And welcome to, our November Sunday meditations. I think we've got people sort of just coming in, so I'll Just kind of go slow before we get into the first ones. So, a big welcome to people joining in tonight.

November is really one of those real cold, dark, wet months, isn't it? And so, I think it's one of those months where you wake up and quite often in the morning, it's still a bit gloomy and dark, and, that's why this, the second meditation we're doing today is looking at morning intentions. And so it's that whole thing of trying to get us off to a good start.

But I thought we would start today with getting back to the breath. So, this meditation is actually called Let's Get Present by, coming back to our breath. So for those of you who are accessing this via the recording, big welcome to you as well.

So it might not be a Sunday meditation, it might be a Monday or a Tuesday meditation, but that's the wonderful thing about mindfulness is, is that, you know, you'll be in the moment, just as we're in this moment now. So if I Gently go Through to the first slide. So it's, it really is a very basic meditation, but none the worse for that, you know, because I suppose the breath is the very basis upon where mindfulness sits, isn't it?

You know, and if we can, anchor our attention to the breath more readily, With a bit more skill perhaps and learn to, when our mind wanders to gently bring our mind back. And that's the real beginnings of what we're trying to achieve, I think sometimes with mindfulness. So, Let's just think about our posture as always.

And all we're gonna say for this one is just make sure you're comfortable but upright, you know, feet flat on the floor. Maybe just place a hand on your chest, sort of just above your, your rib cage, and then your other hand just over your belly button, just so that we can really get a real connection with the breath as we do this meditation. So we'll just start in a couple of moments.

OK. So As long as we're comfortable. And let's begin.

So we're sitting upright with our feet flat on the floor. With just one hand. On your chest and just Gently apply some pressure there so you can just feel that.

Just above the rib cage. And then place your other hand on your belly. Just over your belly button.

And if your eyes aren't already closed. Just allow them to close gently. Just take a couple of gentle breaths.

As we breathe in. And down. Breathing in.

And out just paying attention. To the sound and the feel of your breath as you breathe in and out. Now, Very gently, just bring your attention to the movement.

Of your hands. One on the chest and one there, just, just sort of covering your belly button. And as we simply breathe in, And out.

Breathing in And out. Allowing your breath to be natural. As you simply Just notice the movement of your hands.

As they rise and fall. With each breath. So just keep breathing.

Nothing else to do. No state to be achieved. Simply Breathing And watching with our mind's eye and feeling The rise and fall of our chest and our tummy.

And as you settle in this rhythmic. Wonderful pattern of breathing. You may notice that your attention gets pulled elsewhere.

Maybe you noticed thoughts. Thoughts about you even. Perhaps thoughts about this exercise.

And that's OK. And when you notice your attention. Being pulled away from the meditation and into your mind.

We acknowledge that. I know what's happening here. And then just bring your awareness back.

To the movement of your hands. As they rise and fall. With each breath.

And it really helps to have our hands here. Because we feel as we breathe in, we feel the hand that's just covering our hearts move. And as we breathe out, we feel the movement in our tummy.

And you may also notice that your attention is being drawn to sounds around you. Maybe there's sounds in the room or Outside nearby, I think there's someone just putting their bins out for tomorrow somewhere in the road. That's OK to notice.

What sounds are you? Picking up on Simply acknowledge those sounds. And gently bring your attention back to your hands.

As they move, With each breath in Deep breath out. Reminding yourself that your breath. Is always with you.

Even if your attention goes elsewhere. And how lovely is that because that means we can always bring ourselves back to the present moment. By just coming back to where her hand is on the chest and on the tummy.

And there may be moments when Your attention gets pulled into physical sensations in your body or even emotion. Maybe you're tired or. Feel a grumbling in your tummy.

Practise here It is still the same. Mindfulness is in the acknowledgement of where your attention led you. And then to kindly No judgement.

Bring your awareness back to your hands. And by dint of coming back to your hands, back to your breath. Reconfirming That truism that your breath.

It's always with you. Always for as long as you're living. As long as you're present Your breath accompanies you on this life journey.

At this time, This meditation Starts to come to a close. Just let go! Of any thoughts?

Feelings. And slowly broaden your attention. To once again welcome in.

The sounds around you. And as you do, Let's all take 2 or 3 real cleansing breaths in. And now just going a bit deeper.

So with each cleansing breath we fill our lungs. As much as we can with each inhale. Let me pause.

And we slowly exhale. And another Wonderful deep cleansing breath breathing all the way in. And all the way out.

And very slowly. Just beginning to open your eyes again. With the intention To just practise.

In this next week. Getting even better. But just bringing our attention.

Back to our breath. Back to The safe refuge. Absolutely is our breath.

And well done. Very good. It's a really nice start.

So welcome to those people who just kept coming in a bit late. And you're very, very welcome. And I hope you were just able to sort of segue into that.

