Meditation & Coffee - Just Hold On...

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 overwhelm,

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 Breathe Like a Badass,

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 live on my IGTV page.

Now,

On to the meditation and coffee.

Good morning.

Hello,

Hello.

I'm doing this on Tuesday,

But you might be doing it another day.

The camera is wobbling like crazy because I'm just pinning the comment onto the screen so that we can see what we're doing today.

So the title of today's meditation is Hold On,

Which sounds quite dramatic,

But it's actually a really simple technique.

Like I always say,

Meditation is not about clearing your mind,

It's not about thinking of nothing,

It's not about being super zen and never getting distracted.

In fact,

It's not about any of those things.

Some people,

If they've been practicing for a long time,

Maybe they'll have moments where they really do feel as though they're thinking of nothing and their attention is so focused that yeah,

Maybe they do feel as though they've cleared their mind.

I personally have had moments in my meditations over the years where I've felt like,

Oh wow,

Like I really am super focused today.

And then it lasts a few seconds and then you get distracted again.

And even the fact that you're thinking,

Oh,

I'm really super focused,

You could argue means that you're not,

Right?

So today I have quite a massive cup of coffee with me.

So allow me to just drink the first sip of the day.

If you have your cup of coffee with you,

You are very welcome to bring it and share with me in it this morning.

As I always say,

Decaf and tea and all other things welcome.

So I'm just going to put that down.

And so when I say hold on,

What we're going to do is we're going to choose something small or easy to hold in our hands as we do the meditation.

And it's going to be another way of training our attention.

So I actually have a little soft toy.

She's a pucheen.

If you guys don't know what pucheen is,

Go and Google it.

There's a world of joy waiting for you.

And she's just a little soft toy and she's kind of velvety and soft.

And she fits really,

Really nicely in my hand.

And I find that that can be a really great anchor.

If you are looking to overcome your anxiety,

If you're looking for a meditation that's going to help you feel grounded and calm and safe,

You can find an object that sits nicely in your hand.

And you can use that as your object of attention.

So that's what I'm going to talk you through today.

But it doesn't have to be a soft toy.

Like that's just me.

Some people would think that I'm crazy.

Like why has she got a soft toy?

How old is she?

Like what's going on?

You could use whatever you want.

I've had people use just their cup of coffee.

Honestly,

You know,

If you can put your hands around your cup of coffee and it's not too hot for you to hold onto for the whole meditation,

By all means use that.

If you don't have anything to hand,

You can just place your hands on your legs as you might usually in meditation.

And that can be a great anchor as well.

But also I would maybe encourage you,

Even if you don't have it to hand right now,

To find an object that makes you feel safe or that really is meaningful to you.

I know some people,

For example,

I attended an event where we did something similar a few weeks ago and somebody brought a pine cone that they had collected during a walk that was really special to them.

And they use the pine cone as that kind of object that they held onto when they were talking and when they were kind of meditating.

And that really was meaningful for them.

So there's absolutely no rules here.

It could be a candle.

It could be,

Again,

A soft toy.

It could even be something like a book that's really meaningful to you or a blanket.

Put that over yourself.

It's just really an object that is going to make you feel safe and calm and grounded and that you can hold or at least touch during the meditation.

So with all that said,

I invite you to get your object if you haven't already,

Or just find something,

As I say,

In your surrounding area that's going to allow you to practice the technique for later.

And,

Um,

Hello.

And I invite you to get that piece of whatever it is.

And like I say,

If you don't have anything to hand right now,

I invite you to just notice what it feels like with your hands at the moment,

Where your hands are,

Maybe keeping them quite still or noticing the textures and fabrics that you can feel,

Temperatures,

Etc.

Under your hands.

So we can use that as well.

So as usual,

Inviting you to really get into a comfortable position and allowing your shoulders to drop and taking some good deep breaths,

Nothing special,

Nothing fancy,

Just in through the nose and out through the nose or mouth.

