We all live hectic lives and Summer or Winter we are continually rushed. I debated doing a blog post and podcast with advice on how to slow things down and hopefully get you through all the mine fields of each season; but once I thought about it realized that walking you through an actual mindfulness exercise would be much more effective. I say that because you would actually get a chance to experience a session much like the group stress reduction workshops I perform. 
Before we go further, it would be helpful to provide some direction as to what is meant by “mindfulness”: primarily it is being attentive and aware without judgement, to purposefully be “in the moment”, away from thoughts of what has happened or what will happen. However when combined with the meditative aspect of focused breathing, it has been shown to provide definite benefits in reducing stress. And that is where the podcast becomes an ideal vehicle to provide a short session to allow you to experience the process in an individualized manner.
During trainings, participants are often surprised when I state that stress is a good thing, and it really is. It is the engine that gets us prepared for a task and helps us keep at it to completion. Where most of us run into problems is once the task is complete and we need to take a breather to allow the hormone Cortisol to decrease in our bodies. In stead of taking that moment for relaxation to give the body time to recoup, we continue to rush or are pushed, to the next big task and cortisol levels continue to rise. This is never a good thing because the hormone has to go somewhere and many of us manifest these increased levels in constant headaches, forgetfulness, repeated colds, or chronic backaches.
I’ve posted in the past about “active rest” where we step away from a task for a short period of repetitive movement, ideally walking, which allows time to as the phrase goes “clear our head” and then return to the task at hand with a clearer perspective. This week’s podcast is a move in a different direction, that of taking short periods of focused relaxation to monitor our bodies. The simple task of listening to our breathing and allowing focus to shift to a time or event that was peaceful or relaxing accomplishes the same effect of clearing our heads and flushing cortisol.
I’ve purposefully made the session short at around 10 minutes to allow you to perform it during a break or Lunch. While not a full session, it should get you moving in the right direction of releasing some of the stresses of the 
day and just slowing down for a moment. Taking a moment to listen to the podcast is well worth the time spent as a 2013 comprehensive study published in Clinical Psychology Review has indicated such an exercise was “…especially effective for reducing anxiety, depression, and stress.” So the 10 minutes I hope you devote to it will pay dividends over the days leading up to Christmas and the entrance of a New Year.
I’ve given you the intro… now skip on over to the podcast and give yourself a well deserved break. And, once you have experienced the healing effects, you might want to consider visiting our Motivational Store for the full version.