- Hello, hi.
Go ahead and comment down below
where you're joining in from.
Hi Alex.
Hi Haile, how are are doing?
- Hi, I'm doing amazing, how are you?
- I'm doing good, thank you.
I'm joining in from the West Coast, so it's one o'clock
right now, just in the middle of my day,
but I've been so excited to do this with you.
You're joining in on the East Coast, right?
- Yes, yes, I'm in New York, and just so excited
to take a minute to relax today,
thank you so much for having me.
- I am so happy that you're here,
and so for everyone joining in, today the lovely
Haile Thomas is gonna be guiding us through
a meditation, and I can't wait to jump in,
but I wanted to first just take some time
to talk about this new series
Microsoft Store is bringing called Recess.
Recess is all about giving everyone a chance
to take a break from all the craziness
that's going on, and just have a moment for yourself,
and have fun with us here.
So I'm super excited to be doing this here
with you Haile.
- Yes. - So for,
(chuckling) yeah, so for anyone who might not
know you Haile, you are a superstar.
You are a international speaker, you are a wellness
activist, you're also a author of your own cookbook
called Living Lively, which I really wanna get
my hands on, I am a huge lover of cooking,
but on top of all that you are also the CEO
of your own non-profit, called Happy,
can you tell me about that?
- Yes, so, at Happy we teach empowerment
through wellness education, and so it's all about
really getting young people in underserved communities
to see the connection not only between their foods
and how that impacts their bodies, but also how
it impacts their mindset, and the ways that they're able
to feel their potential, and go towards their dreams
and feeling really safe in their bodies and their minds,
and it's really, be their own best friend, so I'm grateful
to do that work. - Oh, I love that.
Be your own best friend, that's awesome.
Well I have so much respect for you Haile,
and thank you so honestly for putting so much positivity
out into the world, honestly thank you,
and so for someone as busy as you are,
is meditation really important?
- Oh, absolutely, I've had a pretty consistent
meditation practice for a little bit over
a year now, and it was really helpful for me,
just being a super busy person, always working
on different projects, finding these moments
for stillness has been imperative for not only
relaxation but also mental health,
and understanding my emotions and thoughts,
and more, without judgment, and so anytime I get to
drop into meditation, whether it's five minutes,
or 15, 20 minutes, you know, I just feel refreshed,
and I think that's exactly what we wanna do here,
get a little moment of refreshment,
but it's been such a core piece of my life
over these last few years.
- That's awesome, I know for me, 2021 has been really about
just focusing more on self care,
and meditation has been something I'm trying to incorporate
more and more, but I'm no expert, honestly, (laughing)
not just yet, and I'd love to hear from everyone if,
what your experience with meditation has been,
but for anyone who's totally new to this Haile,
what can we kind of expect?
- Yes, well for meditation it definitely gives you
a very new experience, especially in our very much
busy world, constantly having our attention
put on a million different things, multitasking,
and just kind of being distracted, whether that's by
the tasks we're doing at home, or at work,
or at school, or even just kinds of opinions of others,
and things like that,
so when you go into meditation, essentially you're really
creating a space to just witness yourself,
so witness your thoughts, and emotions,
without judgment, and really just create space to be,
and I think it's a definitely a really unique experience,
so be open minded, but also acknowledge that these moments
of meditation are just simple ways to bring in
a little bit of self compassion,
to understand yourself more, but also to really
feel what it's like to really disconnect
from the world for a moment,
and it's really, really healing.
- That's amazing; well with that I invite everyone
to be open minded with us here,
and join in on this meditation, and Haile,
I'm gonna hand it off to you.
- Amazing, amazing; well today we are doing
a self compassion and grounding meditation,
which has really been essential moving
through these times for me personally.
I think that we can get a little bit thrown
off center, especially with all the uncertainty right now,
and so to come back to center is really important,
but also it's a great way to unify our bodies
and our minds, because oftentimes I think we're thinking
in the future, or in the past, and we're not really ever
in the same place with both body and mind,
and so this is a great way to just drop in
to the present moment, and to unify yourself
while also sending yourself a little love,
so that's exactly what we're gonna be jumping into.
So if everyone is ready, what we're going to do
is just ensure that we're in a nice, cozy environment,
I hope everyone is pretty comfy,
you've got maybe some incense going,
or like some essential oils, or have some shades drawn
if it's still bright out,
and just making sure that you're nice and comfy,
so you can sit in a chair, upright,
or you can sit cross legged on the floor,
which is typically what I do, but today I'm in a chair,
so starting from there.
- I have a candle lit.
- Oh, perfect, perfect, so starting from this cozy space
we're just going to take a moment to roll
our shoulders back, take out any tension here,
and just allow your body to drop, just be here.
Now, I invite you to close your eyes
if you feel comfortable, and we're just going to take
five deep breaths into the nose
and out through the mouth.
Dropping deeper into the present moment with each breath.
And as you do this, there's no need to quiet your mind,
or to erase any thoughts, just simply be here
with yourself, witnessing.
