[Music] thank you I was once a busy International tax lawyer working incredibly long hours and quickly climbing the legal letter at the height of my career I had all I dreamed of the job title The Riches the connections with each achievement I would raise the bar even higher searching for what I considered perfection working on weekends getting to office at Sunrise and leaving past midnight saying yes to every single project with the timelines getting Tighter and Tighter all of this aimed at the next big thing that would prove to everyone and to myself what it was truly capable of in search of perfection I pushed my body to its absolute limits and was rewarded with a two-week stay in a hospital bed it was my big aha moment during recovery I was literally forced to stop for the first time in my professional life and having the opportunity to take a break allow me to rethink my life choices am I truly happy whose idea of success is this the answers to these questions revealed a stark reality I was living someone else's life so I did what I thought was the easiest way out I quit my job and focused on finding a career I thought would be less stressful while recovering from burnout I had the opportunity to resume my meditation practice something that was not new to me the first time I practiced it I remember to this day I was an eager extremely active 13 year old recovering from a sports injury and the physio Clinic I was going to had this room for group classes one day I happened to catch a glimpse of a yoga class I was immediately intrigued I saw people going upside down in headstand and my Super Active teenager self immediately went I want to do this so I enrolled in the class eager to stand on my head but before we did that the teacher started the class with some quiet sitting and some breathing exercises so simple yet profound exercises that kept the mind focused engaged still what happened within the first few minutes of this practice was indescribable I went to a place I had never gone before I felt free yet incredibly comfortable I went to class to stand on my head which we did but left with this deep yearning to learn everything I could about meditation I bought a book on meditation the following day and began my lifelong practice of this ancient art over the next few Decades of my life meditation became a constant but like any long-term relationship or a marriage it wasn't always love and light sometimes I would feel incredibly inspired to do it at other times it felt like a burden sometimes I would sit quietly blissfully into meditation for hours at other times I could hardly sit still for three minutes and there were also times in my life when I wasn't meditating at all and what's interesting as I later observed these were the toughest times of my life including when I had the burnout that shifted everything what inspired me to switch careers is something I still cannot quite describe perhaps it was a combination of logic finding something that would be the opposite of law and personal calling connecting to something I loved something I felt passionate about But whichever the case might be I know one thing for sure I used meditation to support me yes meditation cleared the mental clutter and the emotional anguish so that I could see the the answer more clearly so that I could see the next step we all have the capacity to tap into this inner knowing no special gift required this Tool The Meditation practice can help us see beyond emotional attachments fear anger doubt and it can also help us to identify and avoid the red flags especially the ones that we tend to subconsciously ignore having a sharp focused meditative mind can help you see what's right in front of you and if it's right for you because let me tell you something switching careers is not always the answer to burnout um burnout can happen whether you are a lawyer a yoga teacher even the prime minister of New Zealand if you tend to be in competition with yourself always looking for the next achievement or if you measure your worth by how accomplished you are you are at risk for Burnout this is where meditation comes in with the clarity of mind the meditation provides you can decide if switching careers is the answer or if you simply need to make some Lifestyle Changes including practicing meditation daily to support you meditation is the number one tool to find balance while being fully engaged in the world you don't have to quit your job you don't have to become a monk move to the woods you don't have to change the essence of Who You Are you can most definitely be an accomplished balanced mindful lawyer as well as a materially successful yoga teacher somehow Society has separated these Concepts but they can and they should be integrated for instance a lawyer I knew was having trouble sleeping chronic stress and insomnia was the official diagnosis everything else in his life seemed to be fine but he just couldn't sleep and he came to me for help after trying many methods that didn't work I could see he was so ready to make a shift in his life and at the end of her session he became very quiet that's usually a good sign and eventually he said I feel different not bad not good just different I said good now go home and practice this daily on the following day there was a message in my inbox he had slept a full night's sleep eight hours uninterrupted this is Victory I have been coaching lawyers doctors and others for the past 15 years eventually opening a meditation studio and over the years I have been exposed to many different methods many different aspects around meditation and notice a need to integrate these different aspects I've always been one for practical results so more than accumulating knowledge or mastering a system this work is about having an inner experience that shifts perspective a quick and effective way of doing this is through meditating on the breath you see your breath is very much connected to how you feel just notice when you're anxious nervous stressed how's the breath best shallow trapped how about when you're happy relaxed it's usually long and smooth so the idea is by changing the breath you can change how you feel this is big there's one exercise it's called the one minute breath because that's the ultimate goal 30 seconds inhalation 30 seconds hold and 30 seconds exhalation and you can do this anywhere literally anywhere you can do this while driving your car while sitting for meditation while listening to this talk anywhere and my advice is that you start slowly so starting with something like a four second inhalation so inhaling one two three four hold one two three four and exhale one two three four and you just keep doing this for a few minutes and notice yourself notice the shifts you can even do this and this is super pragmatic in the middle of an argument yes just try it and see how the mind shifts in fact this is one of the tools I teach when coaching clients how to calm themselves in stressful situations this is the secret there's so many aspects around meditation but meditation is not intimidating it is practical it's something you can do anywhere I did it like five minutes before walking on the stage anywhere if you practice meditation daily you change your mind you change your brain that's the gift that's the goal the goal is not to go outside of yourself the goal is to go deeper into yourself deep inside yourself is where you find the power to live your most authentic and fulfilling life no matter what your profession might be thank you [Applause]