You you Hello,
My name is Scott Langston,
And I'd like to welcome you to this very short mindfulness track focused around standing You've probably heard of sitting mindfulness meditation walking mindfulness meditation Certainly listening mindfulness meditation But today's experience will be focused around standing as the core grounding of the mindfulness exercise Before we begin You'll need to find something that you can use to support yourself while standing This might be the back of a chair a walking stick a long umbrella Anything at all that you can hold on to to give you some extra support while standing And it will become apparent why you need this in just a moment We can begin the exercise sitting And we're going to take one or two centering breaths Deeply in through the nose And out through the mouth so again with me in through the nose And out through the mouth And just bring your awareness to how your body is feeling How does your chest and stomach feel?
How does your mind feel?
With what intent are you approaching today's mindfulness session?
And just sit with these thoughts for a moment And now I'd like you to take a deep breath in and stand up And breathe out And you're going to place your feet slightly apart So that you have a firm stance on the ground And then you're going to take a deep breath in and stand up And then you're going to take a deep breath out And lay apart so that you have a firm stance on the ground And hold on to the object that you have to support you And when you're ready you can gently either half close or completely close your eyes Usually when we stand it's part of a prelude to something else We're about to walk,
We're about to go somewhere We're about to have a conversation or we're waiting for something Standing is not an action we usually do for its own sake But standing can bring your mind to a state of alertness It can make you aware of your body and it can bring you quickly to the present moment Become aware of your breathing The in-breath,
The rising of the chest and the belly And the out-breath and the relaxation of the body,
The neck and the shoulders Stand quietly with your breathing for a moment or two You may have noticed shifting your weight slightly on your feet Perhaps from the ball of your left foot to the heel of your right foot as you maintain your balance As a species we are supremely visually dominant If your vision is in quotes normal you will rely upon the cues you get from looking around you To help you maintain a sense of balance And when we're standing for a significant period with our eyes closed,
If we're not used to that Then balance can become an issue This is why you are now holding onto an object like a chair back or a walking stick of some kind Or maybe even just a wall To help you maintain your balance if this is a new experience for you So now I'd like you to bring your attention to the soles of your feet Focused first on your left foot And with each in-breath bring your attention to a different part of your foot So breathing in,
I'm acknowledging the ball of my left foot Breathing in,
I'm acknowledging the heel of my left foot Breathing in,
I'm acknowledging the toes of my left foot And you can do the same now for your right foot And now refocus your attention globally on the whole of your experience,
On your body and on your mind Gently be aware of your breathing And each time thoughts or emotions occur to you,
Gently allow them to pass without following them And refocus your attention on your breath A very,
Very simple mantra to help you focus attention on your breath is to say silently to yourself I'm breathing in with each in-breath and I'm breathing out with each out-breath I'm breathing in,
I'm breathing out Try this for a moment on your own And when you're ready,
You can gently open your eyes Give yourself a moment or two before you carry on with your day Even though you've been standing,
You have relaxed and slowed down more than you might imagine Of course,
A standing mindfulness meditation like this does not have to last for five or ten minutes It's something you can do during the course of your day,
Simply being aware Standing up,
Maybe from behind your computer screen or your desk Closing your eyes gently and taking one or two centering breaths I'm breathing in,
I'm breathing out Before opening your eyes and carrying on with your day Thank you for sharing this mindful moment with me today Thank you for watching!
