A brief meditation to ease you out of your workday; take this reflection on the bus, in the car, on your bike, or when you arrive home.

There are no props required so that you can do the meditation on the go. Create space in the abdomen and upper chest with your breath. Focus on the exhale to release the thoughts and sensations that feel heavy, tight, or cause angst in the body or mind.

This meditation invites you to surrender to your breath and envision it moving like water through your body to release stagnancy and flow through the rest of your day.

Read the blog post on How to Start a Home Yoga Routine.

Style: Meditation

Duration: 5-min

Focus: release the tension from your workday.

Props: None.

Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada.

You can do this meditation as you move from work to your next location. Listen to the meditation in the car, on the bus, or as you walk or cycle home. You can do the meditation at home, seated or lying somewhere comfortably. Wherever you choose to perform the meditation, breathe deeply into your body and focus on the exhale.

You’ll breathe into the lower abdomen, upper chest, and head to shift your focus to the specific body parts to help release tension and control. When at work, we tend to neglect conscious breathing as the focus shifts to the tasks that need to be performed. Work is an essential part of life and contributing to the community, and sometimes we bring the mental tension we experience at work back home.

This short meditation is an invitation to release the mental stressors from work. Stress disrupts the systems of the body from functioning at optimal potential. The immune system is suppressed under duress, the digestive system is upset, and the heart suffers. Stress causes mental anguish that may cause prolonged anxiety or depression.

The quickest way to decrease stress that you have control over is through deep, diaphragmatic breathing. Your breath works with the vagal tone to slow down the heart rate and mental fluctuations. Especially if you feel lethargic and unmotivated to move after your workday, a short meditation may be all you need to hit reset.

Studies have shown that deep breathing through activities such as yoga improves your sense of well-being. From a pilot study on the role of deep breathing on stress, “The use of deep breathing techniques has lead to an effective improvement in the management of stress in daily life, and therefore, could exert positive influences on the stress conditions.”