# Simple Meditation for Overwhelm - Show: [Inner Peace Meditations](https://innerpeacemeditations.com/), guided meditations with Steven Webb - Meditation: 64 - Published: 28 July 2024 - Length: 13:13 (about 13 minutes) - Subject: Anxiety & Stress - Best time: While you are actually overwhelmed - Position: Sitting, gaze softened - Style: Guided, nothing clever anywhere in it. Music underneath - Web page: https://innerpeacemeditations.com/episode/simple-meditation-for-overwhelm - Listen: [Apple Podcasts](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/simple-meditation-for-overwhelm/id1559888338?i=1000663592993), [Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/show/5n31KPEaotQspMPzDkI1Li), [MP3](https://podcasts.captivate.fm/media/3ba6eb0c-6d93-4b58-9b5e-0404e250558f/Simple-Meditation-for-Overwhelm-by-Steven-Webb-Podcast.mp3) I recorded this while I was overwhelmed. So it is not a technique I am teaching you, it is the thing I actually do, done out loud with you. About 13 minutes with Steven Webb's calm voice. Soften the gaze, let the body drop, and stay with breathing in calm, breathing out relax. Nothing clever anywhere in it. Ten minutes later the world is exactly the same world, and the whole difference is on the inside. You did not quieten yourself down. You allowed it, and that is a different thing. Treat me to a coffee, keep the podcast free, and get my Weekly Calm every Sunday. It is all on [stevenwebb.uk](https://stevenwebb.uk) Thank you for sitting with me. Steven ## Who this is for Right now, not later. I recorded this while I was overwhelmed myself. So it is not a technique I am teaching you, it is the thing I actually do, done out loud with you alongside. ## What happens in this meditation Wiggle about until you are comfortable. Soften the gaze rather than closing the eyes, which is what I do. Then the breath, and nothing done to it. I say out loud that at this point I am usually still thinking, still breathing oddly, still glancing about. So I remind myself. Soften the gaze. Let the body go. Let the breath be. Then breathing in calm, breathing out relax, and that is genuinely most of it. You may notice a faint ringing in your ears as things quieten. It was there before. You could not hear it under the noise. Then about a minute where I say nothing and keep an eye on the clock. ## How to get the most from it Thirteen minutes, and the whole point is that there is nothing to learn. You are not doing a technique. At the end, notice that nothing has changed. It is exactly the same world with exactly the same problems in it. The entire difference is on the inside, and you made it by not doing anything. You did not quieten yourself down. You allowed it. That is a different thing, and it is why this works when trying does not. ## Questions people ask ### Should I look for a specific meditation for what I am feeling? Probably not, and I say so during it. We complicate this. Breathing in calm and breathing out relax covers most of what people go looking for. ### Why is my breath slowing on its own? Because a quieter mind and looser muscles need less oxygen, and your body adjusts without asking you. That is worth noticing, since it is the whole argument for staying out of the way. ### Does it work if I am really far gone? It is the one I use when I am. Thirteen minutes will not fix the day, and it reliably puts you back in charge of your part of it. ## Transcript [0:00] Welcome to a meditation for when you're feeling overwhelmed. So I'm going to take you on a journey that I do when I'm feeling overwhelmed. And that's exactly what I'm feeling now. So I'm going to talk you through what I do. And I invite you to join me. The first thing is I just get comfortable. Just wiggle my body a little bit and I allow my body to relax. And just by simply allowing my body to relax, And not trying to do anything with my body. It's almost like my body already knows how to do it. And then if you need to get yourself a little more comfortable, just allow yourself to do it now. [1:02] And the idea of meditation is to just allow things to be what they are. That's certainly the idea of this meditation now. So you could either gently close your eyes or just soften your gaze a few feet in front of you. I normally just soften my gaze And I bring my attention to my breath And I don't do anything with my breath. Allow my breath to be exactly what it is. My body knows how to breathe. [1:54] My body knows how to relax. Now at this point, I normally find myself still thinking quite a bit. Breathing through my nose, then through my mouth. I keep looking around a little bit. I