Very first meditation of the evening. And I like that, you know, I really like, and I think what I'd encourage you to do is to practise when you're doing a mindfulness of the breath, is to get back to that habit of placing one hand sort of on your chest just above your heart. On the other hand, just over your belly button.

And to bring that Sensation of touch and movement. I really find it helps me anchor my attention a little bit better. And I'm using that quite a lot at the moment.

So I hope that's got us a little bit more centred. And we're feeling really, really mindful. So I'm a real believer.

And the fact that One thing that sometimes gets in the way of developing a lifelong Mindfulness, habit. Is that we try and do too much. And I'm always reminded of the seminal research into mindfulness.

And the beginnings of this understanding that it can change us at a genetic level. And it can change. It can change us in such a deep physiological and spiritual way.

But to achieve that change, the evidence base always does seem to suggest we're looking at sort of around 17 minutes a day. At a sort of minimum, but that, that doesn't need to be 17 minutes in one go, which, you know, for really busy vets and really busy professionals working in the veterinary industry, that just might be too much. But If we can break that 17 minutes.

In 20 minutes . I suppose I'm being a bit rigid there, aren't I? But that, that meditative practise into perhaps 3 practises each day.

Always starting, I think, with starting the day. With a meditate and as you'll see on the slide, the morning intention setting meditation, and I've got really into this, . And what I've included down there is the link to the one that I'm currently using.

I meditate much better still after all these years. I really like a guided meditation. I do meditate, .

Just me and my breath and silence. I do just try and. Deepen into silence once or twice a week, but I really do get more and enjoy more a guided meditation.

I think I just like following the voice and. Being led into it. I love it.

And the one I've included on the slide here by Deepak Chopra is Deepak's. It's about 6.5 minutes, and it's the one I've been doing when I wake in the mornings at the moment, just, Switch my iPad on, click into it, sound up a little bit.

By this time, Billy, the Mindful dog is usually, naughtily found himself onto the bottom of the bed, and he seems to really like Deepak's voice as well. And then we, I just start the day making Some intentions. And I just find that it's so good and it helps me so much to set my day off the way I need to do it.

So I guess for many of us we kind of wait to an alarm. I wait till the sound of the radio comes on and I'm usually in a hurry, so if I'm not meditating, which is very rare these days, for many of us though, the next step is we sort of jump out of bed and Already we're on autopilot, you know, and we're nipping down to the kitchen to make a coffee while the shower warms, we're then jumping in the shower and. We're dressing while cleaning our teeth and Remembering the coffee which is now cold, and then quickly checking our phones.

We jump in a car or We start on the way to work and we eat some kind of on the go, perhaps breakfast. And then when we arrive at our desk or our workplace or at the veterinary practise, we sort of start on the tasks. And we haven't ever stopped and we've not really kind of set ourselves up for the day that is about to come.

Now, I'm hoping that isn't, you know, the experience. That certainly was me before mindfulness, but I think that, You know, I'm sure that we all do get lots done. But is it the stuff that matters to us that we get done?

Are we living our lives in a way that mirrors and encompasses our values? And are we giving enough time to the stuff of life that makes us truly happy, the stuff of life that nourishes us and gives our life meaning? And I suppose what I'm wondering is that I wonder if you took Just 5 to 10 minutes each morning to pause.

Before you start your day. So it's that wake up. Wake yourself up or you'll just drop back to sleep.

And then Just move in to a Intention setting meditation and I'd be so interested to see how that works for people. And What it allows us to do is to connect with what matters most. Each morning.

And this way you can sort of cultivate this real strength. Cultivate a clarity of purpose. And even a real calmness.

So that we set the day up from a place of calm, and it's this level of connectedness with who you are and what matters most. That you can then bring to sort of any situation. From a whole new state of being.

And it also means that we're less likely to get caught up in busyness. And less likely to lose touch with the stuff that really matters. And I'm reminded of the American writer Thoreau.

And Thoreau was a very privileged, lucky man, but in his readings, His, his biography is, is, is, is, his autobiography and his writings are, are really worth a look. David Thoreau. And in there he talks about how he lived behind this most beautiful pond.

And he says that every day I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately. To front only the essential facts of life. And see if I couldn't learn what it had to teach me.

Because I don't want to come to the time of my death and discover that I haven't lived. Now I know that we probably don't all live in New England, luxury and beautiful forest, but I think we can all take a little time out each day for perhaps 10 minutes to set our day up. And to allow us to Create a morning intention setting process.

So I would just like to Encourage you to Perhaps try the Deak. This one is only about 7 minutes long, and it's a really nice, entry into that, . And if you can imagine, it's tomorrow morning.

And I'll see if I can replicate something of I know this one so well, so I'm. I'm just And a replicate that use my voice, the Deepak Chopra's intention setting meditation. So for our second meditation of the day, which I hope Could become a small habit that might really change people's lives, because it certainly has mine.

Start the day with intention. That's the goal here. So let's have a go.

