Hi everyone,
I'm Jim Gordon from the Center for Mind Body Medicine in Washington DC.
I'm the founder and executive director and I'm a psychiatrist who has been interested in meditation for 50,
60 years.
And I'm very glad that you're tuning in.
I'm going to be giving you a foundational meditation.
Totally non-denominational.
It's technically it's a concentrated meditation.
We're going to be focusing on breathing.
It's called soft belly breathing.
And we're going to focus on breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth with our bellies soft and relaxed.
How you're breathing to deepen.
We're just going to take three,
Four minutes to do this.
If you're comfortable with closing your eyes,
Please do.
It eliminates a great deal of external stimulation.
So begin breathing in through your nose and out through your mouth slowly and deeply.
This is a concentrated meditation.
So you're focusing,
Concentrating on the breath coming in through your nose and going out through your mouth.
And also on the feeling of your belly relaxing and being soft as you exhale.
And finally,
You're concentrating on the words soft as you breathe in and belly as you breathe out.
As you do this and begin now breathing this way in through your nose,
Out through your mouth with your belly soft and relaxed.
Feeling your whole body relax with each exhalation.
Knowing that as you breathe this way slowly and deeply with your belly soft and relaxed.
More air is going to the bottom of your lungs where there's better oxygen exchange,
More oxygen is entering your bloodstream and feeding all the cells in your body.
And knowing too that this slow,
Deep,
Soft belly breathing is activating the vagus nerve,
Which is the antidote to the fight or flight response.
Calming your body,
Quieting the fear and anger in your emotional brain.
Enhancing activity in the frontal part of your cerebral cortex.
Making it easier to think clearly,
To be self aware,
To connect with other people.
Breathing slowly and deeply.
If thoughts come,
Let them come,
Notice them.
Let them go.
Gently bring your mind back to soft belly.
Okay,
Open your eyes.
Sit.
Very simple.
Notice how you feel just after these three minutes or so,
Four minutes or so.
I feel more relaxed,
My shoulders are more relaxed.
I can see more clearly.
My mood has shifted a bit.
So this is a beautiful practice.
You can do this every day,
Set aside a particular time.
We just did it for three or four minutes.
You may want to do it for a longer period of time.
But also you can do it even for a briefer period of time.
After a while,
Just taking a few deep,
Soft belly breaths,
Maybe even for a minute or so.
You'll find yourself more relaxed,
More in balance.
This is working on a deep,
Biological level to bring you into physical and psychological balance.
Let's begin the way we began here today.
