Tag Archives: meditation

Own Your Day With Mind – Focus – Me!

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How can we use mindfulness to own our day?  MIND – FOCUS – ME

1. MIND – first thing in the morning we need to do something to get our mind right. BEFORE checking email. Before reading texts. Before anything! It could be prayer, meditation, stretching, visualizing, setting an intention for the day, having coffee quietly or even just sitting outside. Something that makes you feel good to get the day going on the right path. Then, when we go to check the emails or texts our mind is already in a good place and can we can react better.


2. FOCUS – we need to determine our non negotiable 1-3 items that absolutely must get done that day and when we will set aside “focus time” that day to get them done. Again, non negotiable. When will you set aside all distractions and only focus on those 1-3 things until they are completed? We can’t spend the entire day without distraction, but we can set aside a couple of hours in our day if we are honest with ourselves and let others know when we are available for interruptions outside of those hours.  That may mean no cell phone or email during that time!  We WILL SURVIVE, I promise!


3. ME – we need to pick something every single day for “me time” to take care of ourselves and increase our TRIESSENCE, which is taking care of ourselves physically, mentally and spiritually. Just one little thing a day in one of those areas is wonderful and if we pick an area we typically don’t tend to focus on it will help us find our own unique perfect balance until our TRIESSENCE grows and that’s when we find the sweet reward of finding more joy, fulfilling relationships, success and love than we ever thought possible. The cool thing is you can mix it up the next day so you won’t get tired of trying to form some new habit because you can be as creative as you want and keep changing it up, but the bonus is in doing that it WILL become a habit! That is, taking care of YOU.

That is being mindful. That is owning your day. That is work/life balance.  

MIND. FOCUS. ME.

Would you be willing to give it a go?  If not, what is holding you back?  You are worth it! You deserve it!  Your body, mind, spirit and productivity will thank you for it 🙂

Hope you have a safe and wonderful holiday!  Happy 4th of July!

Tessa Todd Morgan

Friday Meditation Ramble

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I had the privilege of coaching a professor today that has a background in Emotional Intelligence as well and we had a nice chuckle over how we all know the things we need to be doing and all of the incredible benefits of doing them, but sometimes we just need that accountability piece to make sure we take good care of ourselves! I needed it a little too much, I think, considering I had a coach for about 6 years back in the day!

When I find myself struggling to do what I know will serve me so well, I like to ask myself two questions: A) What is it going to cost me if I don’t do it? B) How will it serve me if I do? (aka how will it better my health? my life? how will it better me to live at my fullest potential, and to be my best to those around me and better serve others)

Same could go for if you are getting ready to do something you know is not so good for you, but A) What will it cost me if I do? B) How will it serve me if I don’t?

Many years ago, I had worked myself up to meditating 30 mins 2 x a day (I know, I know, wow, those were the days…I think the whites in my eyes were literally radiating light!) and I’ve gone through phases where it’s dropped off to none at all. I’ve been back on the 15 minute bandwagon recently vs. just a few minutes and upped it to 20 mins today. Hopefully, this will be my sweet spot 😉

Sometimes it takes us at least 15 minutes to settle down to get to where we can get to that perfect relaxed state that we only need to be in for a short bit to where our body and mind will remember and the benefits speak for themselves. I was amazed in my yoga practice last night how much more focused I was and able to literally just be doing yoga vs. planning out my evening or daydreaming about tomorrow during class.

Breath is life. Breath is healing. Breath is a natural medicine. It’s the #1 thing to relive anxiety. We would all be absolutely lying if we said that we don’t have two minutes, much less 20 minutes a day we could give ourselves. (Seriously, the things we spend time on these days…you don’t wanna get me started…) I can’t think of a better gift we could give ourselves.

I challenge you (if you are not already) to see what happens when you give yourself two minutes a day of quiet with only you and your breath. You just might want to up it to 5 in a week. Then 10. And, who knows, maybe 20. The cool thing is, you just might start to crave it like it’s your little YOU time every single day where you get to take a mini vacation. Coolest thing EVER is you are also giving your heart, lungs, blood pressure, internal organs and STRESS a vacation as well. And, guess what happens then? You can actually concentrate, be present with others and what you are doing and slow down that exhausting chatter going on in your mind.

End ramble… Cheers to a happy and healthy weekend!

Tessa Morgan

P.S. Want to meditate, but always wondered how and have questions or concerns/fears around it? I’ve been there! Email me, I’d be happy to give you some quick tips! tessa@findyourtriessence.com  I’m also happy to announce that my website has a new facelift with new programs and video if you’d like to check it out, just hit the “HOME” button above.

Meditation Is The #1 Thing To Reduce Anxiety: A Simple 2 Week Challenge

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Meditation is the #1 thing to reduce anxiety.  So, do you ever take time to meditate and spend some time in silence?  It’s OK if you don’t, but perhaps you’d consider doing this simple 2 week meditation challenge?

