Sports | Concentration
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Hi, and welcome to this focus exercise. So this is designed to be used pretty much in any situation but particularly when the mind feels very scattered or confused in some way. So I'd like you to begin by just finding a quiet place where you're not gonna be disturbed for the next 10 minutes, just sitting upright, preferably with the arms and legs on cross the feet flat on the floor. You can sit on the floor if it's more comfortable, eyes open and a nice soft focus. So without staring at one thing, just aware of the space around you. And when you're sitting comfortably, just taking some nice, big, deep breaths, breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. And with the next out breath, just closing the eyes. I mean, closing the eyes, just becoming more aware of the other senses in particular, that feeling of contact, touch, body pressing down, the feet on the floor, the hands and the arms on the legs. And just take a few moments just to settle into that feeling and into the space around you. Just starting to notice the different sounds just allowing those sounds to come and go. And then just bringing the attention now, back to the body. Just starting to notice how the body is feeling. Well, there's a sense of ease, a sense of tightness, tension in the body. And just to get a fairer picture, just scanning down from head to toe, just noticing how the different parts of the body feel right now. And as you scan down through the body, you can't help but notice the movement of the breath the rising and falling sensation. To begin with, I'd just like you to notice where in the body you feel that movement and how it feels where there's a sense of space, tightness. It might be around the chest, diaphragm, the stomach but just noticing the area of the body where you feel that movement most strongly. And if you can't feel anything at all just gently placing your hand on your stomach so you can feel that movement. And as it becomes more obvious where you feel that movement and how that feels in the body, just starting to pay a little more attention now to each breath, noticing how each one is perhaps a little different from the last, from the next. Now one's perhaps a bit longer, next shorter, or one maybe deeper, next one a little more shallow, and just paying a bit more attention to each breath now. Now letting go of any idea of comparing one breath to the next, not thinking about it just noticing, and just coming to each breath afresh now. So just being present, with the rising sensation and then the falling sensation. So that's it, anything else, we you just see it as a distraction, we let it go, and we come back to either the rising sensation...
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A former Buddhist monk, Andy has guided people in meditation and mindfulness for 20 years. In his mission to make these practices accessible to all, he co-created the Headspace app in 2010.
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Eve is a mindfulness teacher, overseeing Headspace’s meditation curriculum. She is passionate about sharing meditation to help others feel less stressed and experience more compassion in their lives.
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As a meditation teacher, Dora encourages others to live, breathe, and be with the fullness of their experiences. She loves meditation’s power to create community and bring clarity to people’s minds.
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Kessonga has been an acupuncturists, therapist, and meditation teacher, working to bring mindfulness to the diverse populations of the world.
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Rosie Acosta has studied yoga and mindfulness for more than 20 years and taught for over a decade. Rosie’s mission is to help others overcome adversity and experience radical love.
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