Modern life is stressful and most of us are juggling lots of priorities -such as work, home, kids, exercise, volunteering and more.
This quick mini-meditation can be used any time of day for rapid tension and stress relief. It allows you to check in with yourself and observe your thoughts, breathing and body.
Throughout the day whenever you feel your stress levels rising you can carry out this super quick three-step process to relax tension.
Carry out each stage for around one minute.
1. Check in with your body
Are you shoulders hunched?
Are you furrowing your brow?
Is your jaw clenched?
Are your toes curled?
Are your buttocks tensed?
Scan your body and let any tension relax, releasing your body to gravity.
2. Check in with your breath
Are you holding your breath?
Are you shallow breathing?
Observe your breath for a few seconds and focus on the sensations as it flows in and out of your body.
3. Check in with your thoughts
What are you thinking?
Are you being kind to yourself?
Are you worrying about things that may never happen?
Remember that thoughts are not facts.
Try to soften your thoughts and focus on the present moment.
This method can be used absolutely anywhere – in a supermarket queue, in a Zoom meeting, while you’re cooking dinner or any other place you need to relieve stress.
There’s no need to sit down or shut your eyes (although you can if you want to).
When you start checking in with yourself like this several times a day you’ll start to notice how often you’re holding your breath or unnecessary tension in your body.
I promise this mindfulness tip will make a huge difference in your life!