This is the 3 minute breathing space that is the responsive breathing space responsive to unpleasant experiences a use when perhaps troubled by thoughts and feelings Step 1 of the responsive breathing space is to become aware Bring the focus of awareness to your inner experience and notice what's happening in thoughts,
Feelings and body sensations Describe,
Acknowledge and identify what's happening It could be a feeling of anger or fear Perhaps self-critical thoughts Taking time to acknowledge their presence Perhaps quickly scanning the body to pick up any sensations of tightness,
Embracing Then shifting to step 2,
The gathering step Here we gently redirect our full attention to focus on the breath Following the breath all the way in and all the way out In the gathering step we try to maintain a sharpened focus on the breath Using the breath as an anchor to the present moment And then step 3 of the breathing space is where we expand our attention out to the whole body Particularly to any sense of discomfort,
Tension or resistance If these sensations are here,
Take your awareness there,
Perhaps breathing in and around them Seeing if it's possible to soften and open with the out-breath Perhaps saying to yourself,
It's okay,
Whatever it is,
It's okay Let me feel the sensations of it And then see if it's possible to bring this expanded sense of awareness To the next few moments of your day
