Calming and steadying with the breath

- [Instructor] There's a sign in Las Vegas that reads, "You must be present to win." In a way that sums up much of what we've been learning. You may be sensing already in this mindfulness daily training that living, learning and working with greater vibrancy with more of a sense of flow are increasingly available as you arrive in a relaxed and clear presence. In this session, we'll continue to develop a skill central to remaining present in any endeavor. The ability to steady and calm your mind. Researchers have demonstrated that with mindfulness training your mind becomes less scattered and distracted. What this means is that those critical mental functions you rely on to be successful and make a difference, memory, reasoning, planning, problem solving are all positively affected by mindfulness. A regular practice of mindful breathing will slowly and gradually deepen your ability to stay steady and present for each moment. In this course, we begin with breath, but in time this deepening presence on naturally influence how you participate in meetings, the quality of your problem solving and your ability to collaborate and influence more effectively. You know the opposite of this won't work, right? What it's like when we're in the thick of stress? Well, rather than a calm and steady mind, we're typically caught in feeling speedy, anxious, and distracted. We might be prone to interrupt people, have difficulty prioritizing or feel challenged to complete projects on time. Basically we're reacting not responding skillfully to what's happening around us. Cultivating a state of ease and calm in no way means we'll become slow weak or passive. Much like a flow state in sports we're cultivating an optimal mental and emotional state. One that is both relaxed and alert, so that we can meet whatever arises with our full power and faculties. This allows us to respond in ways that are immediately skillful and beneficial for all involved. There's a very effective tool we'd like to introduce in this session, it'll support your ability to gather, settle and focus attention, especially at those times that you most need centering. As you feel the in-breath and the out-breath in this guided practice, we'll invite you to silently say the word, "Calm with the inflow and ease with the outflow." You'll mentally repeat these words with a soft inner voice. As you note each breath in this way with kind awareness your sense of calm and ease will slowly grow. You'll find that even brief moments of calm and ease are seeds of a sense of wellbeing that keeps deepening as you continue the practice. Your typical work day has countless triggers a stress intention and developing a counterbalance is a sure way to help you be more productive and effective. Now, this doesn't mean you'll always calm yourself on command, even during a sitting, when you're practicing mindfulness of breathing, you'll notice the experience of calm and focus will come and go. Similarly, during a typical day, in one minute you may feel quiet and present. And in the next distracted and agitated, this is all natural, it happens in all mindfulness training. Let these changing ways of experience come and go. Notice any judgment and simply remain relaxed and dedicated. As one teacher explained you can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf. Maintaining a kind and interested attention to the breath through all the changes in your mind is actually how you strengthen a reliable access to calm and steady focus. The breath becomes an anchor, the foundation of steadiness and presence. Then at various times through your day, you might do a short one minute session perhaps while sitting at your desk or between meetings or preparing for the next task on your list. In those times, try pausing, pause for a moment of mindful breathing before opening the door and stepping into the office of someone you have an important meeting with. Or before a discussion about performance report with your employee, especially during these times. You may find that the mental whisper of calm with the in-breath and ease with the out-breath helps you arrive again in presence. One woman who regularly addressed large professional gatherings reported that the short pause from mindful breathing before speaking enabled her to engage with her audience in a distinctly more relaxed, clear way. No matter what the activity and no matter how stressful, your breath is always here for you to use to calm and steady your attention. So let's explore this together in practice. Settle in again with an attitude of interest and gentleness. Establish a simple sense of presence, let your body arrive in this moment and your mind rest at ease. Notice the state of your body just now, however it is. And bring a kind attention to it, you might fill it with the half smile of kindness. Now, take two or three full deep breaths to release tension. Feel the breath moving through the body. Letting the breath now resume its natural rhythm, bring your attention to wherever you most easily feel it in your body. Perhaps you feel the breath at your nostrils, at your throat, your chest, your belly. Simply be as mindful of your breathing as you can. Whenever your attention wanders, whether after two breaths or ten, as soon as you notice, bring it back gently. This repeated returning is the training of awareness. This breath, this moment, now with your next breaths begin to add the soft inner words, calm and ease as you breathe in and out, keeping your attention primarily on the changing sensations of breathing. Just let those soft words, calm and ease, quiet the mind and enhance the focus. Calm with the inflow, ease with the outflow, letting the rhythm of the breath change as it will. Sometimes long, sometimes short. Simply feel the rhythm just as it is now, each moment. Mindful of this breath, sensing the qualities of calm and ease as you experience it. Notice now, if the words calm and ease are helping you to settle the body and the mind and focus more easily with the breath. If so, continue to use them. If not, if they feel artificial or interfere with the direct sense of the breath then let them go and continue with silent awareness. Do whatever helps you stay present more easily. We'll take a few more moments letting your attention deepen. (bell rings) Continue the practice of mindful breathing as you carry on with the rest of this day. Use the words, calm with the inflow and ease with the outflow, if they help you to settle. Be patient, kind and steady. Any art takes a while to learn whether playing guitar or studying a new language. Mindfulness is a great art because it can be useful in every situation in your life. As homework right now, we invite you to try this calm, ease, breathing practice, the next time you find yourself starting to feel anxious or distressed and notice how it shifts your experience.