Sitting comfortably,
Preferably with your back straight,
Without straining or striving.
Please close your eyes or have them downcast on the floor if you prefer.
Taking three slightly slower,
Slightly deeper breaths through the nose if you can,
Down into the belly.
Counting four to five for each in-breath and four to five for each out-breath.
You may notice your belly rising.
It's important to not shallow chest-breathe,
Which we sometimes do when we're stressed.
Consciously allowing any tightness or tension to dissolve.
Feel yourself easing softly into neutral.
Relaxing from your feet all the way to the top of your head.
Rolling your shoulders backwards and down.
Noticing your body in contact with the chair.
Feel the weight of your body on the chair,
Your feet on the ground.
Body relaxing while the mind is focused on this practice.
Without hurrying,
Becoming aware of the present moment just as it is.
Noticing any thoughts,
Feelings and emotions,
However without judgement or reaction.
Taking another slower,
Deeper,
Conscious breath down into the belly.
With practice,
We grow mindfulness and our emotional intelligence skills.
And this helps us move away from emotional reactivity and being controlled by your environment.
It helps to create some space and clarity so we can respond to what is.
Less drama or outbursts or regrets from unintended reactions.
You can start to notice how your emotions are influenced by your perception and reaction to your environment,
Which is people,
Places and situations.
When you build self-awareness and can manage emotions with emotional intelligence,
You don't get as pushed around by needing your environment to be a certain way to feel content or calm.
Our emotions can also be used as information.
Is the reaction something we can look at to reduce our overreactions?
Taking another conscious breath,
Releasing calm,
Body relaxing while the mind is awake and focused.
In this practice,
There's a mindfulness technique for overwhelm and challenging situations called RAIN.
The R in RAIN stands for Recognize Our Reactions.
The A is for Accept or Allow the situation.
The I is for Investigate.
You might ask yourself,
Why am I reacting in this way?
Why is someone pushing my buttons?
And the N is for Not Identify,
Meaning it's just a situation.
It's not who you are or to take personally.
As a suggestion,
Even if you can only remember the R for Recognize Your Reactions,
You may find some space to respond rather than react.
Which is an amazing skill in challenging situations.
I've used it many times myself.
As an exercise,
Can you remember a joyful,
Happy situation?
Could be as simple as playing with a pet or a child.
Something that you really enjoy doing,
Something that inspires or uplifts you.
It could be a feeling of appreciation or an achievement.
Immerse yourself in that happy memory.
Who was involved?
What happened?
Remembering the situation and the feeling it gave you.
Maybe smiling at the occasion.
And fight you to focus on that feeling of smiling at the happy situation.
When we can focus on beneficial states of mind,
Measurable changes can occur in our heart rhythms.
Taking another conscious breath in.
Calm.
Released.
Relaxed.
Mind focused.
A mindfulness practice habit can benefit us in so many ways.
We can notice more.
Experience more.
We can accept more.
And become less reactive.
Being kinder and calmer.
With a bit of focus and clarity.
We become less distractible.
Which is a super skill in our busy information age.
We get used to being okay even if not feeling okay sometimes.
Finishing up our meditation shortly.
You may like to remember how you feel right now.
And notice the quality of your mind.
To sustain this going forward.
When it's time for you,
Open your eyes.
Stretch.
Maybe even a smile.
Thank you.
