Intro To Mindfulness Meditation Day 1

This is the first of an 8-day series to mindfulness meditation. Amanda leads the course by talking about the importance of meditation and why we should be integrating it into our daily lives. Then, into a guided practice while also using a sound bowl to help beginners focus more easily.

Transcript

Hello and welcome.

My name is Amanda and I am a mindfulness meditation student on my way to receiving a teaching certificate very very soon as well as I am an alpine ski coach.

And I just want to start off by giving you a quick history into my background and why I feel meditation is so important.

So I've been practicing meditation since high school and I was trying to bring the benefits into my ski racing career but I had very little guidance and I never really found the benefits to be as profound as I do today.

Ultimately last year I was at a breaking point and I was suffering some very serious health problems and I woke up one day with the realization I needed to turn my life around today.

Vitamins,

Supplements,

Everything I was doing for my health,

Prescriptions,

Nothing seemed to be working.

I have a chronic autoimmune disorder.

And for me meditation was the answer.

Since daily practice I have seen benefits that no doctors even had answers to.

I am healthier and happier and stronger than ever before and I'm able to endure cold weather and travel in ways I wasn't able to do when I was supposedly in the best shape of my life.

So whether you're looking to feel better,

Be a more focused athlete,

Or just wanting to start something new,

Meditation is worth trying.

So to start out we're going to keep it very very simple.

Take a seated posture with a tall spine.

Make sure your shoulders are down and relaxed,

Tongue is off the roof of your mouth,

Just relaxed in the face,

Your chin is slightly tucked and your eyes can be closed or just looking down,

Not really looking at anything at all.

This posture aids in the proper flow of energy and just helps us focus and feel grounded.

So we're going to start off by taking three big breaths.

Each one will be slower than the last and as we start to settle into our seats and enter our journey of stillness I have a singing bowl to help aid in your journey.

So to start,

Breathe in through the nose,

Out through the mouth,

Now slower in through the nose,

Out through the mouth,

And the slowest breath yet in through the nose,

And out.

So so so so so so so so so so so so