This is your mindful break.
My name is Reuben.
Relax and settle into these next few moments.
These next few moments are for you.
You can be anywhere.
You can be at a park bench,
Your work desk,
Or sitting in your car.
It doesn't matter.
What does matter is the focus and that gentle refocusing when you get distracted.
And I'll be guiding you through this.
Today we'll have activated your cortisol levels.
Cortisol is the main stress hormone.
Cortisol in small doses is good.
It helps us take action.
However,
In big doses over long periods of time,
It's not good.
If you're feeling stressed,
You're feeling cortisol.
The good news though is that mindfulness dissolves stress.
But that's not all.
The purpose of this practice is also to rejuvenate you so that you are fully present for the remainder of your day.
Aware,
Alert,
Energized.
How good does that sound?
It all happens when we get into this space of awareness.
And as we do this,
Stress dissolves.
Let's have a check-in,
A mindful check-in.
We're going to start off with a mini practice.
Then we're going to reflect upon some questions about your day,
How you could potentially make it more meaningful to re-energize you for the rest of your day.
Body,
Mind,
World.
Let's get into this practice.
Our attention can be in three different dimensions.
Body,
Mind,
And world.
This practice is about working through these three dimensions of body,
Mind,
And world in this particular order.
Practice one,
Body.
Bring your awareness to the waves of your breath as you deliberately take control of your breath by slowing down both your in-breath and your out-breath.
This is an excellent starting point to get mindful.
Bring your breath just a touch softer and slower than what it usually is.
And now take attention to the emotion that you're feeling in this moment.
How are you actually feeling?
Taking attention to that place where you usually experience emotions and being open and receptive here.
Subtleties in motion is a great way of describing emotions,
A nice neutral description.
Maybe you have thoughts along the lines of,
I don't feel anything in this moment.
And if so,
Just take attention to that place where you usually do and see if you can do the fine-tuning,
Noticing the subtleties of any energies in motion that you're aware of.
Where exactly is this located?
Does it change or is it still?
And if this had a shape,
What shape would it be?
Tuning into the subtleties of this.
Now taking attention to the sense of touch anywhere from your head to your toes,
Vice versa or in no particular order at all.
Just noticing the sense of touch.
And as you acknowledge these,
You can gently count each one.
One,
Two,
Three,
Four.
And you'll know when you get distracted because the counting disappears.
Just coming back again to these sensations.
This is simple head to body stuff to help you get more grounded and connected to this moment and counting each sensation as you acknowledge it.
Phase two,
Mind.
Turn your attention towards your mind.
It can be helpful to close your eyes in this moment.
And even though your eyes are now closed,
Notice what you can see from behind your closed eyes.
This is a bit like being at a cinema.
As you notice what you can see behind your closed eyes,
Patterns,
Shapes,
Colours.
And then it's not long before you have thoughts that intermingle with these.
So noticing what you can see behind your closed eyes and then watching and waiting for thoughts to appear as they do.
Notice whether your thoughts appear as pictures or streams of words or like sounds.
Let these thinking patterns play out.
Pictures,
Streams of words,
Or like a sound recording in your mind.
If you notice your thoughts as words or sounds,
Gently state them in your mind after this sentence.
I'm noticing the thought that.
I'm noticing the thought that.
Simply noticing what your mind is showing you or telling you and letting this play out just like a movie at a cinema.
Letting your thoughts float.
Phase three,
World.
For the next phase,
Come into the external world.
You can open your eyes and focus your attention upon what is around you.
Notice three things that you can see.
Focus attention on purpose by taking a curious look,
Like you're looking at these things for the first time.
Now notice three things that you can hear.
Focus attention on purpose by listening intently as though you're listening for the first time to these things.
Simply broaden your awareness now to the entirety of the space that holds all the sounds around you.
Expand this experience by noticing what you can see,
Hear,
Touch,
Taste,
And smell with open awareness.
Simply notice the space around all of the things that you can experience.
Noticing the space around these things.
Sometimes people like to look up at the vastness of the sky to do this.
Now coming out of this mindfulness practice and into our final part to reflect upon.
Coming to return to your day.
Where are you in your day?
Is it morning?
If so,
What could the rest of your morning look like?
Is it afternoon?
If so,
What could the rest of your afternoon look like?
Despite all these things that you might need to do,
See how you respond to the following questions.
What do you value about something that you're going to do today?
If it's work,
What do you value about your work?
What could make today more meaningful?
What kind of a person do you want to be today?
And if you're going back to work,
What kind of a worker would you like to be today?
Is it possible to weave in some personal qualities that you could bring to your day to make it more meaningful?
What words come to mind when you reflect upon any personal qualities that you may like to bring to your day to yourself or to other people around you?
Gently note them now.
Finally,
Take a moment to complete this sentence in a way that will benefit you and your day.
For the rest of today,
I choose.
For the rest of today,
I choose.
Allow whatever to arise.
You might like to reach for the kindest thought that comes up.
You may like to just introduce a little half smile right now,
Just like the Mona Lisa.
Nothing forced.
Notice what that's like.
And now you're ready to go about your day.
Don't forget the body,
Mind,
World practice for when you might need it to realign you in this moment for just a moment or two,
Focusing on a few seconds upon each area of body,
Mind and world.
Thank you for being part of the change.
