This is the forth recording in a series of Monday Mindful Moments for anyone who would like to start their week with the intention of being calm and centred which will in turn bring focus, productivity, creativity and innovation.   These recordings will be between 5 and 10 minutes long and can be used any time you need to find some peace and calm in your mind.

Today, I am going to share a really short ‘reset’ or ‘emergency calm’ meditation.  You can use this to calm yourself or your mind at any time or day and night and for as long or as short as you need to, from a minute to many minutes.

It is also a really good exercise to commit to doing once a day for just a couple of minutes as the benefits are almost instantaneous when it comes to reducing stress and anxiety  as it restores you to the parasympathetic state, drops your cortisol and adrenaline levels, allows for clarity and can also help you sleep more easily at night.

Make these two minutes as important as brushing your teeth and it will become a habit.

The good thing about this technique is that you can do it consciously, you don’t need to be sat on a meditation pillow;  you can be walking, sitting, lying, waiting in line for the bus or coffee.  Just bring yourself in to the present moment and focus your attention on your breathing and a technique called 345 breathing.

I used this overnight last night when I lay awake at 4am with my mind whirring.  By using this breathing technique, I found myself waking up to the alarm!

Just for this initial practice,  start by finding a comfortable position for you, take a breathe and close your eyes.

Either listen to the guided recording here:  Monday Mindful Moment 4: 345 Breathing

Or read through the following and continue at your leisure.

Take a deeper breathe and allow your shoulders to relax and let all the tension drain from your body.

Breathe

Allow your mind to let go of any thoughts and start to focus on your breathing.

For the next few minutes, give yourself permission to relax and surrender to this practice.

Count to 10 slowly

For the next minute, I am going to ask you to focus on counting while breathing – breathing in for the count of 3, hold it for the count of 4 and then breathe out for 5.

On your next breathe – breathe in for 1,2,3.. hold for 1,2,3,4, breathe out for 1,2,3,4,5.

And again… in 23, hold 234, out 2345

In 23

Hold 234

Out 2345

And continue in your own time for the next minute.

Continue for 60 seconds or longer

And now let your breathing return to normal, allow your mind to relax and be still; you may want to just focus your mind on your breathe if it starts to wander, by saying breathing.

Continue as long as you want.

Now, take a final deep breathe in and keep your mind and body relaxed and as you finish, smile and open your eyes.

 

Use this breathing technique as often as you require to calm and centre yourself and commit to doing this for a couple of minutes a day and watch out for the fantastic results.

Have a wonderful week!