Meditation & Coffee - Getting Clarity

Meditation and Coffee - Getting Clarity. This morning I share some simple mental metaphors that we can use to beat distraction and come back to our focus. Meditation isn’t about “emptying your mind,” it’s about training our attention.

Transcript

Hello!

You are listening to Meditation and Coffee,

The weekday meditation podcast that helps you start your day off calm,

Aware,

Intentional,

Focused and most importantly,

Awake.

Because did you know that the word Buddha actually means awakened one?

I'm Hannah,

Your host and founder of the online meditation community Breathe Like a Badass,

And I am obsessed with starting the day with good coffee and seriously simple meditation.

As a trained meditation teacher and a female entrepreneur,

My mission is to help anxious yet ambitious women cut through overwhelm,

Negative self-talk,

Constant comparison and fear so they can get the calm,

Clarity and focus that they need to build happy,

Fulfilling,

Freedom-filled businesses and lives.

Meditation is not magic,

But it's a pretty good place to start.

So whether your coffee is a shot of espresso,

A latte decaf or even a tea or a chai,

I invite you to join me every weekday to start your day off right.

FYI,

These sessions are recorded live on my Instagram page,

At Breathe Like a Badass,

So if you'd prefer to join in and watch them live,

You can do so there every weekday morning between 8 and 8.

30am London time.

The videos are also available after the live on my IGTV page.

Now,

On to the meditation and coffee.

Good morning friends,

We are here for another session of meditation and coffee.

Of course I have my massive mug right here.

I really do like a good black coffee to start my morning.

Secret fact about me,

I didn't use to drink coffee at all when I was younger,

Or tea either.

And I actually trained myself to like coffee because I thought that it was a sophisticated thing that people should do,

Right?

So I basically thought,

Okay,

So I don't like tea,

So I'm going to basically make myself drink coffee.

And I started it with loads of sugar and milk and cream and all the rest of it.

And then I decided I slowly worked my way down to having really good black coffee.

And I just love it because it means that you can taste it and it really feels like you don't need anything else but just that little spark in the morning,

That little bit of focus.

So yeah,

So that's my little story about coffee for this morning,

In case anyone was interested.

But today we have a meditation,

Ironically,

Given my little ramble just there,

About basically getting clarity,

Getting focus.

A lot of people say I'm really bad at meditation or I know that I need to do it but I can't because I am too distracted,

My mind is too busy.

A lot of people say,

Oh well,

I really know that I should meditate but every time I do it I get super distracted,

I'm really bad at it.

I just spend the whole time bringing my attention back and it just makes me feel like I'm not doing it right.

And often people say that the goal of meditation is to empty your mind,

To clear your mind.

And that to me is like my first thing that I would say,

The first myth that I really feel needs to be addressed that could help so many people which is you're not trying to empty your mind when you meditate.

You're not trying to clear your mind,

You're not trying to force yourself to not think of anything and if you are distracted when you meditate,

Actually that means that you're doing it right,

That means that you are noticing that you're distracted which is literally the practice and I think people get a bit confused when you say that because they're like,

What do you mean?

I thought I was supposed to be super zen and really focused and not getting distracted and how can you say that distraction is the point?

But the point is the noticing of the distraction.

So if you are meditating,

Attempting to train your focus,

Attempting to train your attention and your mind wanders,

Then that is the whole practice because you're noticing it and it's the act of noticing it and bringing it back to the present that allows you to build the muscle.

And each time that we notice that we're distracted and we come back to the attention,

That is like another rep with our bicep curl at the gym,

That is like another piece of the puzzle that we found that's allowing us to build that focus and slowly but surely the more we do it,

The more we will realise that we are less distracted or that we're finding it more easy to come back to the object of focus,

Whether it's our breath or our body and slowly,

Slowly we begin to realise that we can actually master our attention.

But it's never easy,

It's never easy,

It's very simple,

But it's never easy.

So today's meditation is just going to explore some ways of doing that,

Some ways of practising that because that is the practice and some people find it easier than others,

Some people like to have different metaphors for this,

Some people are visual learners,

They like to have images in their head when they do it,

Other people don't,

Other people just think right now I want to keep it really simple.

So that's what we're going to do today,

We're going to explore some metaphors,

Some images of how to get clarity which is basically dealing with distraction because like I say we're not trying to empty our mind when we meditate,

We're trying to train our focus for however long we're meditating.

So don't pressure yourself into thinking you have to empty your mind or clear your mind or think about nothing because that's never going to happen,

It's actually much more about how can you train your attention,

How can you intentionally bring your attention back from whatever's distracting you and get the clarity and focus that you really want that can help you get clarity and focus with everything else that you do in the rest of your life.

