Hello,
My name is Dr.
Bethany Brown and welcome to this three-minute breathing space meditation.
This version of the three-minute breathing space will also come with a bit of an introduction around what the three-minute breathing space is,
How to use it and a bit of a model to help you conceptualize what it's trying to do at each stage.
Once you feel you've got the hang of this,
Feel free to use my three-minute breathing space meditation which comes without the introduction so you're able to get straight back into the exercise.
The three-minute breathing space is a short meditation that can be used anywhere at any point to ground yourself quickly.
It is a really helpful meditation to use at those points that you start to feel a particularly difficult thought or emotion is grabbing your attention and taking over.
It can be used as an exercise to help you settle after a difficult emotion has been triggered.
It can be done with your eyes open or your eyes closed.
To help you understand what the three-minute breathing space is trying to do,
I would like you to use the image of an egg timer,
Thinking of the shape of the egg timer and if you were to divide that egg timer into three sections,
Thinking about the shape that it would have.
The top section which would be the top part of the egg timer is a shape that is like somebody who is raising their hands up wide so it is about opening up.
In this section what we are trying to do is to expand our awareness,
To open our awareness away from perhaps just one thing that is grabbing our attention to noticing the other elements of our experience in the present moment.
Expanding and opening our awareness to all the different parts of our present moment experience.
The middle section is that narrow part of the egg timer and what this symbolizes is we're starting to narrow our attention to one anchor,
In this case the breath.
And what we are doing here by narrowing our attention and focusing on one anchor is settling.
We're using this to settle.
The bottom third of the egg timer is again wide but at the wide point going into the base.
So what we are doing here is imagining that is the shape like a tree rooted into the ground and this section of the meditation is exactly that.
It's to ground ourselves,
To root ourselves,
Giving that sense of stability before finishing up.
So now we have that image and the concept of what we're trying to do,
Let's begin this three-minute meditation.
I invite you to get into a position where you feel as comfortable as possible for you today.
If you would like to close your eyes I invite you to do so but equally just taking a soft gaze at a neutral point is equally okay.
Choosing what feels right for you today,
What allows you to feel as safe as possible.
And in the first minute of this exercise what I would like you to do is to start to think about what is in your present experience now.
If your eyes are open noticing what you can see,
Noticing what you can hear,
Not needing to search for particular things but just allowing the sounds to come to you.
Following them when they start and noticing the last point you can hear them from a place of non-judgment and curiosity.
Also bringing awareness to what you can feel,
So thinking about points of contact,
Perhaps with the floor,
Chair or bed.
Perhaps noticing your clothes on your skin,
Perhaps noticing temperature or a breeze.
And if there are any smells or tastes in your present moment experience,
Bringing your awareness to them.
And having built all these different elements we're now sitting in what we would call open awareness.
Being aware of all these different sensory elements of our present moment experience.
Trying to curiously notice them all as they come,
Allowing our attention to take in all this information.
And now I invite you to narrow that focus from open awareness to a particular anchor,
A particular focus.
In this case your breath.
Following each in breath and each out breath.
Perhaps even noticing the point that it changes from one to another.
Not needing to particularly change anything unless you wish to.
We're not striving for the perfect breath,
We are just bringing awareness to that present breath.
And anytime the mind wanders,
As the mind is designed to do,
Noticing it has happened and gently and kindly bringing that attention back to the breath.
Using the breath as an anchor moment by moment.
And now what I would like you to do is to shift that focus of attention to the sense of touch and particularly on the sense of groundedness.
Noticing those points of contact with what you are sitting and lying on.
Bringing your awareness to how it feels,
Where it begins and where it ends.
Observing whether the pressure is even,
Uneven,
Static or moving.
And as you bring awareness to this,
Notice the sense of feeling connected to the ground.
Feeling rooted,
Feeling stable and held.
And if you're seated,
Noticing your body feeling held in that upright position.
Noticing how you feel connected and grounded.
Connecting with those feelings of stability,
Of rootedness.
And as we finish this exercise,
Seeing whether you can take some of that feeling,
That felt sense with you as we finish up.
