Sit in a comfortable position in a quiet space with your spine straight. Drop your shoulders and release any tension that you feel in your body.
Take your awareness to your breathing.
The tidal in and out of your breath.
Feel your “aliveness.”
Now begin to allow your breath to slow and deepen.
Concentrate on allowing the outbreath to become just a little bit longer than the in-breath.
It is widely understood that during the in-breath, the tension in our muscles increases slightly; and during the outbreath our muscle tone decreases and allows us to “let go.”
When thoughts outside the breathing arrive, just let them come and go without taking up space, and gently bring your awareness back to your breathing.
Now that you are calmly focussed on your breathing:
Begin to see in the in-breath as a stream of white light entering through the nose or mouth and travelling all the way to the bottom of the lungs.
And on the outbreath, imagine dark acrid, smoke.
As you gently breathe in white light, feelings of positivity enter your body and mind. Feel them travel to your extremities.
As you breathe out the dark smoke you will feel negative thoughts and emotions leave you.
As you continue to do this you will feel the dark smoke begin to become paler and thinner, suffused by the white light of positivity that is circulating.
Eventually the smoke becomes difficult to see and every part of your body is filled with light and positivity.
Open your eyes and gently bring yourself back to your current situation with a renewed sense of positivity.
This and other techniques like it can be practised at any time anywhere and can improve mood and mind-set.
Learning to habitually take care of your wellbeing will lead to permanent change.