so, notice everything flowing through your awareness.

Reena Merchant:

We will now separate this awareness into three parts. First, bring your attention to your mind. As you think about your intention, try to recognize the thoughts, fears, or worries that are swirling through your mind, embrace them. And now imagine taking these thoughts, fears, and worries, and placing them lovingly into a wooden box. Imagine snugly closing this box and putting it away on a shelf. Notice that the thoughts, fears, and worries in your mind are now gone. Your mind is quiet.

Reena Merchant:

Now let's go deeper. Let us now bring your attention to your heart. As you think about your intention, recognize what are the feelings and emotions that are swirling through your heart. Accept them. And now imagine taking these feelings and emotions out of your heart space and putting them into another wooden box. Imagine tightly closing this box just for now and lovingly placing it away on another shelf. Take a deep breath. Notice that the swirling feelings and emotions in your heart are gone for now. Your heart is at peace.

Reena Merchant:

Now let's go deeper one final time. As you think about your intention, notice, what do you feel in your gut? Try to fully feel into and hear what your gut, your intuition is telling you in this moment. What possible way forward would bring you the most peace? Be patient with yourself. If you can't hear it just yet, that's okay. Sometimes it takes trying this a few times to hear your intuition clearly, so don't worry.

Reena Merchant:

Thank your intuition for taking the time to lovingly communicate with you. Take a deep breath. Now, as we step back up out of this meditation, thank your heart for being at peace while you explored within, and thank your mind for being at rest while you explored within. Take a final moment to savor all the peace that you feel within yourself, in your mind, your heart and your gut. Take this moment to honor your inner wisdom, strength and knowing, and know that you can always come back to this place whenever you need clarity, whenever you need to sort through your thoughts and feelings, or if you just need a moment of peace. This place is always available to you no matter what.

Reena Merchant:

We will now be coming at this meditation. Imagine yourself still in the open green field, your bare feet still on the grass and the sun still shining warmly down upon you. Notice yourself feeling happier, calmer, and clearer than before. Savor this feeling. And when you are ready, slowly open your eyes.

Reena Merchant:

I hope this meditation brought you some calm and peace today. This particular technique has really helped me trust myself. And of course, trusting ourselves is key to self-confidence. For those of you who might be interested in digging a bit deeper into this topic, I've written a blog post to accompany this meditation, and it's available on Medium. If you're interested in listening to the meditation again, it's available on all music services like Spotify, Apple Music, and it's also on the OurVoice YouTube channel. Please make sure to check out the show notes at iamourvoice.com, as we'll be sure to include all of these links for you. I hope you found today's episode helpful and supportive. If you did, please give the podcast a rating and a review online. It really helps us. Keep finding yourself, keep being yourself. And as always, I am sending you peace and love.

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