Just Like Me Relaxation Response

Hello and welcome to the meditation portion of the RxChill Pill podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Juna Bobby MD, a physician specializing in mind-body medicine, and I'm here to bring you your daily dose of the relaxation response. As with all meditations, please find a safe place and do not use while driving or operating a moving vehicle. I'd like to leave you with a little quiet time for reflection at the end, so I'm asking you now to please share, subscribe, and download. It would also be really helpful to me if you could leave a positive review. If you use Insight Timer, you can find me as a teacher under Juna Bobby MD. This is a Just Like Me loving-kindness meditation. I first heard this practice when I went to Omega Institute and I took a course called Search Inside Yourself with the best-selling author, Chade Meng Tan. A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. Humans experience themselves, thoughts and feeling, as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Albert Einstein. This is an adapted version of the Just Like Me meditation. This meditation will help you cultivate better relationships and also elicit the relaxation response. The opposite of the stress response. When we feel compassion for others, we activate our parasympathetic nervous system. This activates the relaxation response, which is a physiologic response opposite of the stress response. The stress response activates the sympathetic nervous system. So find a comfortable and safe place to sit for the next 10 minutes. Sit comfortably with your eyes closed or lowered. Let your arms relax with your hands in your lap. Inhale, grow taller through your spine, and exhale, release the tension in your face, your jaw, your eyes, lips. Inhale, and on the next exhale, release tension around your temples, the back of your head, your neck, and shoulders. One more inhale. And exhale, releasing tension from your neck, shoulders, all the way down your spine, vertebra by vertebra by vertebra, feeling the seat supporting you. Feeling your hands in your lap. Now bring a person to mind. This could be a loved one. A family member or a friend. This person has a body and a mind just like me. This person has feelings feelings, emotions, and thoughts, just like me. This person has at some point been sad, disappointed, angry, hurt, or confused, just like me. This person has in their lives experienced physical and emotional pain and suffering, just like me. This person wishes to be free from pain and suffering. Just like me. This person wishes to be safe, healthy, and loved, just like me. This person wishes to be happy, just like me. Now allow some wishes to arise for this person. I wish for this person to have the strength, resources, and social support to navigate the difficulties in life. I wish for this person to be free from pain and suffering. I wish for this person to be happy because this person is a fellow human being, just like me. Now bring to mind a work colleague or a boss or teacher Someone you interact with often. Imagine this person in front of you, a fellow human being, just like me. This person has a body and a mind just like me. This person has feelings, emotions, and thoughts just like me. This person has felt sad, disappointed, angry, hurt, lonely, and confused, just like me. This person has had physical and emotional pain and suffering, just like me. Just like me, this person wishes to be free from pain and suffering and wishes to be safe, healthy, and loved. This person wishes to be happy, just like me. Now allow some wishes to arise for this person. May you be well. May you be happy. May you have the strength and the resources to manage the difficulties in May you be free from pain and suffering. I wish for you to be happy because you are a fellow human being, just like me. Now allow a few wishes to arise for yourself. May I be well. May I be happy. May I have the strength, wisdom, courage, and support that I need to navigate this beautiful life. May I be free from pain and suffering, and may I be happy, because I too am a human being. Being, just like everyone else. Now take a deep breath in and exhale. Slowly allow yourself to come back to your surroundings, gently and at ease, taking a few more deep breaths at your own pace and stretching if you need to. Gently coming back to the room, opening your eyes whenever you're ready.