When you’ve been bracing against stress, holding tension in your body, or feeling like you always have to stay on guard, it can be hard to truly relax or feel safe inside yourself. This meditation helps you gently lower your defenses by recognizing that you’re okay in this moment, softening the body, and allowing the mind to settle into a sense of openness and ease. As you rest in spacious awareness, you may discover a quiet peacefulness—and even a natural sense of warmth and lovingness—that was there all along.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up at https://rickhanson.com/wednesday-meditations-with-dr-rick-hanson/. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here: https://rickhanson.com/talk-meditation-accepting-your-vulnerabilities-including-from-early-childhood/

Many of us move through our days with a background sense of tension—bracing against uncertainty, aging, illness, or what might be coming next. This guided meditation offers a chance to pause that effort. You’re invited to settle into stillness, sense the quiet beneath mental activity, and recognize moments of peace and contentment that are already present. As the mind softens, identity can gently loosen—from being caught in worries and stories to resting as spaciousness, stillness, and simple being.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up here. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here.

When you’re feeling triggered, reactive, or on edge, this guided meditation helps you settle the nervous system and come back to a sense of basic okay-ness. We ground in the body, soothe the “soft animal” within, and gently quiet mental chatter through breath and sensation. From there, we use awareness to open to the heart, allowing kindness and calm to replace bracing and defensiveness—so experiences can flow through without overwhelming you.

You’re welcome to join me live each week for these meditations — free for everyone — by signing up here. We always start with a guided meditation to set the tone for the evening. If you’d like to explore the talk that followed this meditation, you can listen to it here.