Hi, this is Beth, the co-founder of Sonic Connections, and before this meeting or gathering gets going, I'd love to invite everyone to just hit pause.

What I mean by that is stopping whatever it is you're doing.

We are constantly doing things, and even when we're not physically moving, our minds usually are.

We're reading things, consuming, thinking about what's happening next.

There's this constant influx of information.

I invite you to consider what it might feel like to pause all of that just for a moment, to acknowledge that there's absolutely nothing that you need to be doing right now.

I invite you to take a few breaths.

You can close your eyes, you can keep them open, you can let your shoulders relax.

Allow yourself to just be one percent more comfortable in your body, whatever that looks like for you.

Maybe it's sinking just a bit deeper into whatever surface is supporting you right now.

Allow your focus to shift to the sounds that you're hearing.

Maybe you want to put your attention on a specific instrument or sound.

Maybe you just want to allow yourself to hear what you hear without forcing or directing your attention.

If you notice that your body wants to shift or move, let it.

You can rest your head on the desk, you can stand up and stretch, you can sway.

There's no need to stay still.

Pausing isn't the same as complete stillness.

Whatever you were doing prior to this moment, I want to just acknowledge that you made the choice to be here.

And with that choice, I invite you to consider how you might honor that choice to be here.

How can you honor the next chunk of time in this gathering?

What do you hope to get out of this time together?

It could be something tangible like a goal, but it also could be, I want to smile or I want to laugh.

I want to find humor or joy.

I want to learn something about a colleague or friend, whatever it might be.

Allow yourself to settle on one word or color or image to represent something that you would like this next period of time to include, maybe joy or clarity or collaboration.

Keep breathing, and I invite you to shift your attention to something that has been rattling around in your brain lately.

Maybe it's a worry or an excitement or something that you have to do later on that's pulling your attention or focus and ask yourself, is this something that I can put on pause for the time that I'm in this gathering space?

Maybe it's an email or a grocery list or a text that you haven't responded to yet.

Is that something that I can let go of knowing that it'll be there when I choose to put my attention back onto it?

And if you'd like to, I invite you to bring this practice to a close with me by breathing in and thinking about that word that you'd like to welcome into this time and breathing out while releasing what you can put on pause just for the time being.

Breathing in the thing that you hope to embrace during this time together, and breathe out the thing that is holding your attention that you can release just for now.

You can start to slowly come back to the physical space, gently blinking your eyes open if you close them, shifting your body back into a position that's comfortable but alert, energized, present.

As you come back and as the song comes to a close, you may want to share in pairs or journal a bit about what came up for you, perhaps sharing your intentions or hopes for this time together with the other folks in the space.

Remember that you are always worthy of taking a quick pause no matter how packed your day might be.

Pausing is what helps us put our attention on things that really matter.

So I invite you to take this practice to any space that you might find it beneficial.

Thank you for trying this out with us.