A Longer Three Step Breathing Space

The purpose of the 3-minute breathing space is to help you step out of automatic pilot, move into the present moment and slow down so you can respond more skillfully to stressful situations. The goal of this exercise isn’t to take away negative feelings but rather to create more space in which to respond with greater perspective.

Transcript

And today we're going to be doing a longer version of the three-step breathing space or the three-step rounding space, Anchoring space. And the intention here will be to, One, Train our attention, Two, Become more aware of our present moment experience, And three, Practice values or attitudes of more openness and curiosity and care. You don't have to have the eyes closed. They can be focused on something. They can move around. I guess whatever will support you in practicing being more aware. And in this first step, We're really widening our attention so we can become as much as possible aware of what's happening in this moment for us. This may include what you can hear right now, What you can see, What you can feel on the body. This also involves recognizing and acknowledging my current mood, How I'm feeling, What emotions might be present right now. You may also pay attention to different sensations in the body, Noticing perhaps what's pleasant in the body, What's unpleasant, What's neutral. Practicing even recognizing and acknowledging the headspace, What's filling up the space in the mind, What thoughts, What stories, What concepts and symbols, What words are present for you in this moment. And what we might practice exploring is just naming or labeling, Noting, What we can recognize, What we can become aware of moment by moment. If you feel something in the body, Maybe just naming that, Ah, Pain, Ah, Warmth. If you notice in emotion, Again, Just naming, Noting, Anxiety, Joy, Naming, Noting sounds, Naming, Noting thoughts, Ah, Thinking about work, Thinking about future. Whatever categorization works well for you. And it might be supportive for some of us to maybe imagine as if we're observing ourselves from a different perspective, A bird's eye view or being on the side, As if you're an observer or a scientist, A researcher, Just with your notepad, Noting and naming, Recognizing, Acknowledging, Ah, This is here now. Ah, And in this moment, My attention's here. Ah, And now in this moment, I'm thinking about this, I'm feeling that. Without judgment, Without trying to justify or explain, Trying to get rid of it or change anything, We're just noting, Just observing, Moment by moment. Ah, This is here now. And we can let all this be, Practicing letting go of this wide recognition, This wide acknowledgement. And as we move into the second step of this practice, We can now begin to narrow, Begin to center our focus, Our attention on one particular area or one particular point or domain, If you'd like. Finding, Exploring, Discovering something in this moment that feels very present for you, That isn't an idea or a concept, But a direct experience. Maybe it's just feeling the body as a whole, This living, Vibrating, Shifting, Pulsating body. Or maybe you can, You can focus on the sensations of breathing, Keeping your attention moment by moment. On the breath. Each breath so different, Each breath is filled with movement, With rising and falling, Expanding, Contracting. And we just pay attention to that, Be with that. Maybe narrowing the focus on to touch or another part in the body, The feet or the hands. Maybe you can just listen to something. Maybe there's a constant sound that you can focus on, That you can be with. In the first step, There was all this recognition, In the first step, There was all this recognizing and acknowledging, All this different things that can be happening that we can observe. And here we're really putting effort into narrowing and gathering our attention and regathering and re-narrowing our attention on a single point, A single area, A single observable. Practicing a, A being with, A being with. And yes, The mind will wander. Yes, Your attention will move to my voice or a thought or a feeling or a sensation. We're not trying to stop that. We're not trying to control. Just, Just allowing that to be, Allowing that to, That, That's my experience. And in the midst of all that, In the midst of the mind wanting to think and attention moving around, Practicing narrowing, Practicing gathering that attention back, Back on just being with, That point, That area that you've chosen, That might change throughout this practice. Experiencing what it's like to, To just be, Just be in the moment without the, Without the need to, To do lots of things or go somewhere or get anything. Maybe discovering how much effort you put into just being with, Maybe discovering how much effort it actually takes to, To have some people say, Do nothing, Do nothing, Just be. And we can begin to, To let this second step be, Letting go of our, Our effort of narrowing and gathering. And as we move into the third and final step, We begin to widen back out, Getting a sense of the body and the space around us, A sort of 360 degree awareness. And if you had your eyes closed, I invite you to even open them up now and just, Just being with eyes open for a bit without the need to move yet, And just, Just being with eyes open for a bit without the need to move yet or look around. Exploring, Not just paying attention to what you see, But still also what you feel, What you sense below and above, The front, The sides, The back. And with no rush, Starting to transition out of this three-step breathing space or grounding space, Taking what you've learned and what maybe you're feeling and experiencing into the next moment of the day. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.