3 Step Breathing Practice

Doing the 3 step breathing space practice regularly throughout the day helps bring more mindful awareness into our daily lives. The purpose of the 3 step 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.

Transcript

So to begin just coming into a comfortable,

Intentional posture of your choice and allowing the eyes to gently close or simply lowering your gaze.

Just taking a few moments to notice how the body feels right now.

And then tuning into any sounds around you.

What can you hear right now?

And just listening to the song of this particular moment as it unfolds.

And then noticing what thoughts and feelings are around right now.

And not trying to change them in any way,

Simply opening to what's already here and letting any thoughts and feelings come and go like clouds in the sky.

And then gathering your awareness around the feeling of the breath deep inside the body.

Simply allowing the breath to come and go in its own way.

No need to control it in any way.

But just bringing the spotlight of your attention to the belly and tuning into the sensations,

The changing sensations of the in-breath and the out-breath.

And if the mind wanders simply,

Gently escorting it back to the sensations of the breath and the belly.

And then expanding the focus of your awareness around the breath to take in the whole body.

Feeling the whole body breathing now.

Noticing the posture,

The weight of the body,

The shape of the body.

Which parts of the body are in contact with the surface you're sitting on.

Noticing sensations on the skin or sensations inside the body.

Not trying to change anything,

Just coming home to the body.

Coming home to this moment.

And then broadening the focus of your awareness out into the room.

Sensing the temperature,

Reconnecting with sounds of the day.

And as this short practice comes to a close,

Just setting an intention to take this awareness with you into the next activities of your day.

When you're ready,

Gently opening the eyes.