Mindful Play: Slowing Down Before We Play

Take a moment to slow down and connect with the world around you before you begin your game. This short 5-minute session can help to reset from our busy days, and cultivate a sense of calm and ease that we can take into our play.

Transcript

We lead such busy lives these days, Hurrying from one thing to another, Getting things done. So when we sit down to play our game, We might find that that energy is still with us as we pick up our phone or our controller. But this is our time of play and of rest, Not another thing that we want to get out of the way. So it can really help to take a few moments before we begin to just slow down a little bit, To ground ourselves in our breath and our body so that we can be fully present and best connect with our experience and the others around us. So that's what we're going to do here. Take a second and see if you can sit up just a little bit straighter, Feel your connection with the seat beneath you or the ground beneath you. And just take a couple of big deep breaths, Breathing in through your nose and then out through your mouth. Two more times. Last time. As you exhale this last time, You can close your eyes if that feels right to you. And feel the weight of gravity holding your body down on the ground. See if you can find a nice balanced posture where you're not leaning forward or not leaning back. You might want to go a little bit side to side as well. And gently scan down through the body. So just notice what it feels like to have a head and neck and some shoulders and a torso. And just notice what's there with the bodily sensations as you scan down. And when you get down to your toes, With the whole body lit up with attention, We can draw the attention now to the breath. And we can feel it gently coming in and out. There's no need to control it in any special way. You might feel it on the nose or in the chest or on the belly. And we're just going to take a few cycles of paying close attention to that breath going in and out. And what I'd like you to do is just quietly repeat to yourself as you breathe in, Breathing in and then breathing out. On your own, A couple of cycles. Breathing in and breathing out. One final time. And on that last breath out, You might let out a sigh. You can open your eyes, Look at the room around you, Feel that rebalanced posture that you're in and what it feels like to just take a breath, Take a pause before we move on to the next part of our day. And see if as you pick up your phone or your controller, Now you can take in a little bit of that ease that you cultivated in these few short moments into your play session today. I hope you enjoy.