3 Minute Breathing Space

This brief practice provides an opportunity to pause and check in with ourselves throughout the day. This 3-step meditation is one of the core practices taught on the MBCT program developed by Jon Kabat Zinn and on my 'Mindfulness for Life' 8-week program. By breaking down our experience into thoughts, emotions and bodily sensations, the present moment begins to feel less overwhelming.

Transcript

In the first step of the three minute breathing space,

We begin by adopting a straight and dignified posture,

Whether sitting or standing.

And if it's possible for you or appropriate in this moment,

You can close over your eyes.

And then bringing awareness to your inner experience,

Asking what is my experience right now.

Checking in with whatever is going on.

Knowing what thoughts are going through my mind.

And we can acknowledge these thoughts as mental events.

Maybe putting a label on them,

Naming them.

And then asking what feelings or emotions are here.

And if there's any sense of emotional discomfort or unpleasant feelings,

We can acknowledge and allow these emotions to be present.

And then tuning into whatever bodily sensations are here.

And we can quickly scan the body from feet right up to head.

And just exploring what we find here.

And when you're ready in step two,

We redirect the focus of our awareness into the physical sensations of the breath.

Focusing on the movement of the belly.

Observing the full duration of each in-breath.

And the full duration of each out-breath.

Using the breath to steady or anchor you into the present moment.

And in step three,

We expand our awareness around this breathing to include the whole body,

Your posture and your facial expression.

And as you do this,

If you become aware of any sensations of discomfort or tension,

You can say,

It's okay,

Whatever it is,

It's already here,

Let me feel it.

And as best you can,

You can bring this expanded awareness into the next moments of your day.

Reviews

Short and sweet. Very helpful. Thanks

Great remainder thank you so much. 🙏🏻✨💕

Hi! I really love and appreciate the meditation. The abrupt ending really left me hanging, so my request would be for some closing words. Thank you for sharing this. 🙏🏼

Love this great wording!!!!