Pause at work meditation.
When we're busy at work many of us have the tendency to keep going,
To plough on through and get things done.
While this can occasionally be a helpful strategy,
If we work in this way for regular and prolonged periods we can start to find ourselves feeling tense,
Frazzled and run down.
An alternative strategy is to regularly take a few moments to pause and either do nothing or engage in a simple activity without any particular goal.
In this way we can balance out all of the driven doing with some simple being and also paradoxically what we find is that we make better choices in our work and can be more effective.
This meditation is designed to support you in pausing in this way and so let's begin by closing your laptop or turning the screen off on your PC and turning your phone on to do not disturb mode or just putting it on silent.
So once you've done that,
Coming into an upright posture,
Either sitting or standing,
We'll work for this meditation and we'll just keep our eyes open to begin with.
So just bringing your arms out to the sides,
Taking a deep breath in and as you take a nice stretch through the arms,
Just breathing out slowly as you continue to enjoy that stretch.
Maybe sometimes a yawn comes with the stretch and then you can just bring your arms back to rest by your sides.
And just allowing your gaze to begin to soften and taking in any objects that you you're receiving in the visual field and also the space around those objects.
I'm beginning to allow the peripheral vision to come in as well.
So just beginning to receive what's to the far left and to the far right.
Just softening into a more open perspective.
And then you can allow your eyes to close or or lowering your gaze if you prefer.
And just pausing.
Nothing to do,
Nothing to achieve.
Just being here.
And then let's check for any tension that we might be holding in the body.
So beginning with the forehead,
There's any furrowing of the brow then just allowing the brow to to begin to smooth and soften.
Gently allowing the the muscles around the eyes to begin to soften as well.
The eyes softening beginning to relax.
And letting the jaw loosen.
Just letting the jaw unlock.
Maybe allowing the lips to part.
Shoulders,
Just allowing the shoulders to drop.
And giving up the weight of the arms to gravity.
Releasing any gripping or holding in the hands.
Just allowing the palms and the fingers to soften.
Feeling the weight of the body down in the pelvis or down in the feet.
With each moment,
With each breath.
Just letting the weight of the body begin to gradually sink down into the lower half of the body.
Body solid,
Body heavy,
Body that ease.
Allowing sounds to pass through awareness.
Sounds from nearby,
Sounds from outside of the room.
Allowing thoughts to pass through the open space of mind.
So thoughts may appear,
Sometimes charged with a sense of urgency.
Eventually thoughts pass through.
We just become the open awareness in which all of this plays out.
So then coming back to the body now.
Coming back to feelings of heaviness and solidity in the body.
Feeling into the fingers and the toes.
And maybe just bringing the practice to a close with one more stretching out of the arms to the sides.
Breathing,
Taking a nice deep breath as you stretch.
Letting any yawn come that might be there.
Blinking the eyes open again.
So here you are ready to take on the rest of the day.
And the invitation is just to remember to pause from time to time today.
Even for just a few moments.
And when you do,
You might find it supportive to just bring some awareness into your body,
Especially down in the pelvis or down in the feet.
Just to support you in being here.
So thank you for practicing this meditation with me and I hope I'll see you again sometime.
