Hi,
My name is Sonia and I'm going to guide you through a short breathing practice to help you relieve stress while at work.
This can be done sitting in a chair,
Even while at your desk.
If you would like,
Begin to quiet your mind by closing your eyes or gently lowering your gaze and bring all awareness into your feet.
We're going to start cultivating a sense of groundedness by noticing the contact of the feet on the floor.
So often when we get very activated or stressed out,
There's a lot of racing thoughts up in our head.
And now we're going to counterbalance that by bringing attention downwards into the feet,
Landing in the now.
And as you do that,
Maybe the feet relax and give way to gravity a bit more on the ground,
Noticing where the heel touches the floor,
The ball of the foot,
The stretch of the skin across the feet.
And getting playful for a moment and imagining a world in which your feet have their own root system connecting you to the earth and take a big breath,
Envisioning it coming from the bottom of your feet all the way up your body,
Past the lungs,
Into the crown of your head and then exhale,
Bringing the breath back down into the ground,
Dropping the shoulders,
Letting the hips get heavy on the chair,
Allowing your feet to land even more firmly on the earth.
And do that again at your own pace,
Taking a nice,
Slow inhale,
Breathing in a sense of calm that travels upwards and exhaling,
Releasing any tension or worry that may be present in the mind or body.
We're going to do that one last time,
But this time,
As you take the inhale,
Purse your lips,
Imagine you're sipping the breath up through a straw,
Which may help you slow down the breath even more.
Exhale,
Let the shoulders slide down the back,
Releasing any gripping that may be happening in the hands,
Keeping your eyes closed.
Bring your hands to your lower belly,
Become aware of how it feels to have your hands on this part of your body and begin to take deep inhales into that area,
Experiencing your belly push into your hands as the breath expands the lower part of the abdomen.
And exhale slowly,
Feeling the belly relax.
Take five more breaths into the belly at your own pace.
If you're struggling to locate your breath there,
Push a bit more actively into the hands as you inhale to see if that helps direct awareness to that part of the body.
Stay with the breathing,
Trusting that each breath is supporting a sense of well-being.
I hope the rest of your day feels manageable and grounded in a sense of inner peace.
This meditation is complete.
