Stillness is Strength
Stillness is Strength - Meditation & Transcript
Written & Read by Nicoline Huizinga
So right now, give yourself full permission to pause, full permission to be still, to tune into your breathing and to tap into your inner strength.
All you have to do is to be here with yourself and with us. There is nothing to fix. There is nothing that needs to be solved. Just arrive.
Close your eyes and bring your awareness to your breath and put your hands on your belly. There's no need to control it. Just notice it. Just feel your breath. Feel your belly going up and down on your breath.
And when you inhale, inhale gently through the nose like this. And when you exhale, exhale slowly through the mouth.
Feel the ground beneath you, and when you're sitting, feel the chair that supports you and feel the earth supporting the chair. You don't need to carry it all. You are carried by mother earth.
Now let yourself settle in—not just in body, not just in breath, but also in being.
Now bring your awareness to the base of your spine, and that's your root. It's your place of grounded presence. It's your place of survival strength.
And imagine warm, earthy energy spiraling from this space downward, deep into the ground through your feet, down into the ground, down into the earth. And with every breath you feel yourself rooting. With every exhale you feel the stress leaving your body.
Mother Earth is patient with you and takes on all the stress that you feel in your body. You are safe. You are steady. You are grounded.
Now call to mind the intensity of the world right now. There is news. There is noise. There is conflict. There is negative energy. Just watch it and don't go into story. And just say inwardly, "I see it, but I don't need to become it. I can still hold space without losing my center."
Watching all this noise, stillness is my response. Stillness is my power.
And feel the difference between reaction and response. Feel how stillness offers you a choice—not to disengage from anything, but to anchor within yourself, to be the calm center, to be the eye of the storm.
Notice where stress might still be living in your body. Do you have tight shoulders? Do you have a fluttering chest? Do you have a heavy jaw? Breathe directly into that space. Send it warmth. Send it stillness. Send it compassion.
And tell yourself the following phrases:
"I release what is not mine to hold. Stress is a signal, not a sentence. I transmute tension into clarity because I have that power."
Feel your nervous system begin to soften like a muscle that no longer needs to brace. You are not broken. You were bracing for impact, and you no longer need to do that. You can let go.
Now imagine a quiet lake, completely still, untouched by the wind. You are that lake. Stillness is not emptiness. Stillness is depth. It is presence. It is strength held in silence.
And repeat, if you want to, either in your mind or out loud if you want to:
"I am allowed to pause. I give myself permission to pause. Stillness is where I remember who I am. Stillness is my strength, and even in chaos I remain whole."
And this is today's gift: to root deeply enough that nothing shakes you, to be still and still be strong.
Feel the stillness in your body and feel the power of that stillness. It's all in you. It was there all along, but it's so easy to forget.
Now slowly begin to return to your body. Feel the rise and fall of your breath. Gently wiggle your fingers. Wiggle your toes. And when you're ready, open your eyes, and then you're back. But you're back with this stillness, this strength, this grounding that you can carry with you.