Hello!
You are listening to Meditation and Coffee,
The weekday meditation podcast that helps you start your day off calm,
Aware,
Intentional,
Focused and most importantly,
Awake.
Because did you know that the word Buddha actually means awakened one?
I'm Hannah,
Your host and founder of the online meditation community Breathe Like a Badass,
And I am obsessed with starting the day with good coffee and seriously simple meditation.
As a trained meditation teacher and a female entrepreneur,
My mission is to help anxious yet ambitious women cut through overwhelmed,
Negative self-talk,
Constant comparison and fear,
So they can get the calm,
Clarity and focus that they need to build happy,
Fulfilling,
Freedom-filled businesses and lives.
Meditation is not magic,
But it's a pretty good place to start.
So whether your coffee is a shot of espresso,
A latte decaf or even a tea or a chai,
I invite you to join me every weekday to start your day off right.
FYI,
These sessions are recorded live on my Instagram page at BreatheLikeABadass,
So if you'd prefer to join in and watch them live,
You can do so there every weekday morning between 8 and 8.
30am London time.
The videos are also available after the lives on my IGTV page.
And now,
On to the meditation and coffee.
Good morning friends,
It is Friday,
That means that we have done officially one working week of meditation and coffee meditations,
So hello,
Thank you for joining.
Got my massive cup of coffee today,
I hope that you're joining me with something similar,
Maybe it's your tea or your chai or indeed your coffee.
Today we are going to do a meditation that is in honour of the fact that it is Friday,
And it's going to be about finding joy,
Finding things that make us happy.
And maybe that sounds a little simple,
And it sounds a little glib perhaps,
But honestly,
Sometimes it's okay to just tune in to what makes us feel good and not bring any guilt associated with that,
Or feeling like we always have to be doing something,
Or ticking off something on our to-do list,
And starting the day,
Especially on a Friday morning,
I think it would just be so wonderful just to give ourselves permission to sit down,
Take this time,
Have our cup of coffee,
And really just focus on what feels good,
Even if only for a few minutes.
So if you've got your cup of coffee you can keep hold of it,
Noticing the temperature of the mug and how it feels to be drinking it this morning,
Or you can set it down,
Which is what I'm going to do just for the second,
And then I invite you to get into a comfortable position,
It doesn't have to be a perfect meditation pose,
It can literally just be what feels comfortable to you,
So I'm sitting on my sofa,
Feeling quite grounded,
Feeling quite secure,
You can cross your legs,
Hello people joining,
Hope that you join me in this meditation today,
It's going to be a good one,
We're focusing on feeling good.
So you can sit in a position that feels comfortable to you,
Just make sure that you're upright and that you're not kind of leaning back as if you're about to go to sleep,
And just dropping your shoulders,
And if you like you can close your eyes,
You can leave them just slightly open,
Whatever's going to get you just feeling grounded and comfortable in the space.
So if you want to close your eyes I invite you to do so now,
And coming into your body to notice your back and your shoulders,
Keeping your spine upright,
But allowing yourself today of all days,
It is Friday after all,
We want to relax,
We want to get ready for the weekend,
So today of all days really focusing on where you're sitting and how it feels to be sitting where you are today,
Noticing the groundedness of the gravity,
Really pulling you down,
But in a really good solid grounded way,
Remembering to keep your spine upright and as you breathe in,
Just gently bringing your spine upwards to get that sense of alertness,
To get that sense of lightness and openness to the day,
But also with our legs in the seat of where we're sitting,
Just allowing ourselves to be grounded and heavy.
Sometimes I like to explain this as the roots of a tree,
A beautiful old tree,
And you have the leaves at the top that are dancing in the wind,
But then you also have the roots of the tree,
You want to be the roots of the tree today.
Another metaphor that I love for getting grounded in your meditation seat is imagining chocolate melting onto a hot surface,
Just let yourself be that chocolate today melting onto a hot surface,
Languorous and soft and melting into the space.
Again just breathing deeply in and out in a way that feels natural and noticing what it feels to be breathing in this seat today,
So take three good cleansing breaths,
We're going to go in through the nose,
Pausing slightly at the top and out through the mouth.
And as you breathe in,
Again renewing that commitment,
That reaching slightly upwards,
And as you breathe out,
Allowing yourself to melt again,
Dropping your shoulders,
Releasing tension in your face,
Under your eyes and your jaw.
One more breath,
Breathing out.
So today's meditation for Friday is simply about finding joy.
So now I invite you to drop into your body and notice your feet and your legs,
And anywhere in your physical body that actually feels good,
Something that makes you feel good,
Happy,
Sparks joy to use Marie Kondo's brilliant phrase.
It doesn't have to be something that makes you absolutely want to jump up and down,
It can just be something really nice,
Like the feeling of the softness of the fabric on the chair you're sitting on,
Or maybe the nice feel of the sweet breeze coming in through the window onto your arms.
