The Devoted Friend by Oscar Wilde — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A gentle bedtime story to help you drift off tonight: Oscar Wilde's sharply funny fable The Devoted Friend, read slowly and unhurried for sleep and insomnia relief. This continues the Books at Bedtime strand — also known as Coffee Break for the Soul — from the Calming Anxiety podcast, a series of classic story readings designed as a calming audiobook for restless nights.

 For the full library, plus ambient night-light features for the small hours, download Anchored on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

Play store - https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.martinhewlett.anchored




 

Narrated softly by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic, this reading follows kind-hearted little Hans and the rich miller who calls himself Hans's most devoted friend while quietly taking advantage of his generosity. Framed as a story-within-a-story, told by a linnet to a rather pompous water rat beside a pond, it's classic Wilde — witty, satirical, and gently moralising, ideal as an unhurried listen for falling asleep or quieting an anxious mind before bed.

 

First published in 1888 in the collection The Happy Prince and Other Tales, Oscar Wilde's The Devoted Friend is in the public domain worldwide (Wilde died in 1900); this reading is Calming Anxiety's own narration of the classic public-domain text.

 

This episode continues the Books at Bedtime strand, alongside The Selfish Giant, The Happy Prince, The Sphinx Without a Secret, The Nightingale and the Rose, and The Model Millionaire (also by Oscar Wilde), and classic short fiction from Katherine Mansfield, Kate Chopin, and Arthur Conan Doyle — currently working through The Hound of the Baskervilles — with new instalments added regularly to the main Calming Anxiety feed.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins





Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Replaying Today, Rehearsing Tomorrow? — A Racing Thoughts Meditation | Sigh Breathing & The Train Platform

 

If your mind won't switch off — replaying today and rehearsing tomorrow all at once — you don't have to make it stop. Just for the next ten minutes, let's do something different. If a busy mind catches you somewhere without headphones, there's a free Instant Calm session inside the Anchored app: no sign-up, no subscription, works offline, ready the second you need it. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, today's episode starts with a simple sigh-style breath — in through the nose, out slower and longer, like a natural sigh — before offering a new way to picture a busy mind: not broken, just busy, with thoughts arriving like trains pulling into a station. You don't have to chase every train, or check where it's going. You can simply notice it arrive, and let it leave the platform.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – Cold open: if your mind won't switch off

* 00:24 – Channel open & Anchored Instant Calm

* 00:49 – Breathing: the sigh breath

* 02:21 – Why a busy mind isn't broken

* 03:13 – The train platform

* 04:34 – Coming back into the room

* 05:16 – Today's Gentle Affirmations

* 06:39 – Affirmations, second pass

* 08:03 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 08:53 – Coming back, stretch and open your eyes

* 09:21 – Outro, Anchored & an Android update

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

Let these words land:

I do not have to follow every thought.

I can let a thought arrive and then let it leave.

I do not have to solve tomorrow, tonight.

My mind can be busy while I stay calm.

I can come back to this moment anytime I need to.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

1. **Picture it leaving the platform** — When a racing thought pulls at you tonight, picture it as a train leaving the station without you.

2. **Three rounds before bed** — Before bed, breathe out longer than you breathe in. Just three rounds is enough to tell your body it's safe to rest.

3. **Write it down, don't carry it** — If your mind starts listing tomorrow's problems, write one line down on paper. You do not have to carry it in your head as well.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

If this helped, Anchored is there for you between episodes — free Instant Calm, no sign-up, works offline. 👉 [Download Anchored on the App Store Today](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669)

 

If you know someone whose mind won't switch off either, sharing this episode costs nothing and might mean everything to them — and a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps more people find this when they need it most.

