Over the next five minutes I'm going to take you through a mindfulness exercise that will both energise you and give you a sense of calmness.
Please sit upright in a chair with your back supported and close your eyes.
For these few minutes nothing else matters.
Allow yourself to switch off from today's wandering thoughts and from tomorrow's to-do list and just indulge yourself in the here and now,
The present moment.
Let's start by taking some deep breaths and as you inhale imagine white light entering through your nose,
Diving through your body and cleansing all that it touches all the way to your feet and as you exhale imagine that cleansing white light waking and invigorating your organs as it passes them.
Inhale imagining that breath travelling through you.
Exhale.
This breath in,
This breath out.
And now as you continue those long breaths,
Picture your abdomen expanding as you breathe in and falling away as you exhale.
In,
Out.
Now we're going to focus on each of the seven nerve centres in the body in turn.
Breathing energy into each of them and using the colours of the rainbow to keep our attention.
When you feel distracted by thoughts,
Sounds or sensations as is normal,
Just bring your focus back to the breath.
Let's begin with the first nerve centre at the base of the spine where it meets our sitting bones.
How grounded and centered and balanced are we feeling today?
No need to judge,
Just observe.
Take three deep breaths as you focus on this area and imagine the colour red.
The depth of the colour indicates how strong this nerve centre is today,
How stable we're feeling.
Three deep breaths.
Now we move to the second nerve centre that runs from the navel to the pelvis.
This is the home of your creative energy where you can feel butterflies of excitement and the adrenaline of trepidation.
Imagine the colour orange as you breathe three cleansing breaths into this area.
The strength of the colour reveals your creative potential today.
Let the colour deepen with every breath.
The third centre is the solar plexus running from your navel to your chest like a high-waisted belt going around the centre of your body.
The colour is a golden yellow and this is your vital energy,
The force you want to tap into to give you get up and go in the morning and sustain throughout the day.
Imagine your willpower as you breathe into this area and pitch a golden light flowing through it.
Now let's move our focus to the heart,
Beating gently in your chest.
As we move our attention to this area we think about our compassion,
Our sensitivity to others,
Our ability to both give and receive.
The colour is green.
Take those deep breaths,
Breathe and picture the heart.
Our fifth nerve centre or chakra is the throat,
Our communication and expression.
As we breathe into this area imagine the colour blue and ask yourself how clear your channels of expression are.
Remember you're not judging,
Just noticing.
Is your voice reflecting your thoughts today?
How clear is the blue?
Deep breaths.
We've travelled up the body and almost reached the top as we move our attention to the space between our brows known as the third eye.
This is the area of intuition.
Are we present to tune into the thoughts and needs of those we encounter?
Visualise the colour indigo as you take deep breaths and recognise how mindful you are of others today.
Finally we reach the seventh nerve centre at the crown of our head.
The colour is violet,
The end of the rainbow and as we take our breaths see the colour as a measure of consciousness,
Of wisdom.
So now that we've energised the whole body let's return to how we began and take a few whole body breaths.
Inhaling white cleansing light through the nose and imagine it travelling to our toes and then exhaling allowing the breath to race out again enlivening our organs along the way under the skin,
On the skin.
Inhale,
Exhale,
Inhale,
In,
Out.
Coming back to this moment ready to face the next chapter of your day.
And now slowly open your eyes.
So you