So if you've got your coffee,

Hello,

You are in the right place,

Tea,

Decaf,

Chai,

Whatever it may be,

As usual inviting you to put it down if it's more comfortable or just getting into a position which feels good,

Which feels grounded,

Which feels balanced.

And taking two or three nice cleansing deep breaths in through the nose,

Noticing the air going in through the nose and out through the mouth.

And as you relax,

As you breathe out through the mouth,

Dropping your shoulders,

Allowing yourself to melt into the position where you are right now,

Dropping the skin of your face,

Allowing your jaw to relax,

Noticing any other areas of tension where you might be holding yourself,

Maybe in your neck,

Maybe your forehead,

Everyone relax your forehead and your eyebrows.

And relaxing the muscles in your neck.

And the reason we do this is just so we can come to a grounded,

Balanced position where we can be comfortable and give ourselves the stability we need to begin our day with intention and grace and space.

And now I invite you to close your eyes if you feel comfortable,

If you haven't already,

Or you can just leave them open but looking at a space a metre or so in front of you,

Just letting your eyes glaze over slightly.

And I'd like you to find somewhere in your body,

Maybe in your chest or in your head,

Maybe even your stomach,

Where you can feel yourself just breathing in and out.

You don't have to do any special breaths for this,

You don't have to force yourself to breathe in a special way,

Just noticing if you tune into yourself to give it a bit of a listen,

Where you can feel yourself just already breathing in and out normally.

For me it tends to be my nose,

But I also somehow really feel it in my sinuses,

In the space between my eyes,

So sometimes I like to focus there.

Just noticing how that feels,

Getting curious about how that feels as you continue to breathe.

And when you get distracted,

Because it is when,

Not if,

I can't stress that enough,

What we'll practice is being okay with getting distracted,

And noticing it but noticing it in a calm,

Compassionate way.

Noticing it in a way that recognises that we are human.

Because our brains get distracted,

That's what they do.

Our brains are always thinking,

Trying to keep us safe,

Trying to keep us productive,

And they're always trying to find patterns and remember things.

And so all we're trying to do when we meditate is not empty our mind and force our brain to stop thinking,

But instead to train our attention away from those distractions and the busy monkey mind and bring it back.

And there are some great metaphors or images that some people like to use.

So you can imagine your mind as a cinema and you are sitting in the cinema seats and your thoughts are on the screen,

So your thoughts are in front of you,

Happening without you,

Distracting you perhaps,

Things are happening,

Your brain is trying to show you,

Hey look at this cool cinema,

Look at this cool image,

Come look at this,

Watch this,

Get distracted by this,

And you are sitting in the cinema.

And you can choose to be sat back from the screen and not let yourself get dragged into the story,

Not let the images on the screen pull you away from your nice place,

Sitting down nice and comfy in the cinema.

So that's one image.

Another metaphor for this is if you imagine that you are on the side of a busy road and your thoughts are cars going backwards and forwards across the busy road,

And you are just sitting back on the pavement next to the road watching the cars,

But you're not going to go and run into the road and let yourself get distracted because you realise that that might not be very safe,

That's not what you want to do.

So instead we always train ourselves to step back from the road,

To step back from the thoughts,

And every time we notice that we've been distracted we come back to that place of observing,

Of being curious.

We might notice the colour of the cars,

We might notice how fast they're going,

We might notice that they're very distracting,

But we bring it back,

We bring it back to our place of safety,

Our place of space,

Our groundedness,

Our safe place next to the road.

And again,

Using those metaphors if they work for you.

For me,

Sometimes I just like to keep it simple.

I like to focus on the place between my eyes,

Or wherever I notice my breath,

And that is the place that I visualise,

That's the place I come back to when I'm distracted.

Another great image that you can use is the famous metaphor of the blue sky.

Imagining that your mind is the blue sky,

The serenity,

The calm,

The space,

The clarity,

That's the blue sky,

And your thoughts are the clouds.

And the clouds are temporary,

You can't control when they float over your sky,

But you can notice them and see them and think,

Oh yeah,

That's a cloud,

Okay cool,

But the blue sky is still there.

That's another really great metaphor for what we're doing when we train our attention to get clarity.

I especially love a bright sunny blue sky day,

So that one works for me.

And lastly,

A metaphor that I really enjoy for when my brain is really distracted.

And also when your brain is maybe distracted with things that you feel like you kind of need to remember.

Because sometimes we get distracted by things that we're not really bothered about,

Like song lyrics or memories,

But sometimes our mind tries to distract us with things that we think actually are quite important.

