If you are dreaming about next vacation on the beach, but for some reason, you can’t go there now, there is a great option to do it virtually! Of course, a virtual vacation is not exactly the same as the real one, but it is very helpful for stress relief, mood improvement and simply energy boost. Plus, no money spent and no need to take days off. Devote to yourself only 10-15 minutes of your time and you are on the beach.
Find a quiet place or simply use headphones with soothing music, sit or lie down. If you are familiar with walking meditation, you can as well do it when you walk or even run!
If you are sitting or lying down, I would suggest to close your eyes fully. If you are walking or running, you can simply look down, so your eyelids are half-closed and you can concentrate on your imagery. For a moment, focus on your breathing. Breath steadily and calmly. You can use any approach to reach calm meditative state. I find, that one of the most effective and fastest is to imagine yourself going down the stairs. You need to imagine it in this way that you really start feeling that you are walking down. You can imagine as many stairs as you need to, until you reach hypnotic trance. If stairs don’t work for you for some reason, imagine a fast elevator, that goes all the way down to the last floor. You can count yourself down from 10 to 1.
Let yourself float down either on the stairs or an elevator or just by focusing on your breath. As you reach calmness and peace, bring up in your memory or just imagine a bright sunny day and you are on the beach. Start, by recreating how the sun feels on your skin, what smells you can smell around, what sounds you could hear?
Continue your imaginary journey by walking down, closer to water, where you stop, take a deep breath and just watch the waves. Fresh breeze plays with your hair and warm sunrays re-energize you… Spend few moments there, without thinking about anything. You are on vacation, on the beach. Notice the sand, it’s temperature and texture, the sky, the trees.
Notice how good it feels to be outside, in nature. Take few more moments, observing the beach…The sea shells, the waves, blue sky… You can simply “float” in this state, without focusing on anything specific but rather just enjoying the moment, being re-energized by the sun-rays…
If you would like to, imagine going for a dip or a swim, visualizing how waves are washing off any negative stress from your body, your mind…
If you have a moment, you can “stay” on the beach, perhaps seeing yourself doing yoga or just walking along the shore, otherwise, slowly bring yourself back to reality, feeling refreshed and energized!
Open your eyes, stretch or shake your arms, smile, voilà!
Welcome back from your virtual beach vacation! Make it a habit, take yourself to virtual vacation every day or at least once a week, absolutely free, satisfaction guaranteed!