Maybe it's gratitude for the fact that you can take this time to just sit today.
And you may notice some things that are less than joyful,
Maybe some aches and pains,
Maybe you slept in a strange position,
That's all fine,
That's all fine,
That's just who you are,
That's your body.
But can we tune in today just to notice some things that are good,
That feel good in our body?
Maybe yesterday you had a headache all day and now you've woken up today and it's gone.
Maybe that's enough to make you feel good.
Maybe you can smell the nice smell of the moisturiser that you put on your skin this morning.
Maybe that's enough to really make you feel joyful and happy today.
And what can you hear?
Is there anything you can hear that makes you feel happy,
That sparks a little glint of joy or happiness this morning?
I can hear wind rustling in the trees,
I can hear dogs barking next door.
Let yourself focus on these moments of normal everyday happiness.
How does it feel to intentionally look for moments of happiness and joy in the everyday things?
For many of us this exercise may be quite challenging.
Often in meditation we're taught to look for the moments of tension,
We're taught to deal with our distraction,
We're taught that meditation is about calming and about soothing ourselves from difficult emotions.
And it absolutely can be.
It's an incredibly powerful tool for dealing with difficulty.
However it can also be a tool for noticing the good as well and for practising what it feels like to notice the good things.
And coming back to the joy of being human and having this space this morning.
And maybe to some people it might feel frivolous or as if we're ignoring the realities of life.
But sometimes I believe that meditation can be an incredible tool for taking pleasure in the small moments of life.
Like with the coffee that I have sitting next to me.
Not only do I love my mug and that makes me happy,
But also the warmth of the coffee,
The taste,
Thinking about all the people that had to go into making this cup of coffee to get it to me,
The people that work the land,
The people that pick it,
All of those things joining up together to bring this cup of coffee to me this morning.
That brings me joy,
That makes me happy.
How grateful I am.
So continuing to notice.
Anywhere in your body or any thought that comes up that makes you think,
Oh yeah,
Okay,
That makes me happy,
That's nice.
Nothing too small.
Nothing counts.
Maybe just remembering to drop your shoulders even more and feeling the tension go out of them.
Maybe that's enough.
That's enough to make you think,
Oh yeah,
That feels good this morning.
And if you get distracted,
Congratulations,
You're absolutely normal.
That's what happens.
That's what the brain does.
Remembering to acknowledge it.
Notice that you got distracted.
Give yourself grace.
Forgive yourself for getting distracted and bring it back.
Bring it back.
Realising how it feels in your body and actively seeking to find the good little moments.
I can hear the birds singing outside in the sunlight.
And just resetting our posture.
Taking a few more deep breaths in through the nose and out through the mouth,
Relaxing our face and shoulders yet again as we breathe.
And just noticing how you feel now compared to when you started the meditation.
And if you had your eyes closed,
You can open them now.
As always,
Ending with a little stretch,
A little shake,
Ahh,
Sip of coffee,
Ahh.
And I hope that that meditation has helped you to start your day with a little bit of joy and happiness.
And remembering that meditation can be an incredibly powerful tool for dealing with difficult things in life,
But it can also be a tool for noticing just the simple moments of life that can make us happy.
And that can make us feel like things aren't so heavy,
Especially going into the weekend.
And remembering that it's within our power to notice those little moments of playfulness.
And even though we may have a full to-do list ahead of us,
Which I certainly do,
It's Friday,
It's a working day after all.
But just starting our day,
Intentionally noticing little things that might feel good.
I also wanted to say that I'm opening spots to my one-to-one coaching packages next week.
So if you think you'd be interested in working with me one-to-one on specific issues dealing with your life and your business to get the clarity that you need to move forward with confidence and calm,
Then let me know,
We can book a chat and see if it's right for you.
So I wish you a really wonderful weekend,
I'll see you back here on Monday morning,
Same time,
Same place,
For another week of meditation and coffee.
But in the meantime,
Have a wonderful Friday,
Wonderful weekend,
And I'll see you next week.
That's it for today,
Thanks so much for listening and spending your morning with me.
If you like this podcast and you are as obsessed with coffee and maybe meditation as I am,
Please go ahead and leave a rating and a review on Apple podcasts or wherever you normally listen as it helps spread the word and get the message out to more brilliant women just like us who need it.
You can also share with your friends on Instagram,
Tagging me at Breathe Like a Badass.
I always love to see you there.
If you like this and you'd like to hear more from me and Breathe Like a Badass on how to use meditation to get the calm,
Clarity and focus you need to build a happy,
Fulfilling,
Freedom-filled business and life,
Head on over to my other full-length interview style podcast just search Breathe Like a Badass anywhere that you normally listen to podcasts.
Thank you so much for listening and I will see you for the next one.
