Episode 12 – Letting Go of Stress | Daily Pause (5-Minute Guided Meditation)

Welcome to The Daily Pause, your 5-minute daily meditation podcast. Each session is a chance to pause, reset, and bring calm back into your day.

In this episode, we’ll practice letting go of stress—using the imagery of the ocean to release tension and make space for lightness and ease.

✨ Today’s meditation includes:

• Stress-releasing breathwork

• Guided ocean visualization

• Letting go of worries, one by one

• Creating spaciousness in mind and body

• Returning to calm presence

Stress can feel heavy, like carrying a pocket full of stones. This meditation helps you acknowledge those worries, release them, and return to a sense of freedom and clarity.

If you’d like to make mindfulness part of your everyday routine, subscribe now. Together, we’ll take these moments of calm one day at a time.

Full Guided Meditation Transcript

Welcome to the Daily Pause, your 5-minute daily meditation podcast. Each day I’ll guide you through a short practice of presence and calm to help you move through your day with clarity and ease. Think of this as your daily reset—a few minutes to breathe, reflect, and return to center.

If you’d like to make mindfulness part of your everyday routine, be sure to subscribe, and together, we’ll take these moments of calm one day at a time.

Welcome. Like normal, find a comfortable position. Allow your body to sink into the surface beneath you. Gently close your eyes.

Let’s begin by taking a deep, stress-releasing breath. Inhale slowly through your nose, gathering up all the tension in your body. And exhale with a soft “ah” sound out of your mouth, letting it all go.

Again, inhale—gather up all the stress. And exhale, releasing it.

Now allow your breath to return to its natural rhythm. Today we’re going to let go of the stress we’ve been carrying.

Imagine you’re standing on a quiet, sandy shore. The waves of the ocean are gently coming in and out.

Now, imagine that each stressful thought or worry you have is like a small stone you’ve been holding. One by one, I invite you to pick up one of these stones. Hold it for a moment. Acknowledge the stress it represents. And then gently toss it into the ocean.

As the wave comes in, it washes the stone away. And as the wave goes out, the stress disappears.

Breathe in a sense of calm. Breathe out the stress.

You don’t have to carry these stones with you. You can give them up to the vastness of the sea.

Feel the lightness in your body as you release these burdens. Notice the spaciousness you’ve created in your mind. You are no longer weighed down.

Take one last deep breath in, feeling that lightness. And as you exhale, gently bring your awareness back to the room.

When you’re ready, slowly open your eyes. Step into the rest of your day feeling lighter and freer.

That concludes today’s session. I hope to see you back tomorrow.