When I’m working with my coaching clients and if we get to the point where we discuss meditation being a good thing for them to add into their life (this is usually with every client!), I notice a common theme.  I find that even when I walk through and send instructions over on how to do the meditation, people have anxiety come up around sitting alone with their thoughts and just breathing or think they won’t be able to sit still long enough.

I’ve had people come back and say they did audio meditations instead and other techniques and then I end up having the conversation of how important it is just to try and do a basic meditation.  I’m not knocking audios as I do them too sometimes, but the point is to also get used to being alone in silence and try meditating that way as well.

First off, if you have fear or concerns around anything around meditation and religion, I just want to clarify that you are not worshipping Buddha or anything just by meditating and paying attention to your breath.  You are just taking time to focus on your breath so that over time you can have more moments of silence to slow down all of the chatter in our minds.

While the end goal could be to have complete & total silence and nothingness, it’s an honor when we have that happen for a moment in meditation.  For the most part, we just have small spurts of time with no thought and we have to remind ourselves to go back to our breath and it starts to retrain us when we are in the real world to have less of the constant stress and chatter in our minds.

Meditation also helps lower blood pressure, relieves depression & fear, improves your mood and emotional intelligence, increases mental focus, improves energy, helps lessen and prevent asthma, fibromyalgia, arthritis and so many other benefits too long to list, but you get the idea.

If you’d like to give it a try, here’s my suggestion for a two week challenge for yourself.

For meditation: Find a comfortable seated position trying to sit with your knees below your hips possibly using a pillow or blanket underneath your seat.  Sit up nice and tall and palms facing up can be for receiving, palms down for grounding or do whatever is comfortable for you if neither of those call to you.  Close your eyes and just focus on your breath.  Your only job is to breathe deep breaths in through your nose and out through your nose.  Try to extend the inhales and exhales as time goes on.  As thoughts come in just let them pass through without judging them and go back to your breath.  That’s all you have to do.  I typically set an alarm on my phone and mine still works even with my phone on silent, but the volume up.  I use the “harp” on my iPhone as the noise to make when it ends to come out of it a little more peacefully.  Play around with doing it in the morning and then some in the evening and see what you like better.  There are a few 2ce a day goals below where you can do it both times and see if you notice a difference doing it twice that day also.  Even if you have to go back and “start over” by going back to your breath 100 times in a minute because you catch your brain going, that’s ok, just start over as many times as it takes & go back to your breath.

Week 1 –

Day 1: 1 min 2ce this day
Day 2: 2 min
Day 3: 3 mins 2ce this day
Day 4: 4 mins
Day 5: 5 mins
Day 6: 5 mins
Day 7: off

Week 2 –

Day 1:  6 mins
Day 2: 7 mins
Day 3:  8 mins twice this day
Day 4: 9 min
Day 5: 10 min
Day 6: 10 min
Day 7: off

Then, after those few weeks, I would decide on a time frame that you like best and stick with that for at least 3 more weeks until it can become a habit.  This is one of the best things we could all do for ourselves and our well being.  You may be surprised that it could turn out to where you start to look forward to that time of your day, kind of like taking a mini vacation!

Speaking of vacation, I’m headed out for one next week, so this will be my last blog until August 14th.  Going to celebrate my belated honeymoon and big 40th bday at the beach getting my surf on.

In the meantime, I hope you consider taking the two week meditation challenge!

Take good care of you.

What Does Equanimity Mean To You?

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This week, I’ve been looking at what equanimity means to me and this has been the theme of the yoga classes I’ve been teaching.

I’ve been working through Baron Baptiste’s book for the 2nd time – 40 Days to Personal Revolution and this also happens to be the focus for the week.

I love how he says in the book “Equanimity is the art of meeting life as it meets you – calmly, without drama or fuss.”  And he also says that “we change by finding equanimity learning to relax right in the middle of conflict-filled moments.”

Even yoga can seem like conflict sometimes and that’s what I’ve had my students take a look at this week.  We can be in situations and start to panic because we think it hurts or we can’t stay any longer because we are too tired or get too shaky to continue.

So, whether we decide to stay in a pose, get out, we are shaky or lose our balance, can we still stay calm in these times?

Can you still stay calm when things aren’t going your way?  Can you stay calm when life hands you things that you weren’t expecting that take away from the things you wanted to be spending your time on?

I’ve noticed that meditation helps me a lot with staying calm in these moments.  The more that I can relax and stay calm during meditation, the more it carries out through the rest of my life.

If you do not have a regular meditation practice, would you be willing to try and just meditate for 5 minutes a day the next week?  The 40 days book I mentioned above suggests working up to 30 minutes 2ce a day.  So, could you just commit to 5 minutes a day to start?  It just might be the best 5 minutes of your day and you could begin to see you enjoy it so much you may end up wanting more.

