Mindful Moment: One Mindful Breath

Mindful Moments from Action for Happiness, number 1 of 12

Many of us have heard that mindfulness is really good for us, but we may not find it easy to do or to make time for. Maybe you tried meditating once and had a frustrating experience, feeling like you weren’t doing it right.

Or maybe you had a good experience, but find it hard to keep it up in the busyness of daily life. When life gets tough and you’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed, these are actually the times that mindfulness can help us the most.

So, today we’re going to try a mindfulness practice that will be there for us whenever we need it. We call it: One Mindful Breath.

Transcript

Hi, And welcome to this mindful moment practice, One Mindful Breath. So a lot of us want to practice mindfulness, But we don't necessarily find it easy to do. Trying to meditate can sometimes be really frustrating. We can struggle to concentrate and end up feeling like we just aren't doing it right. Even if we do enjoy it, We can still find it hard to keep it up in the busyness of daily life. So today, Instead of beating ourselves up, We're going to try a really simple practice that can be there for us whenever we need it. We call it One Mindful Breath. We're going to start by trying a minute of mindfulness together, Just to get a feel for it. Before we begin, Take a moment to see if there's anything you can do to help make yourself feel just a little bit more comfortable. Maybe dropping your shoulders back to ease any tension from your neck, And helping yourself get your back straight and relaxed. There, That's good. For the next minute, We're just going to see what it's like to just notice and enjoy our breathing. Our breath is always happening right there in the present moment, And you may notice just how relaxing it is to pay attention to it as it flows in and out. Of course, Even in the space of a minute, Your mind will want to do its own thing. The key for this practice is to not try to stop it. When you notice that your mind has wandered, Simply smile, And remember, This is what the mind does. It's completely okay. At some point, When the mind is done showing you whatever it wants to show you, You can just gently bring your attention back to the sensation of your breathing. You can notice if your breath is coming in or going out, Whether it's deep or shallow, And where you can feel it in the body, Whether that's the nose, The chest, Or perhaps in the belly. So this is what we'll practice now for the next 60 seconds. Just being with the breath, Waking up when the mind has wandered, Accepting what it has to show us, And then gently coming back to the breath when we're ready. You'll hear a sound of a bell to indicate the stars in the end. Okay, Close your eyes, And let's begin our minute. So as you open your eyes, Just notice how you feel right now. Maybe a bit refreshed, A little bit more aware, A bit more calm, Maybe a bit more centred. Not bad for a minute. You might have picked up the idea that for meditation to work, You need to be able to sit still for 20 minutes or more. But that's actually not quite true. As we've just seen, It can make a meaningful difference to our state of mind surprisingly quickly. In fact, We don't even need a full minute. You might start by pausing for 20 seconds or so before a meeting, Or taking 10 seconds while standing in a queue to just follow your breath. Sometimes, Just one mindful breath can be enough to change the course of your whole day. You might even be ready to take one, Right now.