S.T.O.P. Meditation MBSR

S.T.O.P. is an acronym and stands for Stop. Take a breath. Observe. Proceed. The STOP practice is ideal to be used in everyday life, especially when we feel stress is emerging or already present. The STOP practice helps us, to step out of automatic pilot and bringing mindfulness to the present moment experience. We then can choose to respond in a more allowing, softening and kind way which in turn will decrease our stress and anxiety level, and help us returning to a calmer state.

Transcript

Welcome to the STOP practice.

This is an informal practice,

Meaning it only takes a few minutes and is always available to us anytime and anywhere,

Without the need for a formal sitting meditation practice.

STOP is an acronym and stands for stop,

Take a breath,

Observe,

And proceed.

The STOP practice is ideal to be used in everyday life,

Especially when we feel stress is emerging or already present.

Stress can show up in the form of unpleasant thoughts,

Feelings,

Or body sensations.

The STOP practice helps us to step out of automatic pilot and bringing mindfulness to the present moment experience.

We then can choose to respond in a more allowing,

Softening,

And kind way which in turn will decrease our stress and anxiety level and help us returning to a calmer state,

A state in which healing is happening on its own.

Let us now briefly go through the STOP practice.

In the first step,

We simply stop and pause,

Taking a moment right now and right here.

In the second step,

We are taking a few deep breaths and maybe simply noticing how the breath is rolling in and rolling out.

This activates our parasympathetic nervous system,

The rest and relaxation system.

In the third step,

We are starting to observe what is happening in this moment.

Maybe we can feel the stress mostly in the body,

In emotions,

Or in thoughts,

Or maybe everywhere.

Where in the body can we feel the stress?

Perhaps adrenaline rising,

Maybe tightness in the chest,

The belly,

Or in the neck,

Maybe pain in certain areas,

Perhaps overall tiredness and fatigue.

Can we practice softening into them a little bit and simply be with them in this present moment?

And in the final step,

We now allow ourselves to proceed with whatever we were doing and to the best of our abilities,

Incorporating what we just learned in the rest of the day.

This informal stop practice is now complete.

As a reminder,

We practice taking the time and applying this practice every time we feel stressed.

We are practicing this over and over again,

Because this is what brings us in a calmer state,

The parasympathetic state,

The healing state.

You might want to schedule various times during the day to repeat this practice on your own,

With or without this spoken guide.

Reviews

Thank you so much for your helpful meditation suggestion
Taking your words inside me
Stay blessed 🙌 and safe and healthy