just remind myself. Just soften the gaze. Allow the body to relax. Allow the breath to be. Breathing in calm. [2:42] Breathing out relax Breathing in calm. Breathing out relax And as you do this, you may notice everything just getting a little quieter. You may notice your thoughts coming and going. You may even notice a slight ringing in your ears. It's because your body is quietening down. As you become quieter, the nuances and the subtlenesses all around just become more in the forefront. [3:40] And it's important to remember they were always there before. We just couldn't hear them underneath all the noise of overwhelm. And now I just sit, taking every bit notice of my breath. You may notice the way your chest rises and falls. You may notice your breath just slowing down because the more your mind slows down, the more your muscles relax, the less oxygen your body needs. And your body knows that so it just adapts accordingly. [5:06] If your thoughts continue to arise, just acknowledge them and be okay with them and thank them for your mind just doing what it does. Thinking stuff up and give a gentle smile and bring it back to your breath. And if the mind is a little relentless, just say to yourself, I'm breathing in, I'm breathing out. I'm starting to feel like I'm more relaxed and my mind is quietening down and I'm okay with that. [6:15] Just do a little check in with yourself. Just notice that you're a little quieter now. There's a little more peace in this moment. I'm going to allow you just to be aware of your breath for the next minute or so. I will keep an eye on the timer If any thoughts come up, gentle smile and back to your breath. [8:20] Now as you're breathing in calm, breathing out relax And just notice that nothing has really changed from where you were overwhelmed just A little under 10 minutes ago. The whole world is the same world. Yet the calmness within changes everything. And you did this. You created this calm, peacefulness when you allowed the body just to relax and you allowed the breath to be what it is. [9:11] You allowed the mind just to soften its thoughts. And you don't quiet in the mind or quiet in the body by doing it. You do it by allowing it. Just allowing your body to breathe in calm, breathe out relax Your body has a deeper, wiser version of us. The body knows what to do. It's when we're getting involved, that's when we get overwhelmed. And there's a simplicity in breathing in calm, breathing out relax Really that's all we need to do. We tend to complicate meditation and if we're feeling overwhelmed or anxious or Having strong emotions or something. We tend to think that we've got to find a specific meditation. [10:36] You probably played this one because it said to relieve overwhelm in the title. But really, it's all just the same. Just breathing in calm. Breathing out relax Just allow the body to relax. And allow this moment to be what it is. In this moment, very often, there's nothing wrong. There's nothing wrong in this immediate moment in your facility, in the room you're in, or in your space that you're in. So in a moment I'm just going to come back from five And just bring your awareness back to the room. So five, four, gently open your eyes if you have them closed. Three, shake out your arms, wiggle your toes and fingers. Two, look around the room. One, and just feel the energy coming back but You're in more control of it now. Just by allowing the body to deal with the overwhelm in the way it already knows how to. And just really, it's us getting out of the way. [12:03] It's us that is overwhelmed. The overthinking mind, the eye that we think is real, is overwhelmed. When really the body and the mind and the awareness of it, there's no overwhelm. Everything just is. So thank you for joining me on this meditation and I'm feeling less overwhelmed now so I really appreciate that. Thank you. I'm Steven Webb and I really appreciate you joining me on this guided meditation and just as a reminder I produce these free to go on the Inner Peace Meditations podcast simply because I just want more of you to have inner peace and I don't put adverts because The kindness of many of you that donate a coffee. So thank you to you if you're able to do that. [12:58] Thank you for the share and thank you for just having a little more peace in the world. It's all making a difference. Take care guys. Take care and I hope you have a really peaceful day. --- Every meditation of Inner Peace Meditations is listed at https://innerpeacemeditations.com/llms.txt. Weekly Calm, one calm email from Steven every Sunday: https://stevenwebb.com/newsletter/