This moment of peace was brought to you by Commetta Communications and TNKR Media, featuring music by Seratone.

Mindfulness is not just a pop culture trend. Aspects of the practice, like meditation, have documented benefits for all people and has been embraced by multiple cultures over centuries.

As part of our media interview or broadcast host coaching exercises, TNKR’s consultants encourage clients maintaining a media presence to meditate regularly, and especially before broadcasting. If carried out with discipline, meditation even for a couple of minutes, is effective for reducing stress and increasing focus. We would encourage you to consult some of our references at the end of this document.

Designed with content creators and public intellectuals in mind, TNKR is proud to put this six-minute meditation exercise online for all to encourage breaks from screen time throughout the day; it’s important to acknowledge that overuse of laptops and smartphones directly contributes to increased anxiety, making mistakes on the job more likely and the broadcasting experience less pleasant.

Take a break, and reflect on media and your presence within it.

Special thanks to Natalie Rivière of Commetta for the collaboration and Seratone for the soothing sounds.

 

Listen to the TNKR Media Moment of Peace (6 mins.):

 

“The media business, despite the occasional glamour, can be tough, stressful and hard on the body. I’m not in the trenches of journalism anymore but over the years, especially in between live broadcasts, I’ve found guided meditation (the secular kind, personally) to be incredibly helpful. It’s a secret weapon of sorts and maximizes your breaks, rare as they may be. You can calm down, drop your heart rate and increase your productivity in as little as a minute. Natalie is offering you a full six-minute guided meditation, written with content creators in mind, to encourage self-care and perspective outside of the news cycle. Sounds cheesy? Try it once! The science of meditation is sound. Check out this amygdala scan after exposure to emotional content, before and after regular meditation! It works. If you follow Natalie’s instructions, you will be calmer by the end, I promise.” – Dan Delmar, Managing Partner TNKR Media

 

TRANSCRIPT

“Play this recording whenever you need a media break.

Making good meaningful content means seeing the forest through the trees. Let’s take a moment and reconnect with the earth. Make sure you’re sitting down. Close your eyes and place one hand on your heart and one hand on your diaphragm. Notice the rhythm of your breath, and the movements in your body.

Cortisol levels rise whenever a screen is nearby, like any addictive substance cravings and emotions come in waves. How does the digital content you consume make you feel? Watch your thoughts, without any judgment, any craving or avoiding them, just notice where your mind is at.

There is so much noise on the internet, how do we know what is fake? Listen to your body. Let’s take a few conscious breaths. Inhale deeply for 3, 2, 1. Exhale completely, 3, 2, 1 and do 2 more on your own.

This offline time helps build on your connection with yourself. Reward yourself now with another conscious breath, and notice the sensations in your body. Notice your feet, ankles and calves, and slowly scan your body. Without any attachment you just want to pay attention to what you’re feeling. Any sensation like heat, coolness, tingling, your heart beat. Sit with yourself for a few moments now, simply watching.

Schedule technology breaks throughout your day. Take the time to notice your heart rate, reconnect to your breathing. What are you feeling? Noticing the sounds around you, the sensations inside you, come back to your breath.

With a hand on your diaphragm and a hand on your heart, this time just watch 3 breaths without any force. Notice where your mind is at, gather your thoughts and let’s set an intention for how you want to start again. You can release your hands and take one more deep breath.”

 

REFERENCES

– Harvard Gazette: When science meets mindfulness
– NY Times: Facebook bends the rules of audience engagement to its advantage
– Buzzfeed: Viral fake election news outperforms real news on Facebook.
– ABC News: Social media, sreen time linked to depression in teens, study says
– Science Daily: Internet addiction may indicate other mental health problems in college-aged students
– KQED: How parents can model better screen time behavior for their kids
– Inc.com: Looking at your phone all the time is literally shortening your life, doctors warn
– NCBI: Role of frontostriatal connectivity in adolescents with excessive smartphone use