Let's get comfortable,
Taking a moment to find a space that's quiet and private where you won't be disturbed and settling into a chair or perhaps lying down on soft grass or a rug and if you're comfortable to do so,
Closing your eyes.
Know where else to be right now,
Just here listening to my voice and noticing the movements of your body as you breathe in and out.
Just resting a moment,
Breathing in and out and beginning to relax,
Knowing that you can tune in or tune out of my voice,
This meditation,
At any time.
Days can be so busy,
So hectic.
We consume and process information constantly from books,
Screens,
Devices,
Connections,
Communications with countless others online,
On screen and face to face.
All whilst living our own experiences of family,
Social life,
On work life and our internal dialogues,
Processes,
Thoughts,
Emotions and stresses inside.
With all that's going on it's easy to forget how important it is to allow your system a time to calm down,
To quieten the body and the mind and to engender a quiet and calming down of the whole being.
In all the business,
All the stresses and concerns,
We can forget the importance of our own internal wellbeing,
Which of course in turn affects the wellbeing not just of ourselves but of those around us that we care about or are connected to.
One way of resetting and transitioning into a calmer state at any time is simply to directly and consciously connect to the breath,
Your breathing.
Just as you're doing now,
Pay a little more attention to the breath as it flows in and as it flows out of the body and noticing the movements as it does so.
Noticing the breath going in through the nose,
Down through the chest,
Abdomen to the belly and then a pause and then back up and out it flows.
Notice how the upper body lifts as you breathe in,
The rising of the shoulders and the chest,
The pulling in of the abdomen and then the filling up of the abdomen and belly before it all collapses and falls back as the chest slumps,
As the breath releases.
A pause and then another new breath begins again.
Just follow this breath and breathing for a moment.
Your breath is always with you,
All the time you are alive you are breathing so this simple calming reset can be accessed at any time,
Anywhere.
You can use it when you are stressed,
Anxious or angry as a way of balancing as you go about your day to day affairs.
Sometimes particularly if you are experiencing a strong or challenging emotion,
Its useful to bring a stronger focus into this exercise.
One of the ways is by using the 4-7-8 breathing practice.
You breathe in for 4 seconds,
Hold for 7 and then out for 8.
4-7-8.
In some situations you may not be able to hold on for 7 seconds in the pause or breathe out for the 8 so you may need to adjust it as you go.
So lets just try that now.
Breathing in 2-3-4,
Hold 2-3-4-5-6-7,
Out 2-3-4-5-6-7-8 and one more time,
Breathe in 2-3-4,
Hold 2-3-4-5-6-7,
Out 2-3-4-5-6-7-8.
Another form of reset is to identify and stay with a particular sense,
Like sound.
Simply listening to sounds around you.
Hearing is a natural and an automatic function so no effort required.
All that is needed is the attention to be aware of it.
So lets try this now.
Opening your awareness to the sounds around you and if you can just leaving a little bit of awareness on your breathing.
Still noticing the breath,
Still holding it in about 10% of your awareness but let the other 90% go out to the sounds around you.
Just letting sounds come and go.
They arrive and they pass away.
Arrive and pass away.
Not holding on to the sounds if they are pleasant,
Not pushing them away if they are unpleasant.
Just hearing what there is to hear because sound is happening.
And noticing when there is no sound.
Good,
Now returning all of your attention back to the breath,
Back to the breath and letting it rest there for a while.
Aware of the movements of your body and allowing yourself to be aware of my words as you breathe.
The more we practice paying attention to the breath or using a sense like hearing to invite awareness in,
The calmness of observation rather than engagement can prosper.
When we are objective we are not subjected to what's happening,
We are just aware of it and so having a space for the rational mind to choose whether to become engaged with whatever is happening or not.
You can also bring your thinking into direct experience,
Turning all other chatter,
Worries,
Anxieties in your mind right down.
So let's try that now.
We are not going to try and stop thinking,
Thinking is what the mind does naturally,
It's what it's meant to do,
Doing its job.
But we are choosing right now to not get caught up in that thinking process,
The mind's process.
So we are going to notice thoughts and then let them go,
Like the sounds,
Like the breathing.
Noticing but not pushing away.
Noticing but not holding onto thoughts either,
Just letting them arise and pass away.
Arise and pass away.
Not getting caught up in any particular thought,
Noticing and letting it flow by.
Note it and let it flow by.
Leaving as with the sounds just a little bit of our attention on the breath as we notice our thoughts and let them glow,
Dispersing like clouds in a big blue sky.
A monk associate of mine once said,
Trying not to catch or get caught by your thoughts is a bit like being on a busy basketball court with balls flying around,
Each ball representing a thought and how instinctively as one comes near us we reach out to catch it or dodge to avoid it.
The skill is to stand still.
Good.
The more you practice this the more you can begin to control the mental chatter and by consciously letting any negative,
Worrying or anxious thinking flow by you become more optimistic,
More empowered.
The practice itself inviting the positive into your life again.
And now letting the attention return to your breath,
Easily breathing,
Gently just relaxing and being aware and with your breath as it flows in and out of your body,
Moment by moment by moment.
Resetting ourselves,
Taking a calming reset is like resetting or refreshing your devices or your computer.
It takes a few minutes but it's worth doing when things are getting a little jumbled.
A calming reset is to take time to observe our surroundings rather than be engaged in our surroundings.
To pause the body and be still,
Just connecting with the moment that you are in,
Maybe using breath,
Maybe using sounds,
Maybe using the time that you are eating your food,
Being mindful of your eating.
Just to be in the moment as it is,
Without judgement,
To be in complete alignment with what's happening physically,
Mentally,
Emotionally.
To be in direct touch with what's happening because it is happening.
There is no agenda,
No goal to be met,
Just connecting to your life as it is at that moment with awareness.
A calming reset helps allow you to do whatever you are called to do and to do it to the best of your ability in a way that keeps your own wellbeing.
So let's pause and take a few conscious breaths to reset again and letting the out breath last a little longer than the in breath.
Relaxing more deeply as we move into a final short meditation called Meta or Loving Kindness.
Allowing your attention to remain resting on the breath and imagining in your mind's eye in front of you an image of yourself,
Your own face,
Your own being,
You holding that image in front of you,
Saying these words quietly to yourself.
May I be calm and connected.
May I be calm and connected.
May I be calm and connected.
May I be calm and connected.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I be healthy and strong.
May I be happy and peaceful.
May I be happy and peaceful.
May I be happy and peaceful.
And letting that image in front of you now melt away and bring to the fore the image of someone you care deeply about.
Someone close to you.
Someone you love.
And holding that image and saying those words.
May you be calm and connected.
May you be calm and connected.
May you be calm and connected.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you be healthy and strong.
May you be happy and peaceful.
And finally letting the image of that person go.
Extend your thinking and your image gathering to family and friends.
And maybe the community,
The people of the world near and far.
Speaking over them.
May we be calm and connected.
May we be calm and connected.
May we be healthy and strong.
May we be happy and peaceful.
Resting here.
Breathing gently for a few more moments.
And after you hear the sound of the gong,
Take in a deep breath in and a long slow breath out before opening your eyes and bringing yourself back.
Thanks so much for sharing this time with me.
Thank you.