 

…be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

Anchored is Now on Android! — Free Anxiety & Panic Attack Relief App with Guided Meditation, Breathing Exercises & Sleep Stories

 

Anchored is now on Android. After a long wait, the anxiety relief app and panic attack relief app that started life right here on Calming Anxiety is finally available on both Android and iPhone — guided breathing exercises, guided meditation for anxiety, and an Instant Calm SOS feature you can reach for the moment you need it. Get it free on Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.martinhewlett.anchored — or on the App Store for iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

The Calming Anxiety podcast isn't going anywhere — it stays completely free, with thousands of episodes for you to keep listening to on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. But where the podcast player is built for listening, Anchored is built as a toolkit: something to reach for right when anxiety or a panic attack hits, whether that's at your desk, in bed, on a plane, or in the supermarket at 3am.

 

Inside the app: an Instant Calm SOS session that drops you straight into calm without searching, works free, premium, and fully offline; visual breathing tools you can simply watch and follow, so you're never trying to remember or count a complicated breathing pattern mid-panic; and a growing Books at Bedtime library — now 40 sleep stories, all narrated personally by Martin, for the anxious 3am moments as much as the ordinary bedtime ones. Anchored Premium adds ad-free listening, saved favourites, offline downloads, extra breathing and relaxation tools, and an ambient night-light feature to help you drift off.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – Anchored is now on Android

* 00:19 – Why an app, when the podcast is already free?

* 01:05 – Instant Calm SOS

* 01:31 – Visual breathing tools — just watch and breathe

* 01:58 – Books at Bedtime: 40 narrated sleep stories

* 02:19 – Anchored Premium: ad-free, offline, ambient night light

* 02:52 – Why it's called Anchored

* 03:54 – How to find it on Google Play or the App Store

* 04:33 – Thank you

 

📱 Get Anchored — Available Now on Android & iPhone

Search "Anchored panic and anxiety" on Google Play or the App Store, or use the direct links below. Free to download, with Instant Calm always available, no subscription required.

👉 [Get Anchored on Google Play](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.martinhewlett.anchored)

👉 [Get Anchored on the App Store](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669)

 

If you've been with me through the sleepless nights, the panic attacks, and the anxious thoughts over the years — thank you, seriously. Anchored started with one idea: what if everything we've learned together on this podcast could sit in your pocket for whenever you need it? Now it does.

 

…be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

The Model Millionaire by Oscar Wilde — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A soothing bedtime story to help you drift off tonight: Oscar Wilde's witty, warm-hearted tale The Model Millionaire, read slowly and gently for sleep, insomnia relief, and unhurried listening. This continues the Books at Bedtime strand — also known as Coffee Break for the Soul — from the Calming Anxiety podcast, a series of classic story readings designed as a calming audiobook for restless or anxious nights.

 For the full library, plus ambient night-light features for the small hours, download Anchored on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Narrated softly by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic, this reading follows Hughie Erskine, a charming but penniless young man in love, who gives his last coin to a pitiful old beggar sitting for a painter friend — never dreaming the beggar is secretly one of the richest men in Europe. A gentle, quietly funny story about kindness rewarded, rather than anything unsettling — ideal as a sleep story or relaxation audiobook for falling asleep, insomnia, and quieting an anxious mind before bed.

 

First published in the newspaper The World in June 1887, and later collected in Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories in 1891, Oscar Wilde's The Model Millionaire is in the public domain worldwide (Wilde died in 1900); this reading is Calming Anxiety's own narration of the classic public-domain text.

 

This episode continues the Books at Bedtime strand, alongside The Selfish Giant, The Happy Prince, The Sphinx Without a Secret, and The Nightingale and the Rose (also by Oscar Wilde), and classic short fiction from Katherine Mansfield, Kate Chopin, and Arthur Conan Doyle — currently working through The Hound of the Baskervilles — with new instalments added regularly to the main Calming Anxiety feed.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

I Need to Calm Down — A 10-Minute Meditation for Anxiety & Panic | Extended Exhale Breathing

 

If you've just thought the words "I need to calm down" — stop. Don't do anything else yet. Just stay right here for a second. Your heart might be racing, your chest might feel tight, your mind might be moving too fast to catch — and for the next ten minutes, none of that needs fixing straight away.

