Guided Meditations
Guided meditations can be a powerful and supportive approach to help with OCD recovery. In addition to serving as a tool for grounding and calming the nervous system, guided meditations can also be a meaningful way to revisit and reinforce key recovery principles. Whether it's, for example, practicing embracing the exposure mindset, non-engagement with intrusive thoughts, building self-compassion, sitting with uncertainty, or reconnecting to values-based actions, guided meditations provide a structured space to remind, motivate, and deepen the daily use of recovery-oriented strategies. Moreover, with continued practice, over time the intentional practice transitions to becoming automatic, which is an empowering and powerful part of the OCD recovery process.
Our growing collection of guided meditations provides specific practices that are tailored for individuals working toward OCD recovery. A description of each of the guided meditations is provided below.
It is important to note that the guided meditations are designed as an educational and motivational support for individuals; the meditations are not therapy. They can be discussed and used in therapy sessions and can also be used outside of a therapy setting.
Exposure Empowerment Meditation
Exposure work is an important part of OCD recovery. This guided meditation connects you to both the challenge of committing to the exposure work process and to the value of being intentional and taking time to engage in the work. It also makes space for noticing your inner reactions when thinking about doing an exposure and provides structure and encouragement to engage in an exposure upon conclusion of the meditation.
Imaginal Exposure
This guided meditation is designed for individuals who have experience doing exposures (also called ERP) for their OCD and would like to prepare themselves to get into the exposure mindset. When doing exposures and focusing on the exposure mindset (i.e., one’s worries/intrusive thoughts), it is natural for the mind to wander. This recording helps remind and encourage people to focus on their exposure mindset. The prompts throughout the recording are intentionally scripted in a way to make them applicable to any OCD or anxiety theme.
Intention Setting: Acknowledging Pain and Gratitude
The focus of this guided meditation is to bring awareness to and make space for your inner pain. Taking time to validate and acknowledge the difficulty of living with OCD is an important part of the healing process. In addition to embracing the pain, this meditation also includes a gratitude practice – increasing your ability to experience and coexist with both pain and gratitude helps build a sense of connection and wholeness.