Anxiety Therapist Shares a Guided Meditation for Anxiety: Container and Storage
Anxiety Therapist Shares a Guided Meditation for Anxiety: Container and Storage
Anxiety and overwhelm can be a powerful dictator in someone’s life. However, it can be managed through daily meditation and mindfulness practice. At Mindful Living Counseling Orlando, we provide grounding practices to our clients who struggle with anxiety and trauma. Guided Meditation is one of our favorite grounding techniques.
Get yourself into a comfortable space, and listen to the Container and Storage practice below to give yourself the tools to put away certain events, memories, or situations that are causing you anxiety at the moment and return to them when and if you are ready.
Guided Meditation Practice for Anxiety
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Guided Meditation for Anxiety: Container and Storage
Script for Guided Meditation Practice for Anxiety
Hello and welcome to this guided practice.
My name is Lauran and I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Owner of Mindful Living Counseling Services. We specialize in working with clients that struggle with anxiety, past traumas, and relationship problems.
This practice is a modification of the Container Practice we use in EMDR therapy. I have found that over time there are clients of mine that struggle with the original version of the Container Practice and so I came up with this modification to make it accessible to more people.
The purpose of the container practice is to be able to give yourself some distance from the stressors that are happening in your life currently or potentially past events that have happened that seem to come in and disturb your present day experience.
This practice helps give you some distance from those events and memories.
Before we start walking through the practice, I would like to invite you to be in a comfortable position, either sitting or lying down, whatever feels more comfortable to you...
You can have your eyes opened or closed, whatever feels more relaxing to you….
We’ll start by focusing on the present moment. So just allow yourself to notice your breath.…
The natural inhale and exhale flow of your breath.…
Not really doing anything to change it right now, just becoming aware of it…. and how it has a natural ebb and flow….
Next I’d like to invite you to become aware of where your body makes contact to either where you’re sitting or where you’re lying down...
Noticing what surface is offering your body support right now….
Just allowing yourself to be supported….. By the chair or by the ground.
If you can let go of any muscles and really allow your body to give in or give way to the support…. that will allow you to settle in just a little bit more….
Now we’ll start the visualization.
The first thing I’d like you to do is just visualize a container…..
This container might be an old storage chest, a Tupperware container, a box, just any type of container that has a way of being sealed and completely closed….
I want you to get a sense of how this container opens and closes….
In your mind’s eye, I want you to see it opening and closing… opening and closing….
We’re not putting anything in there at this point. I just want you to allow it to open and close…..
Next I want you to really get a sense of what this container looks like on the inside… on the outside… what material it’s made of? …. What color is it? …. What is the texture of it? …. Just really getting a sense of what this container looks like.
Again, I want you to get a sense of how it opens and closes…. Because in your imagery you create more detail and sometimes it can change the way it opens and closes. So just again…. seeing how this container opens and closes….
Next, what we’re going to do is we’re going to visualize a storage unit or a storage shed….
So just allow your brain to kind of see what it comes up with... Is it a stand alone storage shed? …. Is it a storage shed that belongs with other storage shed? Like a U-Haul storage shed? …. Just seeing what makes sense in your mind’s eye….
This storage shed needs to have a door that opens and closes.
I want you to look at the storage shed and see what it looks like from the outside…. See what it looks from the inside…. What colors are the storage shed? …. On the inside and outside… What material is it made out of? ….
I want you to see that door opening and closing…. Really focusing on the mechanics of it. How does the door open and how does the door close? …. Just see it in your mind’s eye opening and closing….
Next, what I want us to visualize is, I want you to see your container or your box going into your storage shed….
Again, there’s nothing in your box at this point. I just want you to see the box going into the storage shed…. Whether you walk it in there or it just appears in there, whatever works in your visualization...
And then I want you to see the storage shed door closing…. and locking…. In your mind’s eyes.
I want you to see yourself holding the key... You have the key to the storage shed lock...
Now I want you to see yourself walking away from the storage shed…. Creating distance.
Walking further, and further, and further, and further away from the storage shed….
Creating more and more distance….
Now, what we are going to do is we are going to practice putting a mild to moderate stressor into the container and then into the storage shed.
So, I want you to pick something that is a stressor, a struggle, a memory, an event, that you know needs your attention and your focus at some point but not right now. It’s something you want to come back to at a later time….
And once you have that in mind…. we are going to practice putting that stressor into the container and into the storage shed….
I want you to envision your container sitting in front of you and I want you to envision that it’s opened up. You’ve opened up the container and that it’s sitting there ready for you to put your stressor in there….
Next, I want you to envision putting the stressor in the container. If you need a little help with the visualization, you might image that the stressor is a photograph or you could imagine that you’ve sketched it out as a picture or that you’ve written it out as a journal entry and I want you to see yourself putting it into the container….
Next, I want you to see the lid of the container closing and now that stressor, or that event, or that memory is securely in that container….
Next, I want you to visualize that container going into the storage shed…. and I want you to next envision the storage shed door closing…. and locking…. and the key is either in your pocket or wherever you feel comfortable with it being but knowing that you know where it is and you can access it if and when you choose to.
Next, I want you to see yourself, as we did before, walking away from the storage shed….
Getting more and more and more distant….
Creating more and more space between you and the stressor….
Knowing that when and if you choose to come back to the stressor, because it needs your attention or you choose to focus on it, you can go back and get it out…. But, you get to choose.
Thank you for joining me today in this guided practice of the container and storage unit….
Namaste.
Interested in How Anxiety Therapy Can Help?
The therapists at Mindful Living Counseling Orlando are ready to assist you in navigating anxiety and addressing any other therapy-related concerns you may have. To get started with one of our counselors:
Fill out our New Client Consultation Form
Schedule a consultation call with one of our anxiety therapists.
Begin your healing journey!
Not Quite Ready for Anxiety Therapy?
At Mindful Living Counseling, we have a team of the best therapists who are always ready to help with anxiety. If you're not ready that’s ok. We recommend checking out the articles provided below in the meantime!
Anxiety Therapy Orlando Resources
Orlando Therapist: Mindfulness vs. Meditation and Their Impact on Anxiety
Orlando Therapist Shares: 6 Anxiety-Friendly Activities to Do in Downtown Orlando
Anxiety Therapist Orlando Shares 4 Steps to Manage Anxiety
An Anxiety Therapist Shares Everything You Need to Know About Anxiety
Other Therapy Services Offered at Mindful Living Counseling in Orlando
At Mindful Living Counseling, we understand that stress can be a significant obstacle to overcome, but we also acknowledge that there may be other challenges that you may be facing. That's why we offer a wide range of therapy services, including Trauma Therapy, EMDR Therapy, and Teen Therapy, as well as Guided Meditations. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us. We're here to help you.