Name: Brainstorm Health 2023 - Mindfulness Moment
Uploaded: 2023-04-26
Duration: 9 min 8 s
Description: L'Oreal Thompson Payton, Certified Yoga Teacher; Reporter, Fortune Well, FORTUNE

L'Oreal Thompson Payton, Certified Yoga Teacher; Reporter, Fortune Well, FORTUNE

Brainstorm Health 2023 - Mindfulness Moment 

Conferences

What we're going to do for the next couple of moments is just take some time for yourselves. There's a lot that's demanding your attention right now. I bet your emails are going off. You're getting slack notifications. Maybe your families are like, hey, when are you getting back? But right now this moment is about you. It's about taking some time to get in touch with your mind and your body and just practice what we're talking about, right? Because if we don't actually put it into action, then none of it matters. So I'm going to invite you to close your eyes if that feels comfortable to you. If that feels safe, if not feel free to look straight ahead, look down at your nose, find a focal point on the ground and just take a moment to exhale, we're gonna lead you through some breathing exercises and then we're gonna do a little seated yoga and then we're gonna go about our days feeling much lighter and just more well rounded. So to start, put your feet on the ground, relax your shoulders. We're gonna try some box breathing here. And what you're gonna do is inhale for four counts. Hold it at the top for four accounts and then exhale for four accounts and I'll lead you through it. So start by inhaling 1234. Hold 1234 and exhale for 1234. I'm gonna do that a few more times. Inhale 1234, hold 1234 and exhale 1234. I invite you to go at your own pace. Remembering to inhale and hold and exhale. Continue to inhale, hold and exhale. I can return to your normal breathing pattern, whatever feels comfortable to you. And now we'll do a bit of seated yoga and like I said, we're not going to get wild with it, so it's ok. You can continue to have your eyes closed and listen to my voice to instruct you or feel free to look up here on the stage. So I have my feet planted on the ground. I have my hands on my knees close by and I was going to round your back making ac shape. This is your cat think of a alley cat, Halloween black cat against the moon picture that you've seen. I'm sure a million times and inhale as you bring your chest forward into that cow position, go ahead and inhale or I'm sorry, exhale into cow. The cat exhale in the half. Just do this a few more times at your own pace, bringing your chest forward. Exhaling around in the back. And if you're feeling spicy, you can add some circular movement, doesn't matter which direction you go and we're going to switch in a bit, but just inviting some more movement into your bodies continuing to inhale. And you bring your chest forward and exhale. As you come around to the back, we're gonna switch going in the opposite direction that you started in. Inhale, bring your chest forward and exhale, bring your chest back and do that a few more times and come back to center. So I need to roll your shoulders out, roll it back. You may hear some noises. That's ok. We've been sitting for a long time and then bring your shoulders forward. Yeah. And then invite you to settle down again and to close your eyes and to get comfortable. That is yoga. I know there's a lot of emphasis in our society on the or the postures, the movements, the positions and there's a lot of interesting positions you can get into. But at the end of the day, it's about breath. It's about being present. It's about being here with yourself in your mind and your body because you deserve this moment and this rest. Yes, the work is important. Yes, people need you. Yes. The to do list is a mile long and I guarantee you it will still be there after we finish this. But it's important that you take time to pour into yourselves because we all know that you cannot pour from an empty cup. And this exercise, these breathing exercises, this grounding movement is available to you. If you're in a suit, if you're in heels, if you happen to be in the middle of a health conference, it doesn't matter where you are, you can always come back to your breath and to this moment. So it takes some time to settle in and to pause, can picture your happy place. Sack at the beach with calm waves crashing in the background or at a park with your family at brunch with your friends, whatever that place is, try to picture it. What are you wearing? What are you doing? What does it smell like? I want you to evoke all of those senses to create a moment of serenity for you and your well-being. Who's with you in this space? What does it sound like there a little kid laughter? Are there birds tripping? What does it feel like? Is it a hug from your mom or your favorite person? Is it the cool side of the pillow? Because that's always nice. Whenever you're feeling stressed, I invite you to come back to this moment, to mentally visit that happy place and you need a moment to pause, to ground yourself, to just escape for a little while. You can create these mental vacations as I like to call them and invite that ease into your life. You deserve rest. You do not have to earn it. You don't have to work for it. It is your birthright and it is available to you whenever you like. So if you still have your eyes closed, take a few moments, take a snapshot of that mental vacation and when you're ready for you to open your eyes, take a look around and thank yourself for showing up for yourself. My name is l'oreal and I appreciate you all taking this mindfulness moment with me. Enjoy the rest of your day.