Perhaps we could use this to set an intention for this evening. Let's see how that works. So we just begin the meditation.

Right recognising That we are now awake. That we are beginning to Reluctantly Let's sleep. Got it.

Recognising that. The sleep of last night. Belongings with last night.

And the stuff of today. It's just about to start. And just quietly.

Explore our thoughts and our feelings and Quietly name what we find as we Allow ourselves to connect with the fact that A new day is starting. And we might find trepidation or excitement. We might find a sinking feeling Eva.

And what we do is we just accept and let whatever in. It comes just letting it in. And just as the last meditation then just taking ourselves.

And finding our breath. And now I just ask us to Close our eyes. Not in the way we do when we sleep, just gently.

Acknowledging that they'll be waking. And opening again very soon. And let's just take 3.

The Mindful breaths. To just settle ourselves in to this new day. Breathing in.

And breathing out. Breathing in, And breathing out. Breathing in.

And breathing out. And then we ask ourselves. So what matters most?

To me, today. What matters most. To me today.

Is it My word. Is it? My health.

Is it the people I love? Noticing and acknowledging that we can so easily get caught up in the momentum of the headlong rush of daily life. And just acknowledging that.

We will only live this day once. So let's live this day. Acknowledging what matters most.

Maybe even finding that pictures of the people that matter most swim into our minds. Maybe our sense of commitment to our work. Or maybe even We connect with A need to help others.

Or we connect with How important it is today. To experience just the joy of being alive. And then we quietly ask ourselves, And what would I like to let go of?

Today, Am I holding any resentments? Am I carrying any regrets? Am I connected to any grudges?

But no longer work for me or serve me. And what would I like to let go of today? We just See ourselves choosing something to let go of.

That no longer serves us. And then finally we ask ourselves, So who do I choose to be today? Which version of me?

Do I choose to be? Today. Is it a Efficiently.

Is it kindly? Is it funny? Is it kind, fun?

Curiously. Who do I want to be? Today What we're doing here is we're just Choosing the values.

But we would like to express and live today in the world. And we just consolidate by. Recognising what matters.

Most to you today. We consolidate by. Making a commitment to actually let go.

Something that doesn't serve us. And finally, We make a choice. Of the who It is you're going to choose to be today.

And then You smile. And we breathe. We just begin to open our eyes.

And we notice any urge to rush. And we notice Any urge to Do what we always do. And we smile.

And we take 3 deep, slow, mindful breaths. Smiling as we do so, breathing in. And breathing out.

Breathing in And breathing out. Be in And Breathing out. Well done.

And we take What we've Committed to Into the rest of our day. Just 6 or 7 minutes setting ourselves up. So Thank you so much for sharing that.

Just my go to at the moment in the mornings. And what's worrying is that I'm always able to let go of something that doesn't serve me. I'm not sure quite what that says about how much stuff I've got, but hey, it's good to let go.

And what I would recommend is See if you can't try this intention setting practise for the next, I don't know, 15 or 20 days. Just to see with curiosity what might unfold. And if you do take this little time out.

Each morning, I feel almost sure, you know, that you'll find more peace, more meaning, more joy and vitality. In the days ahead. So Good luck and I hope you enjoyed that and You know, If anyone's got any thoughts, it's always so lovely to hear from you.

Anyone's got any feelings about, you know, the setting a morning intention and what might show up and get in the way even. You know, but, it's, it just is so nice to have everybody on board. And as usual, the wonderful Dawn has emailed you all Deepak's, meditation.

I really do enjoy, Deepak's work. What I would recommend, you know, is if you Google, Deepak Chopra meditation, audio meditations, there are about 9, I think, available online for free. And they are really, they're, they're nice meditations.

I'm sort of quite new into Deepak and using him at the moment. Of course, I will always, I think every day of my life, I have to have a little bit of John Kabatin because he's my go to. But I'm really getting into Deepak's style of meditation.

I like it. Short, useful, And very, very helpful and it just helps us to start our day, you know, in, in, in, in such a powerful, wonderful way. So my hope is that you've enjoyed tonight and that people continue to benefit from it.

Just a reminder, I think if you are interested in that, Mental health and well-being first responder course that I'm running, in the new year, then, do pop onto the webinar that. Website and have a look at that because I'm sort of, I always change everything, so I'm sort of playing with it at the moment and moving it towards a slight slant away from the mental health first aid, which is a bit reactive and thinking more about how we can move our veterinary practises to be more . Prac places of, of work that value.

And peacefulness, contentment. Friendship, closeness. And values As well as what we do when our colleagues are struggling.

So, thank you so much for taking part tonight. And Download that Deak one and see, see how you do with . 15 to 20 days of starting your, your day off with an intention-setting meditation.

So as always, thank you all very much. Have a lovely, lovely evening and, we'll do a nice, something a bit more sort of festive and Christmassy maybe even or you might all groan and say, please not, but, See you all in December. Thank you very much.

Bye bye now.