Amazing; now from here,
as we're grounding, I want you to gently shift
your focus to your surroundings, and what is supporting you,
to feel the earth beneath you, or the chair supporting you,
and really feel into that,
what is it like to be physically supported?
To be grounded?
And here we'll just take three deep breaths
feeling into the sensation of support and safety
in this moment.
One more, in through the nose, out through the mouth.
Now as we are in this space of gentleness,
I ask you to now feel into the fullness of your body.
What is it like to be in your body right now?
Do you feel any sensations coming up?
Maybe you need to stretch your neck a little bit,
maybe your stomach is growling a little
and you need some type of pick me up,
a little nourishment, maybe there's tension
in your shoulders, just really drop into your body.
You're going to breathe here for five breaths.
And I want you to breathe in gratitude
for this body as well, and all that it is right now,
in its present perfection.
Three more breaths, nice and slow.
One more;
now as you feel your body just a little bit more relaxed,
I ask you to place your right hand on your heart,
over your heart space,
and your other over your belly,
and just feel into your resilient heart beating.
This heart that has brought you to this moment,
carried you through life, with so much resilience
and strength, and I ask you to send gratitude
to your heart for not only psychically beating,
and continuing to support your life,
but also for allowing you to experience life
in so many different ways.
I also ask you to send gratitude to yourself
for committing to these few moments of peace,
of stillness, to just be with yourself,
knowing that this is love in action.
And that this is an active way to show yourself compassion,
it only takes a few minutes, and you did that today,
so send that gratitude and celebrate yourself
for this moment.
And whenever you feel ready, you can open your eyes.
Amazing. (chuckling)
- That was awesome.
- Just a few moments to feel relaxed,
I hope that this helped. (chuckling)
- Yeah, I mean, honestly I feel mentally clear,
and calm, and my body also feels relaxed,
and I'd love to hear from everyone else who joined us
how they're feeling right now, and just hearing you speak
about this, it felt a lot like,
a lot about this is just self love, right
taking that moment to just care for yourself,
which is amazing.
And tell us again how often do you practice this?
Is there a magic formula there?
- Well I don't think there's a magic formula,
so to speak, I think that maybe each of us
have our magic formula, and that can fluctuate
depending on the day, the week, for me I really try to do
meditation every morning, right when I wake up,
because it's really when our mindset is most malleable,
so the first things that we engage with
during that time can really impact us,
so it's a great way to set the tone for my day,
but also meditating at night, or in the evening here,
for a quick reset, is a perfect way to get it in,
and so I think it's very much an intuitive process as well,
seeing what you need in any moment,
and that requires a little bit of mindfulness,
even bringing in these moments of meditation
when you're eating food, or you're working on something,
dropping into the moment and saying, hey,
what do I need right now?
How do I feel?
How is my body feeling?
And is there anything I can offer myself
to handle that situation?
And so I think that the really brilliant thing
about meditation is that it can be as simple
or as complex as you'd like,
but it is a practice, it's something that you get
more comfortable with over time, and it's really a journey,
a journey through life, and a tool that you can really
have with you to help navigate all of the challenges
and obstacles, and also really beautiful moments as well.
- Yeah, I totally agree, and you're receiving
so much love right now, and I agree meditation
is definitely needed now more than ever.
If anyone is looking for more resources,
we do have some really great apps
in the Microsoft Store to check out,
Relax Meditation and Relax Meditation Music
are both two that I can recommend,
especially if you wanna set a little soundtrack
in the back while you meditate, (laughing)
I personally enjoy it, but.
- Me too.
- Haile, yeah right?
It just helps set the tone a little bit,
which I love, so, (laughing)
but with that do you have any
closing thoughts, Haile, or resources?
- Oh, absolutely, I feel like whenever I'm in
a state of meditation, it puts you in a contemplative state,
it makes you want to dig a little deeper,
oftentimes after meditating I'll do journaling,
and again especially as a beginner,
it could be super uncomfortable, and sometimes you don't
really know how to get to that level with ourselves,
but once we do there's so much breakthrough,
and so much that we can learn and love about ourselves,
and some key questions that I like asking
after meditation is how can I pour into myself daily?
So that may look like meditation, or it may look like
other practices, and this is a great question to reflect on,
but also how can I really feel supported
by those around me?
What environment is supporting my wellbeing?
And making adjustments accordingly,
or expressing those needs to your loved ones,
or those in your life, and so I feel like that balance
is a really great way to dive into meditation even deeper
from an intellectual standpoint.
- I love it; well thank you so much Haile,
and for anyone who joined in a bit later
we will be posting this on IGTV as well as on YouTube,
and that concludes our first Recess session.
I hope everyone really enjoyed this small break
in your day, we will be coming back soon
with another one, but Haile, thank you for being
such an amazing guest, I truly appreciate you being here.
- Well thank you, and I'm so grateful I could do this
with you all, and to everyone who's tuned in,
thank you so much for contributing your energy,
trusting this space, (laughing)
and really being here and being a part of this,
very special to do this through technology,
I think it's amazing that we can.
- Yeah, exactly, I love it, thank you everyone
for joining in, have a good day, thank you.
- Thank you, bye.