The following meditation known as Spinning the Spine is from John Gabriel’s book, The Gabriel Method. It is a very effective technique to pacify the nervous system and combat stress instantaneously. All you need for this meditation is one minute of your time. It is perfectly accessible for people who are new to meditation or don’t have a regular meditation practice. 

This meditation involves a visualization which is focused on the spine. The spine is the center of the nervous system. The goal of the meditation is to send healing, calming energy into your nervous system which can then permeate through to the rest of your body. 

Begin by taking a few deep abdominal breaths. Once you feel centered, take your attention to your spine. The task is to visualize energy spiraling around each of your 24 vertebrae from the base of the spine all the way up to the skull. Measure the journey of this energy with your breath. With every breath you take, the energy circles around one vertebra. So in total you will take 24 breaths to reach the top of your spine. If you’ve got a few more minutes, you can do more rounds of this for activating deeper states of relaxation. 

This practice deactivates the body’s stress response, activating the parasympathetic nervous system which is responsible for making you calm and centered. 

If you want to take it one step further, you can imagine words of affirmation spiraling up your vertebrae instead of just energy. You can visualize phrases like “I am completely relaxed” or “I am becoming more and more loving” or just one word like “Peace” or “Love”. Imagine the essence of these words seeping into every corner of your nervous system, charging your body with their positive, healing energy. 

After just a minute, you will find that your body relaxes and your mind becomes passive. If you do this meditation regularly, you will be able to unlock instantaneous states of bliss and relaxation whenever you feel overwhelmed or anxious.