Mindful Visualisation And Breath Focus

This is a practice introduced on the Mindful Leader program to integrate a brief visualisation of one's vision into a classic breath meditation. This practice encourages you to feel settled, grounded, supported and restored.

Transcript

In the Mindful Leader program we saw how visualizing your goals,

Just simply bringing them to mind frequently so that they remain fresh and inform your attention throughout your days and the weeks and your months is a tremendously effective way of keeping yourself on track.

And a great way of visiting these goals and visiting these intentions is to blend them in with your meditation practice so that your meditation practice becomes part of your life in the real sense and part of setting your intentions for your life,

Your career and your goals.

So we're going to look at a short practice that brings together a very brief focus on the breath meditation,

Moves into a visualization and then moves back out into finish with some gentle breath focus and then closes.

So let's begin.

So start by sitting in this posture that suggests that you have the intent to remain alert but relaxed.

Sit straight but don't be stiff.

Raise your spine,

Allow your shoulders to relax and drop.

You should be upright but relaxed.

Put your hands wherever they feel comfortable in your lap or in your thighs.

Place your feet flat on the ground,

Your legs uncrossed and relaxed.

You can do this eyes open or eyes closed.

If you choose to do it eyes open,

Just divert your attention down a few feet in front of you with a soft focus.

And when you're settled,

Let's start as we always do with six gentle settling breaths.

And remember our objective here is to make the exhale as much as two times longer than the inhale.

A great way to do this is as you breathe in,

Count.

If the in count is two,

Hold that breath at the top of the inhale for a count of one,

Then try to exhale for three or four or five.

All you need to do to trigger your parasympathetic nervous system to settle you down and break connection with any anxiety or distraction that you might be bringing into the practice from the outside world.

All you need to do is make that exhalation longer the inhalation.

So I'll go quiet for a few minutes and allow you to do five or six of these breaths.

Not stressing,

Not straining,

Just gently breathing in and more gently breathing out.

So do that for a few minutes.

You you And as you release that last exhalation,

Gently bring your attention to your feet on the floor.

As always in these practices,

You're just reaching out your attention,

Allowing it to settle on the feet to notice what's going on there.

Having no expectation of any particular experience or set of sensations,

Just noticing what there is to notice.

If there are no sensations,

Notice that.

If there's tingling,

If there's numbness,

If there's hot or cold,

Just notice what's going on with your feet for a few moments.

Now release your attention on your feet,

Gently scanning the attention up to your seat,

Your behind on the chair and just noticing what sensations are there.

Where you're in contact with the chair,

Where your sit bones are pushing by gravity down into the chair,

Your clothing against your leg.

Again,

Just notice any sensations there are to notice for these next few moments.

And if there are no sensations,

Notice that too.

And now let's connect with your intention for doing this practice.

In the Mindful Leader program,

Your intention for this practice was to visualize a time when your vision of yourself as the leader you planned to become had come to pass.

Your intention was to sit with a relaxed and open mind and allow yourself to reinforce your attention for today,

Your intentions for this week,

For next year and for the next five years and perhaps for your life at large.

The intention of the practice is to gently reorient your attention to your longer term intentions,

Especially at times when the pressure of your day-to-day life may be crowding those intentions out of your mind.

So connect with your intention for this practice now.

And now settle your attention just gently on your breath.

Where do you notice the breath going in and out?

How do you know you're breathing?

Is it the sensation of the cold air at the tip of your nose as it passes in?

Slightly warmer as it passes out?

Is it the rising and the falling of your abdomen?

How do you know you're breathing?

Wherever it's most obvious,

Observe it for a few seconds.

And remember,

Anytime you get distracted,

A thought comes into your mind,

A sensation,

Physical or mental,

A noise around you.

Just notice and gently but firmly return your attention to the breath.

Noticing that your attention has just become even more acutely focused,

You're noticing distractions.

This is a victory.

If you're having a day when your thoughts are bouncing all over the place,

You might want to explore counting each exhale.

Count them from one up to ten.

Then when you get to ten,

Simply start again.

If you notice your mind wanders,

Simply go back to one and start to count over.

Notice,

Can you be curious and kind with yourself,

Even as you bring your attention back to your breath?

If you notice any frustration or anxiety slipping in because you're getting distracted,

Notice the anxiety.

Notice that frustration and let it go.

Thoughts will come and they'll go.

Your mind is doing what it's supposed to do,

It's thinking.

There's no need to push them away,

Nor do you want to chase after them.

If thoughts arise and distract you and your attention wanders,

Simply return to the home base of your breath.

Right here,

Right now.

Now,

Allowing your breath to slip back in attention,

Bring to mind your vision of yourself as the leader you plan to become.

Project yourself forward to a time when you have a successful outcome for that goal.

When is that?

How do you know you've been successful?

What does it look like?

How does it feel to have become such an inspiring and engaging leader?

What does it mean to you and your career?

What does it mean to your loved ones?

Enjoy your success.

You worked hard to achieve it.

See it and feel it completely for a few moments.

Now allow your mind to track backwards from that successful outcome,

Passing through all of the days and all of the hard work and action that led you there all the way back to today.

Like rewinding a film,

Like rewinding a DVD,

Going backwards from that success through everything you've done to achieve it.

And allow your mind to be simply open to what you need to do today,

Tomorrow,

Or this week that will move you along that path.

Don't become distracted in planning now.

Just trust that when the session ends that what comes into your mind will be the things that you need to be focused upon today,

Tomorrow,

This week,

Next month,

In order to be successful and get the outcome you want.

So what do you visualize yourself doing by the end of this day to keep you on track?

What do you visualize you'll have done by the end of this week that's keeping you on track?

Whatever that is,

Just visualize yourself with a successful outcome.

Feel how it feels to have made that come to pass knowing that it's moving you closer to your vision.

Allow yourself to feel that success of moving a little bit closer.

Now take a deep breath and as you release it,

Slowly bring your attention out of the future and back to this present moment.

Settling it as we do for a few minutes on your breath.

Noting when you lose attention to the breath and then without giving yourself a hard time returning that attention to the breath.

For a few minutes just come back onto the breath.

And you may wish as you breathe in to allow the word relaxed to arise.

And as you breathe out to allow the word calm to arise.

And as you breathe out to allow the word relaxed to arise.

And as we prepare for the bell which will signal that we're returning to the room.

Start to return your awareness to the room.

When the bell rings open your eyes gently but fully.

Stretch and move about your day but try to bring some sense of the excitement about the future you have planned for yourself back into the day.

And some of that relaxation and calm that comes from planting yourself in the present moment.

BELL

Reviews

Wonderful experience thank you ✨✨✨✨✨

Super! Finding my focus again! Thank you 🙏🏼

Thank you 🙏🏼🇦🇺