Meeting Starter: Arrive Mentally - Not Just Physically

Too often we arrive physically in a meeting space but are still mentally in our last meeting or task. Get your meeting off to the best start by creating the conditions for people to focus. Connect with the intention for being together and sharpen your minds for clarity. No woo woo or singing kumbaya together, just a short introduction, an opportunity to take a breath and sharpen your collective insight and clarity. Make this meeting the best, most impactful part of your day.

Transcript

This is a training to help you get the most out of your meeting time together.

So often we run from one place to another,

One task to another,

One Zoom room or Teams meeting to another without actually having a moment to actually arrive.

We might be here physically but mentally we're still back on the last thing we were doing or thinking about everything we've got to get done before the end of the day.

That doesn't help us actually get the most out of the time together.

So we're going to take just a moment to allow you to gather your thoughts and collect yourself and arrive here mentally as well as physically.

To help you do that I invite you just to find a ground of balance,

A way of sitting or standing,

Whatever is your preference in this moment so that your feet are flat on the floor,

You are straight but relax spine.

Just allowing yourself to become aware of your body,

Allowing your awareness to descend into your body,

Maybe even all the way down to your feet.

Noticing your toes.

Noticing how your feet make contact with the floor.

Noticing any sensations throughout your body and starting to take a few deeper,

Longer breaths all the way in and all the way out in your own time.

And again all the way in and all the way out.

And on this next breath just scanning your body gently on the in-breath for any areas of tension and on the out-breath relaxing and releasing whatever tension you find.

Again scanning on the in-breath and relaxing and releasing on the out-breath.

Using this as an opportunity to reset.

It might be the first time you've had a chance to stop all day.

And you might notice there are also some thoughts running through your head,

Perhaps to-dos that you still have to do before the end of the day,

Actions that have arisen from something earlier.

And invite you just for this precious time you have together to put them to the side as best you can.

They'll be there to pick up again when you're done.

And bringing your mind now to your intention for being in this meeting,

In this conversation,

What did you want to get out of it?

Apart from the fact that it's in your calendar,

Your schedule,

What will make it time worth spending together?

And you might even bring to mind your broader intention,

Perhaps your sense of purpose or goals you're working on at the moment.

So how does this conversation,

This time together,

Link to that broader intention,

Those broader goals?

And as you connect with those intentions,

How might you need to show up in this conversation,

In this meeting then?

How might you need to be?

What might you need to bring?

How can you set yourself up so you can be fully engaged,

Fully present to make the most of the time together?

And then letting go of all of that and just taking three deeper,

Longer breaths again in your own time,

All the way in and all the way out.

Again,

All the way in and all the way out.

And after this last breath,

Bringing your attention back to the group,

Ready for a great,

Engaged time.

Reviews

Just lovely and perfect in every way.

Very helpful. Time much more well spent than frantically typing an email for 3 min between calls. Thank you

A very thoughtful and peaceful transition. Thank you for the useful gift of this meditation, and for the difference that it will make to us, and to those with whom we will be meeting - and also to the more effective actions we will take following the meeting, because we will have been more engaged with it, and with one another. Thanks for being helpful in an often challenging time!

Lovely focused meditation

Perfect! I used to start my evening graduate public health class w/a voluntary 5 minute meditation to help us all transition to 2.5 more hours of the day (most people came straight from work or other classes). This would have been a perfect fit!

Very helpful, thank you.

Very nice thank you and Namaste

🙏🏼

I found the teacher’s voice pleasant. I loved the suggestion of on the in breath to scan the body and on the out breath to release. Thank you for offering this.