Anxiety at Work - The Physiological Sigh - Guided Meditation for a Calmer Life

There is a particular kind of tired that has nothing to do with sleep. It's the tired of holding yourself together. From the moment you open your eyes and reach for your phone. To the moment you close the laptop and realize that your shoulders have been up around your ears for nine hours.

And nobody at work saw a thing. That's the strange part, isn't it? You answered the emails. You spoke up in the meeting.

You were fine. And underneath all of it, your body was braced all day. As though something was just about to happen. Well, nothing is about to happen, not right now.

Right now there is only this. Your breath, my voice, and ten minutes that belong entirely to you. So today, my friend, we're going to work with the anxiety at work, the pressure, the deadlines, the inbox that never empties, and we're going to put it down. Hi there, I'm Martin.

This is calming anxiety. For the next ten minutes, you have nothing to achieve, nothing to fix, sit or lie down whatever the body is asking for. And if you're still at your desk, that's perfectly all right. You don't need a cushion or a candle or a quiet room.

You just need your breath. Now, if today is one of those days where you needed this eleven o'clock this morning and only got it now, let me tell you about something in Ankitara. You can save your favourite sessions for offline usage, for whenever you need them, as often as you need them. It's your very own coffee break for the song in your pocket.

Today's breath is the physiological sign, and I've chosen it very deliberately because of all the breathing techniques I teach. This is the one you can use at work without a single person noticing. No counting to sixteen, no sitting cross-legged on the floor beside the printer. Just two breaths in, one long breath out, that's all of it.

So let's begin. Let your shoulders drop away a little bit more from your ears. Unclench your jaw. Let your hands open, rested wherever they are.

We're going to breathe in through the nose for a count of four, and then just at the top, one extra little sip of air to just top up the lungs completely. And then we let it go slowly out through the mouth for a count of six today. Ready with me. Breathe in.

Two. Three. Four. Six.

You didn't have to make that work. Your body knew this breath before you named it.

This next round, we won't even count. You don't have to. Just follow me, ready? Breathe in, keep going in, in, in, extra sip, hold, and then relax, long and slow through the mouth.

The deepest of size as if you're just about to get into bed at the end of a long day. Let's do that again. Ready? Breathe in, keep going, keep going.

Sit, hold and relax deep side. Let those shoulders drop a bit more. Feel the stress, the tension, just evaporating. Relaxed, unhurried.

All out of the way, empty. Feel your heartrate settle. This is not your imagination. That's your vagus nerve.

Doing precisely the job it was built for. Let's do one more. Really? Breathe in.

Hold and relax. Completely melt into the surface beneath you. Always longer on the out breath. Maybe if you can, let it be audible.

No effort at all. Now let your breathing. Find its own rhythm, whatever it turns out to be. And if the day comes wandering back in, the email you didn't send, the thing you've said in the meeting that you've been replaying in your mind, time after time.

Just do another double breath. And then in the piece, the tranquillity of your thoughts now. Imagine these words. Visualize them in your thoughts.

Whispers them in your mind. I am calm at work, even when the work is not calm.

My work anxiety is a feeling. It is not a fact. I can breathe through stress at work and my nervous system knows how.

I do not have to be perfect to be good at what I do. I am allowed to work at a human pace.

My worth is not my output.

I am safe. I am here. There is nothing to fear right now.

So relax my friend. Deeply and safely within the sanctuary of your consciousness. Feel your breathing the way as you inhale your ribcage, rises and expands to draw in every life giving breath, every hope, every dream. Be mindful of the pause between the in and the out breath.

And then as you exhale, truly deeply. Let go, unwind and allow yourself to float further and further down.

Relax and unwind. And within this moment of peace, of balance and harmony, here are your three daily caring tips. One. Before the first meeting today, take one single physiological side at your desk.

Nobody will see it and your nervous system will thank you for it. Two. Set one boundary that you can actually keep, such as no email for the first twenty minutes after you wake up. And three.

Make a proper break away from your screen at lunchtime, even if it is only ten minutes standing outside in the air. Now gently and slowly. Bring your awareness back to the space around you. Wiggle your fingers and toes.

Roll your shoulders once slowly and notice how much lower they're sitting and when we started. Make a deep breath in mail. Hold. Then as you breathe out, stretch out the muscles in your arms and legs.

And when you're ready, open your eyes. You did that. Not me. Ten minutes for you in a day that asks for everything you've got.

If today helps, come and find all these sessions over three thousand within Anchored The app I built when I lost my sight. Do the check in tonight. It takes thirty seconds. And in a fortnight, you'll know your own pattern better than any app ever could.

And if you know someone who is holding it all together at work and telling everybody they're fine, send them this episode. That's how this show has reached over ten million downloads, no advertising, no huge corporation or budget, just people like you quietly passing it on. Look after yourself today. I'll be right here with you again tomorrow, so in everything until then, especially to all that you are.

Be kind. You