If you need this again later, Anchored's Instant Calm session is there any time, no waiting:

 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, today's session uses a gentle, longer-exhale breathing pattern before reframing anxious sensations through the idea of an alarm system: loud, real, and impossible to ignore — but a signal, not a verdict. It's a short reminder that a racing heart or tight chest means you're uncomfortable, not in danger, and that those aren't the same thing.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – Cold open: if you've just thought "I need to calm down"

* 00:40 – Channel open & Anchored Instant Calm

* 01:03 – Breathing: the longer exhale

* 02:04 – Your alarm system: a signal, not a verdict

* 03:32 – Stepping out of the loop

* 03:51 – Grounding: you are here

* 04:17 – Today's Gentle Affirmations

* 06:22 – Affirmations, second pass

* 08:03 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 08:47 – Coming back, stretch and open your eyes

* 09:26 – Outro & be kind

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

Repeat these softly, in the sanctuary of your own thoughts:

I can feel this without fighting it.

My body is allowed to settle at its own pace.

A sensation is not a prediction.

I do not have to solve this moment.

I can breathe and stay here.

I can let this wave pass.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

1. **Catch it early** — Notice the first sign of anxiety rather than waiting until it feels overwhelming.

2. **Lengthen, don't gulp** — When it arrives, lengthen your out-breath rather than trying to take one enormous breath.

3. **Don't investigate straight away** — Give it a moment before deciding what a sensation means, rather than examining every one immediately.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

If this feeling comes back, Anchored will be there — the big blue Instant Calm button on the main page, working without signal on the free version, any time you need it. 👉 [Download Anchored on the App Store Today](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669)

 

If today's session helped, please share it with a friend, family member, or colleague — and a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps more people find this when they need it most.

 

…be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

The Nightingale and the Rose by Oscar Wilde — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A soothing bedtime story to help you drift off tonight: Oscar Wilde's beautiful, bittersweet fairy tale The Nightingale and the Rose, read slowly and gently for sleep, insomnia relief, and unhurried listening. This continues the Books at Bedtime strand — also known as Coffee Break for the Soul — from the Calming Anxiety podcast, a series of classic story readings designed as a calming audiobook for restless or anxious nights.

For the full library, plus ambient night-light features for the small hours, download Anchored on iOS:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Narrated softly by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic, this reading follows a heartbroken young student who longs for a single red rose to win the girl he loves, and the little nightingale in the oak tree above who resolves, quietly and selflessly, to give him one. A gentle, atmospheric fable about love and sacrifice rather than anything unsettling — ideal as a sleep story or relaxation audiobook for falling asleep, insomnia, and quieting an anxious mind before bed.

 

First published in 1888 in the collection The Happy Prince and Other Tales, Oscar Wilde's The Nightingale and the Rose is in the public domain worldwide (Wilde died in 1900); this reading is Calming Anxiety's own narration of the classic public-domain text.

 

This episode continues the Books at Bedtime strand, alongside The Selfish Giant, The Happy Prince, and The Sphinx Without a Secret (also by Oscar Wilde), and classic short fiction from Katherine Mansfield, Kate Chopin, and Arthur Conan Doyle — currently working through The Hound of the Baskervilles — with new instalments added regularly to the main Calming Anxiety feed.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

I Think I'm Having a Panic Attack — A 10-Minute Meditation to Feel Calm Again

 

If your heart just did something it isn't supposed to do — if you're sat there right now thinking, "I'm having a panic attack" — this episode is for you. For the next ten minutes you don't have to make anything happen, fix this feeling, or force it to go away. You just have to be here. When this feeling shows up again, Anchored is built for exactly this moment: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669 — including a box breathing section where you can build your own breathing rhythm, in Martin's own voice, not an AI-generated one.