And as you inhale,

Allowing your spine to grow longer and your chest to open,

Your shoulders to reach back,

Allowing yourself to expand with the in-breath,

With the out-breath allowing yourself to relax,

To melt into where you're sitting.

Noticing perhaps any areas of tension in your body and giving yourself permission to breathe.

Just normally breathe like you would normally.

Giving yourself this space today just to come into this position of safety and groundedness.

Maintaining just enough alertness in your posture,

So perhaps lifting your chin slightly or just ensuring that your back is straight,

Bringing in just enough alertness.

But also allowing yourself to relax and feel the gravity of your body as you sit and drop your shoulders.

Relaxing your neck,

The skin of your face,

Your jaw,

Skin around your eyes and your forehead.

And if you like,

If you're comfortable you can close your eyes,

But if not just leave them open.

Continuing to breathe gently and softly.

And now from this position of relative calm,

I invite you to get hold of whatever object we spoke about earlier when I started the meditation.

Any kind of object that's around you that you feel is meaningful to you or that makes you feel safe.

Anything that you can feel in your hand that you can hold.

Like I say,

You can use anything,

A cup of coffee,

A soft toy,

You can use a pine cone,

A pebble from a special beach,

Your favourite mug,

Even just a soft cushion or a favourite blanket.

And I invite you to take that object or place your hand wherever feels good,

Wherever feels comfortable,

Maybe on your knee or your thigh or even on your heart if that works for you,

Whatever works for you.

And placing your hand on the object or the part of your body and allowing yourself to get in touch with the feelings,

The sensations that are there.

No expectations,

No judgements.

It's bringing your attention to your fingertips and your hands.

And you're allowed to move them,

Don't feel as though you have to be still,

But you can move them gently over the object and just get really curious about what's there,

What textures are there,

How heavy is the object,

What sensations are there,

Is it soft,

Is it warm,

Is it rough,

Is it smooth,

What's the temperature like,

What textures can you feel,

Does it change as you move your hands over the object or is it the same all over?

What does it feel like to hold this object or this space in your hands?

Are there any associations that come up when you do it?

Do any other feelings make themselves known in your body as you do this?

Maybe a sense of calm.

Continue to breathe,

Don't hold your breath while you're doing this,

But still maintain your attention in your hands and arms and the object that you're focusing on.

There's no right or wrong.

And if you find yourself getting distracted,

I invite you to bring your attention back and get even more curious about what you're holding or if you just have your hands on your thigh about what you can feel.

Often when we get distracted in meditation,

We think,

Oh,

I'm doing it wrong,

It's not working.

And actually it's because we are just letting our attention wander,

Which is totally normal,

But the cure for that is to focus your attention even more and get even more curious.

So noticing the sensations in even more detail at an even slower,

Calmer pace.

Allowing time to really kind of crawl along as you do this,

As you take this time,

This permission to be here now.

Remembering to breathe,

Don't be so focused that you forget to breathe.

And allowing yourself to very calmly,

Very curiously and interestedly notice how it feels right now to be bringing all of your attention to this one object or this one feeling.

And using this as your anchor today.

And taking a few more deep breaths,

And allowing yourself to relax even further.

Noticing the feeling of what you're holding on to,

All the sensations that you're noticing under your fingertips today.

And acknowledge yourself for doing that,

And then if you had your eyes closed,

You can open them now.

Coming back into the room,

Maybe putting your object aside,

But also maybe just keeping it on your lap if you can,

If it's the kind of thing that you can do that with,

Or if it's your cup of coffee.

Picking it up again and feeling the sensations even more.

I'm going to take a sip of mine.

So that can just be a really great kind of exercise to firstly remind ourselves that we're not trying to empty our minds when we meditate,

We're not trying to find some elusive place of Zen and Calm,

We're not trying to completely clear our brains and not think of anything.

What we're actually trying to do is train our attention.

