Hospice patients relax in a Meditation Session

Patients visiting the Living Well Service, for one of their 12 week sessions, were feeling nicely relaxed as they headed off for the weekend.

Volunteer, Daksha Parmar, led a relaxing guided meditation session in the Evelyn Living Well Centre at the Hospice in Shelford Bottom, Cambridge. Gentle music was playing as she sat quietly next to her singing bowls, which create an energy that may centre the body, mind, and soul.

Whilst the patients were comfortably seated, they were encouraged to take deep breaths in and out, as if imagining blowing up a balloon in the belly and then breathing out all the air from it. This helps to relax and calm the body physically and mentally.

Daksha explained that meditation encourages self-healing and helps us to feel fully grounded, also by thinking of healing energies, a loving healing light, being sent to our bodies and to our chakras.

According to Hindu and Buddhist spiritual traditions, chakras are the energy centres of the body. They are located in the astral body, along the spine, starting at its base and running upwards to the crown of the head. The astral body is the energy body residing inside our physical body.

She explained there are seven main Chakra Energies which also relate to a colour:

1. Crown Chakra (Sahasrara)  – gold
2. Third-Eye Chakra (Ajna) – indigo
3. Throat Chakra (Vishuddha)  – blue
4. Heart Chakra (Anahata)  – pink
5. Solar Plexus Chakra (Manipura) – yellow
6. Sacral Chakra (Svadhisthana) – orange
7. Root Chakra (Muladhara) – red

Daksha encouraged relaxation with visualisation suggestions:

 “Imagine a beautiful golden white radiant light, like the rays of the sun, covering your whole body and like a waterfall coming down and covering you from your head to your toes. 

Then imagine your body filling up with this healing light/energy, filling up in your toes and feet, up into your calves, knees, thighs, hips, back and stomach, up into your chest, shoulders, down both arms and into hands. moving up into your neck and into your head. See it entering into every single cell in the body”

Daksha added:

“Take some deep breaths in and slowly breathe out – keeping a steady rhythm of this relaxed deep breathing. With each breath, relax a little more.  Breathe in love and breathe out any stresses, anxieties, worry, fear and anything that does not serve you anymore.” 

Whilst Daksha made some beautiful sounds with the Tibetan singing bowls, she encouraged the patients to:

“Listen to the sound they make and ‘just be’ with yourself in the moment.”

She continued with some sound advice:

 “Try to give yourself some time for yourself to find peace and calmness within you, where you do not have to do or achieve. Acknowledge thoughts and any sounds while in your meditation and just let them go.”

Patients at the Living Well Service are invited to a short, guided meditation experience at the end of each session.

Ann-Marie Lydon, Staff Nurse at the Living Well Service said:

“Patients visiting the Living Well Service have a range of different advanced serious illnesses or other life-limiting conditions. The sessions are designed to give them support to live well by giving them the opportunity to meet and talk to others in similar situations, manage symptoms such as anxiety, fatigue and breathlessness, focus on positive elements of life, exercise, learn new things and relax. Daksha’s meditation session does all of this and the patients found it very beneficial.”  

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Daksha also volunteers on our Inpatient Unit and delivers meditation sessions in Arthur’s Shed, which is open to members of the public. Visit arhc.org.uk/arthurs-shed for more information or to read more about Daksha, visit arhc.org.uk/team/detail/daksha-parmar/