Daily Dose: Imagination of a Safe Place Meditation 10 Min Relaxation Response

From Mind Body Space, it's RxChillPill, a show about science-backed resilience skills and powerful stress management tools to make you the boss of your own brain. I'm your host, Dr. Juna Bobby MD, a physician specializing in mind-body medicine and a mom of two amazing kids. There are three different kinds of episodes: one where I interview fascinating people and experts who share resilience tips for the mind, body, and space; another where you'll find short meditations you can do anywhere, anytime to get your daily dose of the relaxation Response, the complete opposite of the stress response. In the third type, you'll get science-backed resilience boosters and antidotes to stress that really work, so you can tap into your own brain superpowers and apply liberally in your daily life.

This is your daily dose of the relaxation response, the opposite of your stress response. This meditation is designed to increase creativity, a powerful antidote to stressors in our daily lives. Start by finding a safe place to be still for about 10 minutes. If you're in your car or on a train, you can put on your sunglasses and earphones. Get seated in a comfortable position and take a few deep breaths. Do a few head rolls if you need to release some tension there. Maybe shrug your shoulders up and down. Maybe clench your fist with your in-breath and release it on your out-breath. Now start to bring your attention to the top of your head. See if you can release any tension there. Now your forehead and cheeks, releasing any tension there with your next exhale. Even your eyelids and your eyebrows, your lips, your ears. Now bring your attention attention to the back of your head, releasing on the next exhale down your neck. Now the back of your neck and shoulders, coming down your arms into your hands and fingertips. Bring your attention down your spine from your neck all the way down, releasing any tension there. Now your chest and belly, your legs down into your feet. Feel your feet inside your socks or shoes or barefoot and your toes. Now feel the temperature surrounding surrounding you without judging. Notice where your clothes are touching you or where you just feel air around your skin. And notice the chair that's supporting you. Now take another deep breath in. And scan your body, releasing even just the tiniest bit more. And with your eyes closed, if you haven't already done so, imagine your immediate surroundings. Can you remember what colors there are around you? The details of the space that you're in. Everyone imagines differently. Imagination can be just a faint sense of what something is, or it can be vivid, maybe the visuals and colors, or maybe even without any visuals. However it comes for you is perfectly Fine. There's no wrong or right way to use your imagination. So now come to remember a place where you felt joy, where you felt peace, comfort, safety. It could be a place or even a sunset. Maybe it's a beach with the warm sun on your back. Or maybe it's in the arms of a person who hugged you and made you feel safe. It can even be an imaginary person or place where you felt happy and comfortable. Maybe it's a place you saw in a movie or read in a book. Perhaps a beautiful garden with roses in full bloom. Maybe you can even smell the sweet roses and honeysuckles in full bloom. Find yourself looking and feeling, seeing and hearing. This place. Notice which sensation is strongest for you. Is it the visuals, or the colors and shapes and forms? Or perhaps it's just an impression that you see or imagine. Or maybe you don't see any visuals. However it comes to you is perfectly fine. There is no right or wrong way to use your imagination. Now remember this place, the place where you felt joy, whether real or imagined, place where you feel peace, comfort, and safety. Can you feel this place? Do you feel a perfect breeze or the touch of the sun or the petal on a flower? Maybe you can imagine the sounds, the birds or the waves, the rustling of the leaves, or perhaps the sound of a loving voice. Or children laughing. Can you smell the place? Perhaps the smell of the ocean or trees and flowers. Or perhaps you can taste the cool, smooth glass of water or your favorite snack placed just so. For you to enjoy in this safe space. Absorb as much as you can about this place. See it, hear it, smell it, taste it, and feel it, whatever way it comes to you. Now start to go inward with this feeling of safety. Notice it in your body. Where do you feel it? If you notice thoughts drifting in and out about the past or the future, just say, "Oh well," and gently and kindly come back. To the sense of safety in your body. You can silently say to yourself, peaceful happy place, as you sense this feeling of safety in your body. Perhaps your muscles are releasing and your chest opens up. Now take a last look at this safe place and see yourself walking out, gently coming back to your breath, into the room that's surrounding you. Feel the chair supporting you, the sounds around you. The temperature of your breath at your nose. The temperature of the room. Now feel the breath in your body. Notice the rise and fall of your chest, or perhaps your back, maybe even your arms. Mm-hmm. Take a deep breath in, your spine growing taller, and exhale, releasing the neck and shoulders, knowing that you can come back to this feeling of safety and calm whenever you need, just simply by taking a few deep breaths and feeling that feeling of safety in your body. As you release the tension in your neck and shoulders and your face, take another deep energizing breath. Inhale and exhale. Energizing breath. Bring your hands up over your head, interlacing your fingers and stretching your palms. Up to the sky. And release. Exhale, floating your arms down. And go ahead and take another deep breath. Inhale, stretch whatever you need to. Exhale, do some shoulder rolls and neck rolls. Feeling energized and ready for the rest of your day.

If you found this podcast helpful to you, please subscribe, post ratings and reviews, and share it with everyone you know who wants to stress less and do more. This knowledge is really powerful and science-based. We need to share it with as many people as possible to help with this epidemic of stress and the stress-related diseases that we're seeing today. I know your time is gold, so thank you, and I want to hear from you. Go to mindbodyspace.com, subscribe, and ask me any questions and suggest any topics that you'd like to hear in the future. You'll also find episode show notes and resources on the podcast page. While you're there, check out our online school for courses you can take, like Stress Less and Do More series for students and parents, Get Smarter Than Our Smartphones course, and the full-on SMART course. SMART stands for Stress Management and Resilience Training. It's a research-backed course designed by the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and I'm your certified provider. Until next time, this is Dr. Juna Bobby MD wishing you wellness.