MBCT 3 Minute Breathing Space

This is a brief 3 Minute Breathing Space practice for the Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy Program (MBCT). You are invited to follow this practice with a sense of curiosity and kindness. This practice is intended to be used as homework for The Mindful Way Group.

Transcript

Welcome to the three-minute breathing space.

I am your instructor,

Jen Churchill.

We will begin with an upright and alert posture,

Either seated or standing.

If possible,

You may close your eyes now and begin to bring your awareness to your inner experience.

Acknowledging what's here.

What's my experience right now?

What thoughts are present?

Recognizing how these thoughts are mental events.

Perhaps even putting them into words,

Such as,

This is thinking.

Now what emotions are here?

Turning towards the feeling tones of your experience,

Whether they be pleasant or unpleasant emotions.

Acknowledging them just as they are.

And next,

What bodily sensations are present?

Scanning through the body to notice the sensations that show up,

Whether they be simply temperature,

Tension,

Or pain.

Letting bodily sensations be here,

Too.

Now we will narrow our focus to the sensations of breathing.

Moving right up close to the sense of breathing in the abdomen.

The feeling of movement in the abdominal wall.

Expansion as the breath comes in.

Contraction as the breath goes out.

Naturally following the breath all the way in and all the way out.

Using the breath to focus your attention in this moment.

This breath.

And this breath,

Too.

Now begin to broaden your attention back out,

So that it expands around the breath to other sensations in the body.

Your posture,

Your facial expressions.

Noticing if there's any sensations of discomfort or holding.

Then,

If so,

You can direct the breath to these areas.

Breathing into them and breathing out of them with a quality of softening,

Of releasing.

When you're ready,

Taking this expanded awareness forward into the next moments of your day.