Happiness Break: A Meditation to Find Grounding in the New Year, With Spring Washam

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 11 January 2024

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Research shows feeling connected with nature can lower our stress response. This visualization meditation can help you feel at ease, no matter where you are.

Link to episode transcript: http://tinyurl.com/2k6pdh7n

How to Do This Practice:

It is encouraged to try this practice outdoors

Begin the practice by focusing on your breath, and relaxing your body, noticing how it feels supported, particularly by the earth.
Allow yourself to let go of anything you are mentally or emotionally carrying, visualizing it going into the earth, letting the ground continue to support you.
Draw on imagery from nature to cultivate feelings of strength and sturdiness to support you. For example, imagine that your own body is rooting into the earth to become as unshakable as a tree, imagine that you are as steady as a mountain, your breath is the breeze and your mind is as open and boundless as the sky.
End the practice by placing your hand on your heart, offering yourself kindness, well-being and joy.

Today’s Happiness Break host:

Spring Washam is an author and meditation teacher based in Oakland, California.

Learn more about Spring’s work: http://tinyurl.com/3bbshnn7

Read Spring’s books here: http://tinyurl.com/4hkft4js

More resources from The Greater Good Science Center:

Happiness Break: What To Do When You’re Struggling, With Spring Washam: http://tinyurl.com/mrx8t9st

What Happens When We Reconnect With Nature: http://tinyurl.com/553xwm47

Why Is Nature So Good for Your Mental Health? http://tinyurl.com/ycx9ns4p

How Nature Helps Us Heal: http://tinyurl.com/2p93682j

Why You Need More Nature in Your Life: http://tinyurl.com/28z27wb2

We love hearing from you! How do you connect with nature? Email us at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Find us on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/6s39rzus

Help us share Happiness Break! Rate us and copy and share this link: https://tinyurl.com/6s39rzus

We're living through a mental health crisis. Between the stress, anxiety, depression, loneliness, burnout — we all could use a break to feel better. That's where Happiness Break comes in. In each biweekly podcast episode, instructors guide you through research-backed practices and meditations that you can do in real-time. These relaxing and uplifting practices have been shown in a lab to help you cultivate calm, compassion, connection, mindfulness, and more — what the latest science says will directly support your well-being. All in less than ten minutes. A little break in your day.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is happiness break, where in the span of just a few minutes we try practices shown to help
0:09.2	us find tranquility, work towards deeper connections with others and soothe anxiety.
0:15.0	I'm Dacker Keltner. Welcome.
0:18.0	This week we're doing a grounding meditation to help us get inspired by the qualities of the natural world around us.
0:26.6	We know from the literature that when we feel more connected with nature,
0:30.3	it lowers our cortisol levels and elevates vagal tone which calms our nervous systems.
0:35.1	I really encourage you to try this practice somewhere outdoors if you can, but you can do this practice
0:41.8	anywhere including indoors.
0:44.0	We'll be guided today by Spring Washam,
0:47.0	a meditation teacher and author of the book The Spirit of Harriet Tubman,
0:51.0	awakening from the underground.
0:58.2	When you're ready, here's spring. So as you begin to feel yourself sitting.
1:23.4	And I always like to just begin with anchoring our attention to the breath.
1:28.8	As we come into the present moment, we use the breath as our guiding force. This is the anchor for our awareness.
1:38.9	And it's inhale, rising, and then the exhale falling.
2:05.0	And then the exhale falling. that now get a sense of feeling where you are sitting or standing and feel how this element is holding you up.
2:08.0	You are being supported.
2:15.4	In every moment. Just relax your body or whole posture.
2:36.0	What we're doing when we're grounding is we're also really about connecting to the earth.
2:42.0	As you sit and you breathe, about connecting to the earth.
2:49.3	As you sit and you breathe, let go of anything that you're carrying.
2:55.0	We give it to the earth, we allow the energy of the ground to hold everything.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from PRX and Greater Good Science Center, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of PRX and Greater Good Science Center and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.