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, today's episode uses extended exhale breathing — simply making the out-breath a little longer than the in-breath, no counting required — before working through why a racing heart becomes frightening in the first place: fear draws attention, attention creates more fear, and the watching becomes its own loop. A single, fully-developed wave metaphor carries the episode's therapeutic heart — you are not the wave, you are the sea underneath it, steady long after the wave has gone.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – Cold open: if your heart just did something it isn't supposed to do

* 00:53 – Channel open & Anchored

* 01:41 – Breathing: extended exhale breathing

* 02:59 – The loop: why a racing heart becomes frightening

* 03:41 – The wave

* 04:40 – Sensory grounding

* 05:22 – Today's Gentle Affirmations

* 06:45 – Affirmations, second pass

* 08:00 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 08:52 – Coming back, stretch and open your eyes

* 09:37 – Outro & be kind

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

Let these words land:

I do not have to fight every sensation.

I can let this wave move through me.

I do not have to know what happens next.

I am allowed to feel frightened without becoming frightened of the fear itself.

I can breathe gently and let myself settle.

I can be here, one breath at a time.

And once more, the one worth keeping: I can stay with this moment.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

1. **Learn the pattern while you're calm** — Learn one simple breathing pattern while you're calm, so it's already familiar to you if anxiety rises.

2. **Notice without catastrophising** — When you notice the very first sign of panic, try not to interpret it as a catastrophe straight away — just notice it, and nothing more.

3. **Let it be finished** — After it passes, try not to spend the next few hours going back over every sensation asking what if it happens again. Let it be finished when it's finished.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

If this feeling comes back later, download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, a box breathing section where you can build your own breathing rhythm, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours — all in Martin's own voice.

👉 [Download Anchored on the App Store Today](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669)

 

Please do share this episode with a friend or colleague who may need it too — and a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps more people find this when they need it most.

 

…be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

The Sphinx Without a Secret by Oscar Wilde — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A soothing bedtime story to help you drift off tonight: Oscar Wilde's quietly haunting tale The Sphinx Without a Secret, read slowly and gently for sleep, insomnia relief, and unhurried listening. This continues the Books at Bedtime strand — also known as Coffee Break for the Soul — from the Calming Anxiety podcast, a series of classic story readings designed as a calming audiobook for restless or anxious nights.

 For the full library, plus ambient night-light features for the small hours, download Anchored on iOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Narrated softly by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic, this reading follows Lord Murchison, who confides in an old Oxford friend over dinner in Paris about a mysterious widow he has fallen for in London, a woman wrapped in secrecy who insists her letters go to a lending library rather than her own home. A slow, unhurried mystery rather than anything unsettling — ideal as a sleep story or relaxation audiobook for falling asleep, insomnia, and quieting an anxious mind before bed.

 

First published under the title "Lady Alroy" in 1887, and later renamed The Sphinx Without a Secret by Wilde himself when it was collected in Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Other Stories in 1891, this Oscar Wilde tale is in the public domain worldwide (Wilde died in 1900); this reading is Calming Anxiety's own narration of the classic public-domain text.

 

This episode continues the Books at Bedtime strand, alongside The Selfish Giant and The Happy Prince (also by Oscar Wilde) and classic short fiction from Katherine Mansfield, Kate Chopin, and Arthur Conan Doyle — currently working through The Hound of the Baskervilles — with new instalments added regularly to the main Calming Anxiety feed.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

You Don't Need Everything Fixed — Just Calm — Guided Meditation for Effort Fatigue & Anxiety | Coherent Breathing

 

You're not asking for much, and you don't need every problem solved or your whole life fixed — you just want to feel calm again, even for a moment. If trying to relax has started to feel like just another task on your list, this guided meditation is for you.

We'll use coherent breathing to steady the body, then a simple visualisation for the exhausting habit of trying too hard to feel okay. When this feeling shows up again, Anchored is there: https:

//apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669

 

Hosted by clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic Martin Hewlett, today's session uses coherent breathing — in for a count of four, out for a count of six — before reframing calm through the image of easing off an accelerator: not slamming to a stop, just lifting the foot, and noticing that the car slows on its own the moment you stop pushing. Perhaps calm isn't something to chase, but something you can simply stop getting in the way of.

