Hey everyone and welcome back to the 7x7 Mindfulness Challenge.
Each lesson will introduce you to a one minute long practice for you to use just about anywhere and anytime to 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.
You can always come back to this lesson anytime you need a refresher.
On day one you learned the technique of breath counting.
Today we'll take this practice one step further by using the breath to help deliberately calm the mind.
One way to do this is through equal breathing where each inhale and exhale of the breath lasts for an equal amount of time.
This helps to balance the nervous system and to help your body find a sense of stability even during stressful events.
Eventually this technique can help your mind start to release its grip on stressful thoughts and feelings.
We'll start by settling in to get the most benefit from our short practice.
Take a second to get your body into a position where you can feel comfortable and safe and there are no major distractions.
Then you can do anything that might make you a little more comfortable like taking off your glasses or grabbing a sweater.
Closing your eyes is always optional.
If it's comfortable for you,
You can let your eyes drift closed 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.
Finally remind yourself that you're here to take the next 60 seconds to be mindful and give yourself permission to put away any other items on your schedule just for one minute.
Now we'll get into our equal breathing practice.
Just like breath counting you'll see that the technique is pretty straightforward and the challenge is to keep your focus on counting with the breath for the full minute.
If you find your mind starting to wander,
Just remind yourself that it's all a part of the practice and gently bring your attention back to your breath.
We'll start by walking you through the technique.
You can count silently in your mind along with my voice.
Every inhale will last for a count of four and every exhale will last for the same count of four.
So get ready and start with an inhale two three four and exhale two three four.
Inhale two three four and exhale two three four.
Inhale two three four.
Exhale two three four.
And now continue this practice at your own pace for the next 60 seconds.
Now slowly start to relax your attention away from your breathing and bring your awareness back to the space around you.
You can let your eyes gently blink open if they've been closed or if they've been open just gently bring your gaze back into focus and take a second to thank yourself for devoting this minute to being mindful and take another second to notice how you feel now that the session is complete.
Congratulations on completing day two.
Then tomorrow we'll start to develop a deeper connection between the body and the mind using three-part breathing.
We'll see you then.
