SOBER Breathing Space

An informal meditation to get out of autopilot, see a situation more clearly, and respond more wisely. Adapted from Bowen et al. See also "SOBER Coping Space".

Transcript

Welcome to the sober breathing space.

Sober stands for stop,

Observe,

Breathe,

Expand,

And respond.

Stop whatever it is that you are doing and whatever it is you are about to do and allow yourself to just simply be right here in the present moment.

Observe what's happening in your body,

Noticing any sensations that are present in your body right now.

Check in with your emotions,

Noticing whatever feelings are there for you right now without judging anything,

Just allowing them to be as they are.

Notice where your thoughts are right now,

Whether they're in the past or in the future or in the present.

With the next breath in,

Gathering your awareness.

With the next breath out,

Bringing your awareness now just to the breath as best you can,

Keeping your full attention on the sensations of breathing.

Breathing in,

I know that I'm breathing in.

Breathing out,

I know that I'm breathing out.

In,

Out.

Whenever you notice your mind wandering as best you can,

Simply bring your awareness back to the next breath.

Breathing in,

Breathing out.

In,

Out.

Gathering your awareness again with your next in-breath.

Breathing out,

Expanding your awareness to a sensation of your whole body being breathed.

Checking in again with the body,

What do you notice,

What sensations are present right now?

Are they the same or are they different than earlier?

Checking in with your emotions,

What feelings are present right now?

Checking in again with your thoughts,

Where is your mind right now?

And with awareness as best you can,

Responding to the situation,

Carrying on with your day,

Shifting out of autopilot mode and into mindful awareness.

Reviews

Perfect for my dry July

Thank you! A practice that is essential for a busy, stressful or chaotic day.

I liked this. Almost went under in 20 secs! Relaxing.

Excellent love it, 3 times a day.

Simple and complete. This is such a direct and compact guide to resetting your awareness. It can be used any time of the day or night to regroup and return to balance.

Goof quick check in an set point for the day....

Nice reboot. Thanks

What a great way to ground yourself! Sometimes all I need is two minutes and sometimes I need longer. But this definitely did the trick today💜

Nice, quick re-entry to mindful presence!

A wonderful pause to recenter

Short calm sweet

So helpful. Thank you

Fantastic - just what I needed to stop my head spinning.

Totally awesome. Just saved my ass

Just right to bring myself back to NOW

Really useful when needing an immediate break from a stressful situation or environment.

A great way to pause throughout the day.

Great for young people.

I like the acronym SOBER and will be using that too keep me more mindful!

Perfect for spot meditation. Sitting in the car before going in to work, sitting in the car after work, other times when a short meditation would help keep mindfulness.