Quick Pause To Recenter And Refocus

For when you need to hit reset or take a pause in your day but don't have a lot of time. This meditation helps you recenter and refocus with a brief mindfulness of breathing exercise. It can be done seated, lying down, or even standing.

Image credit: Samantha Gades on Unsplash.

Transcript

Welcome to this brief workday pause,

Designed to help you relax and re-center in just a few minutes.

To get started,

Take a moment to make yourself comfortable.

You might wiggle around on your chair or even decide to stand up for this brief mindfulness exercise.

Connect your feet to the ground beneath you and adjust your spine so that you're upright but still relaxed.

If you're sitting,

You can rest your hands in your lap and notice the contour and the shape of your body and the way that the chair holds and supports you.

If it's comfortable and safe to do so,

Let your eyelids flutter closed,

Allowing your brain to pause from processing all the visual information around you.

Begin to relax your face,

Letting your forehead become smooth,

Releasing all the little muscles around your eyes,

Inviting the cheeks to grow slack and the jaw to soften.

Now turn your attention to your breath.

Tune into the breath with curiosity,

Noticing the air coming in and going out.

There's no need to change your breath,

Just pay attention to how it is in this very moment.

You might note to yourself,

I am breathing in as you inhale and I am breathing out as you exhale.

This breath,

And then this breath,

And then this breath.

Now I'll invite you to intentionally lengthen and control the breath using the technique of three-part breathing.

You might like to bring one hand to your low abdomen and the other to your ribs or heart space.

Then receive the breath into that bottom hand,

Into your belly.

Fill up as you feel the expansion rise to the ribs,

And then into the upper chest.

Reverse that flow on the exhale,

Letting the air release first from your chest,

Then the ribs,

And finally from the abdomen.

Breathing in,

Filling,

Belly,

Then ribs,

Then chest.

Breathing out,

Emptying the chest,

Then the ribs,

Then the belly.

Breathing in,

Feel the belly,

The ribs,

The chest,

And breathing out,

Filling,

Belly,

Then ribs,

Then chest.

Feel the chest,

The ribs,

The belly.

Now take another two or three rounds of breathing just like this,

And with your breathing pattern complete,

You can just release control of the breath,

Giving it permission to return to its natural ebb and flow.

As you rest here,

Pause,

And sense any echo coming from the chest created by this simple mindfulness of breath practice.

Notice any subtle shifts in the body and the mind.

And when you're ready,

You can blink open your eyes and return to your space,

Continuing on with your day.