And the goal of meditation is not to wash over those and pretend that your thoughts are not valid,

But the point of meditation is to notice those thoughts and say,

Okay,

I notice you,

I see you,

But at the moment I'm focusing on this.

And that's it.

It's not,

Why am I thinking of that?

It's not beating yourself up for it.

It's just,

Okay.

And for me,

Sometimes I like to imagine that I'm writing the thought down on a notebook when I notice it and I think,

Oh,

That's actually quite important.

I need to remember that.

I imagine myself in my head sort of jotting it down and putting it aside.

Or you can imagine a notice board with a push pin.

And every time you have a thought where you're like,

Oh,

Actually that's quite important.

I need to remember that.

You can say,

Oh,

Thank you for reminding me brain.

Get a push pin,

Put it in the notice board of your mind,

Put it slightly to the side and come back to your objective focus.

So where you can feel your breath in your body.

And so those metaphors are just some really useful ways that you can start to think about what we're doing when we meditate.

You're not trying to force your mind not to think.

You're not trying to suddenly become a Zen master who can instantly turn your brain off.

That's not,

That's not what we're doing here.

Instead,

We're realizing that destruction is part of the process of meditation.

It's to be expected as normal.

And we can approach it from a kind of curious,

Playful sense.

Like,

Oh yeah,

There's that car speeding past again.

Oh yeah,

That's that cloud in the blue sky.

Oh,

They're playing this movie again at the cinema.

And we can approach ourselves with a good deal of compassion and kindness and playfulness.

So I invite you for the last few moments of our meditation today to cycle through perhaps those images or perhaps there was one metaphor that I mentioned that really worked for you.

So just choosing that metaphor that really works for you.

Continuing to breathe in through the nose and out through the mouth.

Whichever image comes to mind,

No right or wrong.

Coming in,

Noticing,

And whenever you get distracted,

Bringing it back to that object of focus,

Your nose or your chest,

Or perhaps like me,

The place between your eyes.

And practicing that,

Practicing if you get distracted by something,

Noticing it,

Acknowledging it,

Bringing it back.

So,

I encourage you to sit with those images and see which one feels best for you,

Which one helps you get more of a sense of calm and focus and clarity.

And let me know which one particularly worked for you or how you found that,

If thinking of images is helpful.

If you haven't already,

You can open your eyes,

If you have them closed,

Come back into the room.

Bit of a shake,

Bit of a stretch.

Of course,

A good cup of coffee,

A good taste of that coffee to finish.

So delicious,

So good to start the morning with a little bit of waking up alertness,

But also calm and intention and hopefully a little bit more clarity.

So thanks for joining me today,

Really appreciate it.

These are also on my IGTV,

I upload them when I'm done with the live.

They're also available to listen to on Insight Timer.

That was great,

I really appreciate it.

Thank you so much for being here,

It means so much to me.

It's so great to be able to connect with you every morning on here and do these meditations.

Best bit of my day,

I love it.

So yeah,

I put these meditations up on Insight Timer as well,

If you guys have that app on your phone,

If you want to re-listen to them on the go.

And also I just wanted to mention as well that this week I am opening up slots to work with me one to one.

I have packages to help you get clarity and focus to reach your business and life goals using the powerful tools of meditation,

Some of which I cover in these morning coffee meditations.

So if you're interested in working with me or you'd like to know or check it out or see if it's for you,

You can head to the link in my Instagram bio or you can just come and DM me and we can set up a chat because I'd love to talk to you more and figure out whether it's right for you.

So thank you so much guys for this wonderful meditation today,

It's so great to wake up with you.

Cup of coffee,

Great meditation and yeah,

I'll see you tomorrow.

I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Thanks so much.

That's it for today,

Thanks so much for listening and spending your morning with me.

If you like this podcast and you are as obsessed with coffee and maybe meditation as I am,

Please go ahead and leave a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you normally listen as it helps spread the word and get the message out to more brilliant women just like us who need it.

You can also share with your friends on Instagram tagging me at Breathe Like a Badass.

I always love to see you there.

If you like this and you'd like to hear more from me and Breathe Like a Badass on how to use meditation to get the calm,

Clarity and focus you need to build a happy,

Fulfilling,

Freedom filled business and life,

Head on over to my other full length interview style podcast.

Just search Breathe Like a Badass anywhere that you normally listen to podcasts.

Thank you so much for listening and I will see you for the next one.

Reviews

Thank you, I found this at the exact right moment for me!!!

The thought of a good black coffee got me out of bed. ☺️I loved all the meditation tips!

Big fan of Hannah Jane Thomson. This meditation is really a talk about the basics. With a few minutes of practicing what you heard at the end.
I encourage everyone who starts meditating or knows someone who is interested in meditation but does not know where to begin: start here😄!