In life we all experience ups and downs. but sometimes the cards that we are dealt, can seem almost impossible to overcome. In times of extreme distress, meditation can be a key to relieving unrelenting woes. There is a popular social media meme, that says “The Struggle is Real.”  I personally have stopped using this phrase. One of my favorite spiritual leaders, Andrew Martin, recently stated that “Struggle is created by our unwillingness to accept what is in front of us.” Furthermore, he goes on to say, “Accepting it doesn't mean that you have to like it, but denying that it is, only keeps us rooted in struggle with it.”

Meditation can help you get through, and weather the storm, by releasing your fight against your pain and surrendering into your conscious choice to energetically transcend the struggle. The following meditation is one that I have written to help me get through my very own chaotic period of transition. Read through it to catch the flow. Make it your own, and enjoy!

How To Prepare for this meditation:

Lie down on a flat comfortable surface like a bed, or a yoga mat, making sure your spine is straight and aligned. You should be alone, and uninterrupted for at least the next 40 mins. Play some soothing music if you would like. Using earbuds is the best way to go.

Move Your Energy Through Your Body and Chakras.
Close your eyes, and take a deep breath in through your nose, and out through the mouth. As you breathe in, focus on your toes. Relax every muscle, as you release the breath out through your mouth. Continue this breathing exercise. Focus on your calves. Feel them pressing against the surface of your bed.

Feel your kneecaps buzzing with energy, as you let it subside, working up the rest of your legs. Feel the curve of your behind pressing into the surface beneath you. Be present, and feel the heaviness of every bit of your body, as you seamlessly move your energy up into your gut, around your ribs, to the base of your spine, at your root chakra. Let any tension dissolve around your spine, and imagine your energy surging up through your heart chakra.

Take a deep breath into your heart space, and release any resistance to letting go, as you release your breath. Breathe into your third eye and release, imagining a white beam of light project through your forehead. Feel the heaviness of your head against your pillow, as you breathe through your crown chakra. Release any sense of clog, or head chatter through your breath.

Pay attention to the palms of your hands by your sides, facing down, lightly touching the bed beneath them. Relax every finger and let them melt into the surface beneath you. You should be fully relaxed, and each chakra should be fully aligned.

Stay still and present, and aware of your body. Do not open your eyes, as you take your consciousness to this imaginary place.

Now you are ready.

The Struggle Ain't Real Meditation:
In your mind's eye, imagine yourself on a small rickety, wooden boat. It is cold and damp. The sun has just reached the tip of the horizon, and there is only dark, murky, water in sight for as far as your eyes can see. There are no mountains, there are no are no trees. It is just you on this boat in infinite space.

Your clothing is tethered, and heavy. Your body pruned from the rain. Imagine that you just survived a raging storm, in which your life jacket was ripped from your chest, and your paddle, loosened from your grip.

In your distress, you begin to use your hands to slap the water violently. Tears begin to fall from your eyes, and a sense of hopelessness calcifies in your heart. Feel this energy deeply. As you continue to fight, notice that there is a small crack in the bottom of the boat that begins to let water seep in. Naturally react to this discovery in your mind's eye.

Accept the fear. Accept the panic, Accept that this hurt and this hopelessness exists. Feel what this vibration feels like in your body. Feel how your energy reacts in every muscle. See that the water is continuing to fill up faster.

Now, I want you to STOP.

Stop fighting. Stop fighting the water, stop trying to seal the crack in the boat.

Lie down in the boat. Your palms are on your sides and you can feel every bit of the boat’s surface against your wet and cold body. Feel the water level rising. Release the tension in your muscles, and allow the water to become warm, and soothing. Forget about all the struggle before that point. Let it fade.

The rising water is now encasing your body. It is no longer cold, it is now comforting. It's almost as if you are in a cocoon or a womb. The water feeds you. It protects you. Feel the warm water rising and it is now above your ears, rising beneath the base of your neck, wetting the top of your head.

You can now feel the warmth of the sun beaming down on your open chest. This whole time, you never recognized the beauty and the comfort in the heat of the Sun. You can now hear birds chirping off in the distance, you have never heard them chirp before this moment. Be Still.

Beneath your body, you feel the hard wooden boards of the boat begin to soften as if they are melting into clay, saturated in the wetness of the water. With your fingers, you dig into this earthy clay. It feels like home. You melt your whole body into the warm clay beneath you. The boat is no longer there.

Open your eyes in this realm. See that you are lying on the edge of a white sand beach. Your tethered clothing has been renewed. The water is crystal clear. You are safe. Dry. Warm. In paradise.

Accept the peace. Accept the relief.  Accept that this joy and happiness exists. Feel what this vibration feels like in your physical body, feel how your energy reacts in every muscle. This is the place your consciousness wants to dwell.

Your island of peace, clarity, light, love, and warmth has been here all along. You have been on your paradise earth this whole time.

Stay in this Vibration to reverse your reaction to struggle.