Today we're going to talk about how you can use meditation at work,
A very short meditation of just three breaths,
To be able to reset yourself when you're in an environment that's causing you stress.
If you do work in a place that regularly causes you stress or you're just having one of those days,
A reset can help you pause,
Recharge,
And get through that rough patch.
Even if you're generally happy at work,
And I do hope you are,
There can be times when situations up your stress levels,
Kick in a fight or flight response,
Or otherwise mentally push you off balance.
One of the amazing powers of meditation,
Even a meditation that's just a few breaths long,
Is the ability to push your reset button,
Help you find your center,
Regain your balance,
Stay focused,
And get back into control.
Let me emphasize the importance of this idea.
It's well-documented scientific fact that as your stress levels increase,
Your ability to make finely-tuned decisions decrease,
Because your so-called promeval lizard brain takes over as your thinking brain kind of shuts down.
You find yourself acting like a monkey facing down a jaguar.
Do I attack to save myself,
Or do I have enough space and I think I can run away?
You ignore the fact that there might be some more subtle options that are better choices,
And if you had your higher thinking brain back online and available to you,
You might see those choices.
Being able to take a pause,
In effect to reboot and bring the thinking brain back online,
Can have a huge impact not just for your immediate well-being,
But by making much better decisions as a whole.
There are many forms of meditation,
And even a meditative pause of three breaths can help you calm down,
Recenter,
And get back in the game.
Let's go try this technique for ourselves.
I'm going to ask you to take a series of deep,
Slow breaths,
And you can do this however you want.
You can breathe through your mouth or your nose,
Or do both.
If it's safe to do so,
You can close your eyes,
Or you can keep them open.
You can do this meditation while standing,
Sitting,
Lying down,
Whatever is most comfortable for you.
The only requirement is that while you're taking your breaths,
You should really try and remain focused only on the process.
Focus on the air that's coming into and then leaving your body,
And try and ignore any distractions that are going on around you.
Now before we start,
I'd like you to take a couple moments and check in with yourself.
What's your internal state like?
Are you feeling happy,
Sad,
Tense,
Relaxed,
Anxious,
Tired,
Mad?
Got it?
Okay.
Now let's let go of that for a moment,
And I'm going to ask that as you do this exercise,
Focus on your breath,
And really focus on the feeling of the air as it comes past your lips or nostrils as you take your deep,
Slow inhale and exhale.
Again,
Give yourself permission to ignore anything that's going on around you for a few moments that it's going to take.
Okay,
Ready?
Let's do our first breath.
Inhale and exhale.
Let's do that again.
And this time,
Think about letting your body relax.
If you'd like,
You can think about any stress or tension that you have in your body,
Leaving it as your exhale.
Okay,
So let's inhale and gently exhale.
Let's do one more breath again,
Letting yourself relax as you gently inhale and exhale.
And exhale.
And you're done.
Now that you've finished that first three-breath meditation,
Take a moment and think about how you felt before you started this exercise,
And think about how you feel right now.
Do you feel happier?
Do you feel more relaxed?
Or do you feel like nothing has changed?
Let's do the exercise again.
Take a short breath to get ready,
And then we'll take our first calm,
Slow breath.
Okay,
Let's inhale and exhale.
Another slow breath,
Giving yourself permission to relax.
Inhale.
And exhale.
One final breath,
Again,
Giving yourself permission to relax.
Inhale.
And exhale.
Well done.
How do you feel right now?
Again,
Look at your internal state.
Compare how you feel now with how you were feeling literally a few moments ago.
It's possible to feel calmer,
Clearer,
And more focused,
Even after a single intentional breath.
What I appreciate about a meditation of a few breaths is that you get an immediate awareness of your inner state,
Something that often gets lost as you deal with a crisis at hand and that lizard brain takes over.
That little bit of awareness,
That three-breath reboot,
Is often enough for you to mindfully reconsider where you're at,
Where you're going,
And if there might not be a better option than the path you were moving down prior to your meditation.
In the workplace,
Because you can do this very unobtrusively,
You don't even have to close your eyes to do this.
You can easily do this meditation while others are around and get all the benefits.
Just as we did,
You can also repeat this exercise more than once if you feel the need.
The short meditation is a great way to stop and check in.
Are you on the right path?
How are you doing?
As you've hopefully experienced with even the short practice,
Meditation can be a powerful tool to keep you balanced,
Less stress,
And on track while you're at work.
While a short meditation like this often has an immediately noticeable effect,
There are other more subtle effects to be gained by longer forms of meditation practice.
I hope you're intrigued by this short introduction to meditation and that you explore some of the many different styles of meditation available here from the Insight Timer community.
I hope you explore,
Find the methods that resonate with you,
And stick with your practice.