You can sit in a comfortable seated position (best if knees are below your hips, so sitting on a pillow or blanket can help) and just take big deep breaths in and out through your nose.  As you recognize thoughts and sounds, try and let them pass through without judging them.  Just go right back to your breathing and pay attention to your next breath.  When it happens again, repeat and go back to your breath.  Set a timer for how long you want to meditate and when the timer goes off you can go about the rest of your day hopefully a little more calm and peaceful and you will have certainly given your mind & body a huge gift!

 

Happy 1st Birthday, TRIESSENCE! Highlights From The Year…

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Christa

TRIESSENCE is proud to announce it just celebrated birthday number 1!

TRIESSENCE exists to help people find the perfect balance of their true essence bringing them to the fullest expression of who they are, which can result in an increase in happiness, fulfilling relationships, health, success, love and joy.  TRIESSENCE wants to help as many people as possible live their lives to their fullest potential and embrace their greatness.

A lot of great things have happened in the last 365 days and TRIESSENCE has remained true to the mission above over the course of the year. Here are a few of the highlights:

1. One year ago, TRIESSENCE launched the first public yoga class and has enjoyed getting to teach and watch students grow and see their bodies transform as they are able to do more with each session.
2. TRIESSENCE has worked with coaching clients from anything to helping find their paths in order to live out their dreams to currently working with one on launching a new business and speaking skills to helping another with the challenges one faces in romantic relationships. TRIESSENCE even helped one coaching client complete a film project this year, which took founder Tessa Todd to London for a week back in April.
3. TRIESSENCE has done private yoga sessions and had a lot of progress with one particular client who has been doing privates since January and taking public classes with Tessa for a year now. She has a rod in her spine due to scoliosis and was concerned she wouldn’t be able to do much when they first started. TRIESSENCE is proud to say she is now doing headstands in the middle of the room, by herself. Rod and all!  TRIESSENCE is thrilled to be able to see individuals gain confidence and be able to accomplish things they never thought possible!
4. TRIESSENCE has taught corporate yoga anywhere from small home offices to Mockingbird Station and Comerica Bank Tower downtown in Dallas.
5. One year ago, TRIESSENCE’s first corporate yoga retreat was done outside in a park with 5 people (pictured above). The weather was perfect that day and since then, the sky has been the limit! Last week, TRIESSENCE did a corporate yoga event and mediation session with a group of male and female occupational therapists & physical therapists with the Department of Veterans Affairs. It was such an honor for Tessa to be able to help the people that take care of so many others learn ways to take care of themselves since they deserve it so much for all of the hard work they do!

While Tessa is focusing primarily on corporate yoga onsite at companies or at their events, private yoga sessions and life coaching, she does offer one public yoga class a week on Tuesday evenings at 6PM. If you are interested in checking out the class, please email tessa@findyourtriessence.com

Here’s what a few clients have had to say about working with TRIESSENCE:

“Having Tessa come and do classes at our building is such a great amenity to have for our tenants. The convenience of having yoga onsite versus having to go elsewhere for classes is a huge advantage for all of us. I believe it is a big stress reliever for everyone and I leave feeling energized after each class. I highly recommend it for your company or building!”

Elizabeth Costello Chavez – Tenant Services Coordinator, Comerica Bank Tower

“My original motivation for incorporating a Yoga Break at our company-wide retreat was to offer an out-of-the-box team-building activity for our group. Little did I know it would be such a highlight of our retreat! Our team talks about it to this day, and we’ve since incorporated TRIESSENCE Corporate Yoga twice a week at our office.

Tessa was so mindful of the different levels of fitness represented in the group, and effortlessly customized the class to meet each one. In addition to the benefits that each attendee got out of the session, it cleared our minds to be so much more productive for the rest of our meetings. In fact, I find myself (selfishly) wishing the conferences I attend throughout the year offered Yoga Breaks! I definitely recommend it.”

Christa Haberstock – President, see:a·gen·cy

Personal message from Tessa Todd:

None of these things could have happened this year without the love and support from so many of you along the way. Thank you so much for your faithful support and encouragement! Thank you to all of my clients for continuing to show up and have the drive to continue to better themselves.

For any clients that have moved on but are still using some of the techniques we used together, I’d love to hear from you.  And many of you may not have done any yoga or coaching sessions with me, so if there is anything I can do to support you, I’d love to hear from you as well.  I appreciate the support from each and every one of you and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart.  Cheers to many more years to come…

For more information on services offered by TRIESSENCE, please visit www.findyourtriessence.com and you can “like” TRIESSENCE on FB for bi-weekly blogs by visiting https://www.facebook.com/Triessence