Hello and welcome to the Stillpoint Meditation.
In today's mindful meeting practice we're going to be focusing our attention on the breath.
The average person takes about 22,
000 breaths every day.
Most of these automatically and completely unconsciously.
In other words,
You usually don't think about the fact that you're breathing.
But,
If we take our attention to the breath and start to breathe more mindfully and deliberately,
Within a couple of cycles a profound change takes place in our physiology and biochemistry.
The breath is actually the most powerful tool we have at our disposal to effortlessly and easily transform how we feel mentally,
Physically,
Emotionally and energetically.
Spending a few short minutes breathing consciously leaves us grounded,
Relaxed,
Yet clear-headed,
Energized and focused.
All qualities we want to embody to ensure meetings are a productive and effective use of our time.
Let's begin,
Shall we?
Start by finding a comfortable seat.
Make sure your back is nicely supported and your feet rest easily on the floor.
Let your eyes drift towards closed now.
And allow yourself to start to soften and to sink back and down into your seat.
Feel the support of the earth beneath your feet.
The legs becoming more heavy.
The pelvis dropping.
Let yourself rest back into the support of the chair behind you.
Soften the belly.
Relax the shoulders.
Allow the face and the mouth to become soft.
Now take your attention to your breath.
Begin to slow and deepen the inhale and the exhale.
Breathing in and out through the nose.
Breathing in more fully.
Breathing out more fully.
Slowing down the breath in.
Slowing down the breath out.
Breathing in more fully.
Breathing out more fully.
And as you're connecting with this slow,
Full breath in and out,
I'd like you to invite the breath to happen from the belly.
So you're breathing into a nice,
Soft belly,
Feeling it expand and rise.
And breathing out from the belly.
Feeling it gently draw back in.
With every new breath in,
Enjoy that sense of fullness.
Energy being replenished.
Cells awakening and livening.
And fatigue being washed away.
And with every breath out,
Allow yourself to breathe out anything that is worrying you.
Anything that's been weighing you down,
Draining your vitality.
Breathing in to replenish.
Breathing out to let go.
Now on your next full breath in,
At the very top of that inhale breath,
Just see if you can hold it in the body for a moment or two.
And then gently and calmly breathe out.
And see if you can hold that emptiness for a moment or two as well.
Then calmly,
Slowly breathing in once again.
Hold at the top for a moment or two.
Gentle,
Calm exhale.
Hold at the bottom for a moment or two.
And now that you've connected to that slow deep breath,
With a short pause at either end,
We're going to add on a layer.
You're going to breathe in for a count of four.
Then you'll hold your breath for a count of five.
Exhale calmly,
Slowly.
For a count of six,
Maybe seven if it feels comfortable.
So empty all of your breath out now.
And then inhale with me for one,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Calm exhale,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Maybe seven.
And inhale,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold the breath,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Exhale,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
And inhale,
Hold.
Exhale.
And inhale,
Hold.
Exhale.
Inhale,
Two,
Three,
Four.
Hold the breath,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five.
Exhale,
Two,
Three,
Four,
Five,
Six,
Seven.
And inhale,
Hold.
Exhale.
Calm inhale,
Hold.
Exhale.
Now gently let go of the counting of your breath and allow it to just return to an easy,
Soft rhythm.
Keep the eyes closed and turn your attention inwards.
Take a moment to notice the effect of your practice.
Has anything shifted in how you feel physically,
Mentally,
Or energetically from when you first walked into the room?
And after taking a moment to allow the breath work to land,
You can begin to stretch and move around now.
Slowly blinking the eyes open when you're ready.