So the holding an object thing is kind of a really obvious metaphor for what we're trying to do.

So even when we don't have a physical object in our hands,

When we're meditating,

We are trying to train our attention on a particular sensation,

Or a particular mantra,

Or a particular thought or breath or whatever it might be.

And that's it.

Because that technique of focusing and focusing and again and bringing it back and again and curiosity and again,

What we do when we meditate,

You know,

When our minds are so distracted.

That is what builds the muscle in the brain.

That's what builds the synapses.

That's what thickens the parts of the brain that are thickened by meditation like the insular prefrontal cortex,

The amygdala is dampened down.

So the amygdala,

I mean,

I'm obsessed with all the neuroscience,

But long story short,

And very long story short,

The amygdala is the sort of like more primitive part of our brain.

And that's kind of what gets stuck in fight,

Flight or freeze or that's the part of our brain that is kind of like the monkey mind.

And when we focus,

We are using very briefly,

Our prefrontal cortex.

And when we bring our prefrontal cortex online,

It dampens down the amygdala.

So the act of focusing that we practice in meditation is what builds our brain and stops us from being so reliant on the kind of primitive monkey mind monkey brain,

Which is why when we meditate,

We can overcome our initial thoughts,

Our initial sensations and fears and patterns,

And actually use our prefrontal cortex to sort of make more rational decisions and feel more in control of our mind.

So that's kind of a bit of the brain science behind it.

And the act of focusing again and again and again is what builds those connections in the brain.

So that's why we do it.

Over and above all of that,

Finding an object that we can focus on when we meditate can be really calming.

It can be a really great way of making ourselves feel safe.

It is a real literal anchor that we can hold,

Like literally we can hold in our hand,

Whatever our object is maybe.

And we can say,

Oh,

Yeah,

Okay,

I'm going to use this as like my literal anchor to show myself I am safe,

And I'm good.

And I am okay in my body and I am whole.

And and I can literally hold on to something that brings me back into my body and shows me that I am safe and that I'm good and I've got this.

Which can be very useful if you're feeling overwhelmed or stressed or anxious,

Or you've got a million things to do.

You're feeling pulled in 1000 directions.

Sometimes it can be good to just have something that you're like,

Okay,

This is my anchor,

This is my thing.

I'm just gonna hold on to this for a second.

Yep.

Okay.

Focused,

Calmer,

Ready to go.

So please do save this meditation if you would like to do it later with another object.

Or if you find an object in future that you feel like,

Oh,

That could work.

I'll try that like maybe a pebble on a beautiful beach walk one day or something like that.

I encourage you to come back to it.

And you can change your objects.

Of course.

I mean,

If one day you're feeling like you need a bit of support in one area,

You know,

Like me with my little soft toy,

You know,

Maybe one day I might feel like I need a soft toy like one day I'll look at it and be like,

How ridiculous.

I'm not a kid.

I don't need that.

So maybe one day I'll use another object because that will resonate more.

So um,

It's really whatever you feel tuning into what you need.

And going on from there.

Thank you for being here today.

I do encourage you to replay this meditation with an object that makes the most sense to you.

Um,

Let me know how you get on.

Let me know how you found this.

Um,

Yeah,

It's something that really makes me feel calmer and safer and reminds me that,

You know,

I have what I need already to,

To be safe,

To feel good,

To feel calm and focus the attention.

So thank you so much.

This has been another session of meditation and coffee emphasis on the massive coffee mug always.

And yeah,

Have a wonderful rest of the day and let me know what your object was.

If you're watching the replay as well,

Write in the comments,

Let me know what your object was.

I'd love to know.

Uh,

Yeah.

Speak soon.

Have a great day.

Bye.

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 whatever 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 bad ass.

I always love to see you there.

If you like this and you'd like to hear more from me and breathe like a bad ass 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 bad ass anywhere that you normally listen to podcasts.

Thank you so much for listening and I will see you for the next one.