Brief Mindfulness Practice: STOMP

This short Mindfulness practice is an adaptation of the acronym 'STOP' and incorporates 'M' for checking in with what matters most. This practice follows the acronym and is a helpful brief tool that can be practiced at any time throughout one's daily life whether to cultivate greater present moment awareness or to practice collecting one's attention in moments of strong emotion or reactivity.

Transcript

Using the acronym STOMP, This is a very brief, Very short mindfulness practice that you can use anytime throughout your day when you need to collect your attention, To slow down pause, And check in with the wisest part of you. And the S in STOMP means to stop, Means to take that pause. So stopping now, Where you're sitting or standing, Whatever your posture, Halting movement, Which can be difficult in our busy modern world. So just stopping, All action. And the T in STOMP is to track one or two breaths. So noticing the breath as it naturally flows into the body and out, One after another, Was tracking its movement into the lungs, Belly, In and out, Right here. And the O of STOMP means to observe. So just noticing what's here. The thoughts and the stories of the mind that may be chattering, The emotions, The feeling tone, The sensations alive in the body right now. What's here? Just observing without judgment. Just checking in to your experience right now. And with the M of STOMP, This is to see what matters most right now. This is taking a pause to connect with your values, With your heart space, Right in this moment. What matters most? If this were my last day, What would matter most to me right now? And then in the final step of STOMP, We have the P, Which stands for proceed. Taking this pause now to connect with our experience, And what's present for us, And what matters most. We now move out of this pause into action again in our life. Perhaps with a greater quality of attention, With presence and awareness, Tuning in to what matters most. We are much more likely to move back out into our life and into the world with a greater sense of mindfulness, Perhaps a knowing of what wisest action we wish to take.

Reviews

A grounding and focused practice that's perfect for a morning check-in. Thank you!

First time to hear this acronym and I love it!
Thank you for sharing 🙏🏻

I really like the addition of the M as I listened to this at the end of my workday. I have the hardest time managing my OCD symptoms at this time. The M reminds me to place my mental energy on what matters most. Thank you. 🙏

Love this and will use this in my daily life! Great plan for taking a pause in an effort to practice responsiveness over reactivity.

Very helpful short exercise to help in times of stress, worry, upset, etc. I like adding the M - I have used STOP technique before but adding what matters most helps put things in perspective so you can proceed. Thank you!