De-Stress Meditations: Calming in Belly and Heart

A collection of meditations to download – designed to draw you into your body and help calm the chattering monkeys and stress responses that can cause us so much tension.

Meditation descriptions:

These meditations follow the practices outlined in The De-Stress Effect, where you can read how they can help you lessen cravings, make nutritional changes that stick, help you cope with life’s challenges and relieve stress-related symptoms like anxiety, depression, insomnia, IBS, skin issues and weight gain.

Nourishing the heart – the Positive Visualisation featured in The De-Stress Effect, can be used to remind us to practice self-compassion and to recharge emotional depletion and a drained ‘heart chakra’; shown to raise the anti-stress hormone DHEA that helps us cope with challenges and feel joy in life.

Belly focus meditation – a focus on the central part of ourselves, from where we feel intuition and what is really true, including how we feel about the world and people around us; helps cultivate a more soft sense of self-protection through awareness. Good to do if you you feel overly ‘heady’ and disconnected from your body.

Body Scan – a practice that moves through different parts of the body to foster body connection, acceptance and interoception (body awareness) that helps shut down verbal chatter from the left-brain and give us some peace! Useful before bed if you have difficulty sleeping.

Metta Bhavana – the Buddhist practice of developing loving-kindness (to ourselves and others) that has shown to help emotional integration, resilience and the qualities with which we interact with others.

Walking meditation – a grounding way of paying attention, but bringing a meditative quality to a common action; a good practice for those who feel agitation when just sitting or lying. Also when you feel you need some grounding and connection to your body and the Earth.

“The meditations by Charlotte Watts are a gift. I use one of them every day – sometimes in the morning to focus before a busy day, sometimes in the evening to get ready for a good night sleep. I’ve recommended them to many friends, whether they’re athletes who expressed a wish to relax or those who are experiencing some stress or anxiety during their busy lives. Charlotte’s voice soothingly guides you without being overly spiritual. Depending on whether you need some physical down time or a ‘virtual’ hug, these very short or slightly longer meditations allow for the ‘me’ time we all need.” – Dr Nathalie van Meurs