Meditation to come back to yourself when practice seems impossible

If you are exhausted, discouraged, and disconnected from all the struggles and suffering in the world, you are not alone. In times of great upheaval, practicing mindfulness can seem impossible. Try this simple, grounding meditation to pause, regain compassion and clarity, and come back to yourself.

Many of us witness suffering all over the planet every day. We care about others and are desperate to be of service—and seeing the horrors of images, videos, and stories on a daily basis can severely dysregulate our nervous systems.

When this secondary trauma engulfs us, we tend to shut down. We switch off for ourselves and each other. We are so wrapped up in our anxiety, anger, or overwhelm that it can seem impossible to participate any a type of mindfulness or meditation practice.

This week, Shalini Bahl offers gentle and practical guidance on how to pause, reconnect, and return to yourself and your essential practice during times of intense inner and outer turmoil.

Meditation to come back to yourself when practice seems impossible

Read the guided meditation script below, pausing after each paragraph. Or listen to the audio practice.

1. Welcome and thank you for being herefor caring enough to engage despite the multitude of things you could be doing with your time. What the world needs right now are people who can stay grounded while facing the suffering we all witness with open hearts and minds, people who can act with wisdom and not overwhelm. People who are not lost in the chaos. But we lose ourselves, all of us.
2. As we witness crisis after crisis after crisis, our nervous system breaks down. We lose touch with our wisdom, our intentions, our sense of what we should do. This practice helps us to come back.
3. We will move along three paths to return home to ourselves. First, internal calmwhere you return to clarity and agency. Then compassionwhere we are going to reconnect with our humanity and others. And finally curiositywhere you discover what you actually need to do, what you can do. If you find that one path calls you more than others, don’t hesitate to stay there longer. Trust what you need most. So, ready to get started?
4. Adopt a position that feels supported while lying or sitting. Feel the lengthening along the back of your spine and neck. Roll your shoulders up, back and down. When you feel ready, lower or close your eyes.
5. From this place of presence, let’s begin with three intentional breaths. Inhale through your nose and slowly exhale through your mouth. If you want, you can sigh as you exhale.
6. Now return to your natural breathing rhythm. Invite your mind to be here with your body, with your breath, resting in your awareness of the immediate sensations of the breath in the region of your heart. Focus your attention on one place in your body, the heart area, as you inhale, perhaps noticing the space that is created in your chest. And as you exhale relax, letting go just for those few moments, letting go of any rush, any expectations or judgments.
7. If you want, place one or both hands on your chest. Especially on days when our minds are busy, we feel fragmented. Placing one or both hands on the chest can really relieve the nervous system. Feel the warmth or coolness of your hands. The rise and fall of your breasts under your arms, the contact with your body, the feeling of your heart beating.
8. Give your full attention to each inhale, each exhale, and rest in the pauses in between. Pay attention to the place where your inhale turns into an exhale. And a short pause before the new breath enters the body.
9. Your mind may wander from time to time, and that’s natural. Once you notice this, kindly invite your mind to return to this place of rest and awareness in the region of your heart. Connect with your immediate experience of breathing as you are. And notice if there is any desire here, to give up all effort to even meditate as the breath moves and your awareness. All you do is return to the awareness of this breath moving effortlessly in and out of your body.
10. Just for these few moments, allow yourself to rest. To replenish oneself, to feel the resources. And when your mind and body feel stabilized by listening to yourself, ask yourself: What will help you feel rested and refreshed? What would self-care look like at this point? It can be as simple as turning to yourself with kindness, appreciating the goodness of your heart and mind. Take this time to listen to what you need more of, more rest, more movement, more connection. Allow yourself to be held by your loving kindness.
11. Based on this innate capacity for kindness, for compassion, carefully notice who you may have hardened against today. You don’t have to start with the most difficult person, the one whose actions seem unforgivable. It’s easier to start with someone. Maybe someone who said something online rubbed you the wrong way. Maybe someone doesn’t understand or see you. Maybe a family member, a colleague, a stranger. Or maybe yourself. With kindness, just notice the hardness. No need to change or fix. Just feel how it lives in your body, in your chest or stomach, in your throat. Breathe in to make room for him, to make room around him.
12. Acknowledge this firmness, its protection. You have seen unbearable things. You are hurt. Hardness makes sense. And it’s also a turn off. A disconnection from our relational intelligence, from our ability to see our shared humanity. And if it’s helpful, gently ask this question: What if you grew up in their circumstances? What if you had received the same information, the same upbringing, the same experience? Who would you be? Can you tone it down a bit? That we are all shaped by causes and conditions, often beyond our control. You may disagree with them or even condone what they do. Can you tell that this person was suffering the same way I was? Does this person also want to be happy like I do?
13. Using your breath as an anchor to stay connected to yourself and your kind heart – do you feel that invisible thread connecting you? You both breathe the same air, drink the same water. Living on the same planet we all call home.
14. Take a few minutes to listen. What changes when we tap into this common humanity?
15. From this place of connection with ourselves and our shared humanity, let us explore what is important to you, what is possible, and what you should do. So back to our open awareness. What is most important to you at this moment? Take this time to reconnect with your deepest intentions and values. You might ask questions like: What am I not seeing? What might your body be trying to tell you that your mind is missing?
16. Not trying to find anything special or looking for answers, just staying in touch with your body. Trust your inner knowing as you consider actions you can take that align with your intentions, your unique gifts, your values. What if there’s something you haven’t tried yet? Some approach you hadn’t considered or some alliance you hadn’t imagined? Open your mind and heart to new possibilities. Even if you don’t get concrete answers right now, just hold the question, willing to love the unanswered question and be willing to live with it.
17. From this place of open curiosity, of wanting to see what you’ve missed, ask what’s really possible here. Not what you’ve always done, not what everyone is doing or telling you to do, but what you should be doing and what will really help when you need more clarity. Try journaling, being in nature, and doing any other activity that helps you come back to yourself to feel connected, alive, present with the gift of this life at this time on this planet earth.
18. Even when we finish this practice, remember that you can come back at any time. Whenever you find yourself lost in the scroll, in anger and numbness, you can return to inner peace, compassion and the innate ability to keep an open and curious mind. Clarity, humanity and creativity live here.

Thanks for the practice. May our practice together benefit us and all beings.