 

⏱️ Time Chapters

* 00:00 – Welcome: you just want to feel calm again

* 00:47 – Breathing: coherent breathing, round one

* 01:40 – Breathing, round two

* 02:41 – The accelerator: easing off instead of pushing harder

* 04:09 – Breathing, round three

* 05:15 – Today's Gentle Affirmations

* 07:56 – Three Daily Caring Tips

* 08:54 – Coming back, stretch and open your eyes

* 09:33 – Outro & be kind

 

🌿 Today's Gentle Affirmations

Visualise these words, then repeat them softly if you wish:

I do not have to fix everything right now.

I can let myself slow down.

I am allowed to rest.

I do not have to chase calm. I simply allow it.

I can simply be here for these few minutes.

 

💡 3 Daily Caring Tips

1. **Ease off instead of pushing harder** — Today, when you notice yourself rushing towards calm, try easing off instead of pushing harder.

2. **Give yourself 60 seconds** — Give yourself 60 seconds today when you don't fill the silence with anything at all.

3. **Register the calmer moments** — Notice one moment today when you feel even slightly calmer, and let yourself register it rather than moving straight past it.

 

📱 Take Calming Anxiety With You Anywhere

If you need to come back to this feeling later, download Anchored on iOS. Access over 3,000 searchable, offline-ready audio sessions, sleep stories with Books at Bedtime, and built-in nightlight features for the small hours.

 👉 [Download Anchored on the App Store Today](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/anchored-panic-anxiety/id6785035669)

 

If today's session helped, please share it with a friend, family member, or colleague — and a 30-second rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify helps more people find this when they need it most.

 

…be kind.

 

 

👉 Click to subscribe and unlock ad-free episodes now!

 

Support the Show:

 

Rate & Review: Leave a 5-star review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts to help us reach more listeners!

 

YouTube: Watch all episodes at https://www.youtube.com/c/calminganxiety?sub_confirmation=1

 

Social Media Support: For younger listeners struggling with social media stress, visit https://www.icanhelp.net/

 

Music: All music by Chris Collins



Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/calming-anxiety-guided-meditation-sleep-hypnosis-panic-attack-relief--4110266/support.

Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.

The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde (Part 1) — A Calming Bedtime Story for Sleep & Insomnia | Books at Bedtime

 

A soothing bedtime story to help you drift off tonight: Oscar Wilde's beloved fairy tale The Happy Prince, read slowly and gently for sleep, insomnia relief, and quiet, unhurried listening. This is Part 1 of a two-part reading in the Books at Bedtime strand — also known as Coffee Break for the Soul — from the Calming Anxiety podcast, a series of classic story readings designed as a calming audiobook for anxious or restless nights.

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Narrated softly by Martin Hewlett, clinical hypnotherapist and former paramedic, this reading follows a gilded statue high above a city, and the little swallow who stops to shelter at his feet — and stays to hear what the statue has seen from up there. Part 2 continues and completes the story, out soon on the main feed. No jump scares, no urgency, nothing to keep your mind alert — just a slow, unhurried voice and a classic tale, ideal as a sleep story or relaxation audiobook for falling asleep, insomnia, and quieting an anxious mind before bed.

 

First published in 1888 in the collection The Happy Prince and Other Tales, Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince is in the public domain worldwide (Wilde died in 1900); this reading is Calming Anxiety's own narration of the classic public-domain text.

 

This episode continues the Books at Bedtime strand, alongside The Selfish Giant (also by Oscar Wilde) and classic short fiction from Katherine Mansfield, Kate Chopin, and Arthur Conan Doyle — currently working through The Hound of the Baskervilles — with new instalments added regularly to the main Calming Anxiety feed.

 

 

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Music: All music by Chris Collins



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Ready for More Calm?Thank you for listening to the Calming Anxiety Podcast, featuring guided meditation, mindfulness, and sleep hypnosis sessions with Martin Hewlett. Our mission is to provide you with proven tools for anxiety relief, stress reduction, and a path toward deep relaxation. Use this episode anytime you need to calm your mind and feel more at ease.