Hi,
My name's AJ Bicar.
I'm going to help you start using mindfulness in the workplace to help you focus,
To reduce stress and to increase efficiency.
The University of Massachusetts Medical Centre has applied mindfulness since 1975.
24,
000 plus patients,
Countless clinicians,
Physicians and researchers have proved that this integrative medicine enlarges the parts of your brain responsible for learning,
Memory,
Emotional intelligence,
Self-esteem and perspective and shrinks the parts of the brain responsible for knee-jerk reactions,
Fear,
Anger,
Stress and insomnia.
The integrative in integrative medicine refers to the drugs,
The surgery,
The treatment,
The rehab and mindfulness all together.
The mind and the body.
It sounds obvious when you think about it.
Most of us are dragged along all day long by the narrative in our minds and we pay little care or attention to our bodies.
Using mindfulness in a business setting brings you back into contact with an old friend,
A bit like looking at your reflection for the first time.
Close your eyes and picture that for a second.
Look at that person in the mirror in your mind's eye,
That person that laughs when you laugh and cries when you cry.
There's no judgement here,
No striving to be this or to be that.
There's only patience,
Awareness,
Acceptance and trust.
Take a nice deep breath through your nose and properly let go and look at yourself like you're seeing you for the first time.
This person only wants the best for you,
Nothing more and nothing less.
So let me lay down a challenge for you.
Paradoxically this challenge is easier to do the less hard you try to do it.
So always lean towards letting go rather than striving.
Keep your eyes closed but this time sit up properly supporting yourself so that you can't fall asleep.
Keep breathing through your nose,
Put your hands on your thighs and make sure your back is straight and make sure your feet are squarely on the floor.
Let's see if you can think only about your breath for 60 seconds.
You might get distracted by thoughts or a pain in the body or the sound of a colleague or the sound of something nearby or the urge to giggle.
If you do,
Don't fight it.
Recognise the distraction just long enough to note it and once you've noted it,
File it and bring your entire cognitive awareness back to your breath.
Really feel the air entering the boundaries of your body and really feel the air exiting the boundaries of your body.
Allow your breathing to deepen,
Allow your breathing to lengthen and allow your breathing to slow.
It's pretty miraculous.
So here we go,
60 seconds,
Enjoy.
Okay,
Now come back to clock time,
Come back to the room,
Slowly open your eyes.
You can wiggle your fingers,
You can wiggle your toes,
You can come back quick,
You can come back slow.
There's no rush here.
Really stretch and really feel your body stretching.
Was that easy?
Was it impossible?
Or was it somewhere in between?
Whatever it was for you,
You will have experienced seeing your thoughts as separate from yourself.
You came to your breath,
Your physiology,
Your body and your thoughts were not bound to these things.
They were additional.
So we can say without doubt,
Your journey into mindfulness has begun.
