Hey everyone and welcome to the 7x7 mindfulness challenge.
Each lesson in the challenge will introduce you to a one-minute long practice that you can use just about anywhere anytime to help bring more mindfulness into your work and your life.
We'll start by teaching you a little bit about each mindfulness technique and then we'll go through a one-minute practice together.
And remember you can always come back to this lesson anytime you want a refresher.
For day one we'll show you how to tune into the breath with the technique of breath counting.
Learning to connect to your breathing is one of the foundational skills of mindfulness.
So many styles of mindfulness use the breath as a building block for a deeper practice.
The breath is often considered an approachable tool that we can access quickly and without any special equipment.
But if there are nuances to your particular situation and relationship with your breath,
The goal here is really to provide an anchor within your body to help focus your attention.
So we encourage you to turn to your breathing with this mindset and to make any modifications you might need to make yourself feel safe and comfortable.
For most mindfulness sessions,
Taking just a few moments to settle in can really help to provide deeper benefits even for a short practice.
So get ready for our minute of breath counting together by taking a second to get your body into a position where you can feel comfortable and safe and there are no major distractions.
You can also do anything that might make you even more comfortable,
Like removing your glasses or grabbing a sweater.
Closing your eyes is always optional.
If it's comfortable for you,
You can let your eyes gently drift closed now.
Or if keeping your eyes open feels more appropriate for you today,
You can still give them a bit of a break by letting your gaze just rest gently somewhere in front of you.
And finally,
Remind yourself that you're here to take the next 60 seconds to be mindful and give yourself permission to put any other items on your schedule aside for just one minute.
Now we'll get into our breath counting practice.
You'll see that the technique is pretty straightforward,
But the challenge is to keep your focus on counting the breath for the full 60 seconds.
If you find your mind starting to wander,
Just remind yourself that it's all a part of the practice and bring your attention back to your breath with kindness and with understanding.
We'll go ahead and get started by walking you through the technique.
You can count silently in your mind along with my voice.
Start by inhaling and count 1,
Then exhale and count 1.
Inhale and count 2,
Exhale and count 2.
Inhale 3,
Exhale 3.
Inhale 4,
Exhale 4.
Inhale 5,
Exhale 5.
And then we'll start all over again at the beginning.
Inhale and count 1,
Exhale and count 1.
Inhale 2,
Exhale 2.
Inhale 3,
Exhale 3.
Inhale 4,
Exhale 4.
Inhale 5,
Exhale 5.
And now start back at the beginning again,
Just as a reminder that the goal of this practice isn't to reach a certain number of breaths,
But instead it's just to be aware of your breath and use the counting as a way to stay connected with it.
And now we'll get ready for your full 60 seconds of practice.
Go ahead and continue counting your breaths at your own pace,
Starting now.
Now slowly start to relax your attention away from your breathing and let your awareness come back into the space around you.
You can let your eyes blink gently open if they've been closed,
Or if they've been open,
Gently bring your gaze back into focus.
And take a second to thank yourself for devoting this minute to being mindful,
And then take another second to notice how you feel now that the session is complete.
Congratulations for completing Day 1.
Then tomorrow we'll take this breath counting practice one step further by using the breath to help deliberately calm the mind.
We'll see you then.
