If work is feeling like too much right now.
This is a space to set it down for a moment.
Not to solve it,
Not to strategize.
Simply to breathe.
And to remember that you are more than your workload.
Let's begin.
Find a comfortable position,
Sitting or lying down.
Close your eyes.
And arrive here.
In this body.
In this breath.
In this moment.
Before anything else.
Now breathe in through the nose.
And out through the mouth.
In through the nose.
And out through the mouth.
And.
.
.
And a long easy out.
Everything else can wait.
While we're here together.
When work feels like too much.
There are usually several things happening at once.
There's the volume.
The sheer quantity of what is being asked.
There is the pace.
The sense that there's never quite enough time.
And there's often underneath all of that.
A creeping sense that you're not keeping up.
That despite everything you are doing.
It may not feel.
Like it's enough.
That last piece is often the most exhausting.
Not the work itself.
But the relationship with the work.
The persistent sense of falling short.
Even when you're working harder.
Than is sustainable.
So let me offer you something honest.
From my perspective.
The feeling that it is too much is often accurate.
It is not a sign of weakness.
It may be a sign that the demands genuinely exceed.
What one person can reasonably hold.
And that is important information.
Worth sitting with,
Not pushing away.
So right now.
Simply this.
A moment of rest.
You've earned it.
Let's move through the body.
And notice where the weight of the work is settled.
Starting at the top.
The head and face.
I need tension from concentration,
From screen time,
From decisions.
Simply breathe and acknowledge.
The neck and shoulders.
Often the first place professional stress settles.
Notice and release on the out breath.
The arms and hands.
If they've been at a keyboard or on a phone.
Let them rest open.
Heavy and still.
The chest.
If breathing has been shallow today.
And it often is when we're in doing mode.
Simply allow it to deepen the next in-breath.
The belly.
Do you feel any tension here?
Any holding or bracing.
Breathe with it.
And invade it to soften.
The whole of the back.
Supported.
You don't need to hold yourself up right now.
The legs and feet.
Heavy and still.
The whole body breathing.
A little lighter than it was.
Now let's work with the breath.
And a simple image of the sky and the clouds.
Imagine the mind as the sky.
Fast.
Open.
Unchanged.
The work thoughts,
The pressures.
The to-do list.
Their clouds.
Real.
Sometimes happy.
Sometimes blocking the light.
But the sky itself.
The awareness beneath all of that.
Is always there.
Spacious.
Present.
Unafraid of the weather.
Breathe in.
.
.
Connecting with the sky.
The open,
Spacious awareness that is you.
Underneath everything that's being asked of you today.
And breathe out,
Letting the clouds be clouds,
Real but passing.
In and spacious.
And out and releasing.
Continue at your own pace.
Now let's move to self-compassion for the working person.
Three phrases.
And we'll say them very slowly.
I am doing my best in conditions that are genuinely demanding.
I am more than my productivity.
My worth is not measured in my output.
I deserve rest.
Not when everything is done.
But regularly.
Because I am human.
Now let's take one final breath in.
And release.
When you return to your work.
And you will.
And that's fine.
Carry just a little of the spaciousness with you.
The sky is always there.
Thank you for being here with me today.
Take good care of yourself and I'll see you next time.
