The Three Minute Breathing Space

There is a tiredness that sleep does not fix. It arrives after years of being capable, and it does not lift on a Saturday.
This is the most portable practice I teach. Three minutes, three steps, and nobody around you will know you are doing it. You can do it at your desk, in a car park, or in the ten seconds before you walk back into a room you did not want to be in.
One. Notice what is already here. Thoughts, feelings, the state of the body. You are not fixing any of it.
Two. Narrow down to the breath. Not deeper, not slower. The one that is already happening.
Three. Widen out again, to the whole body, and take that with you.
It comes from the traditional eight week courses and there is nothing more sophisticated to it than that.
Suitable for complete beginners.

Transcript

Hello Insight Timer team. I just wanted to introduce the following exercise called the three minute breathing phase and it is taught in Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy. It is designed to pull us out of fight or flight freeze almost immediately. So let's practice together. It's going to take three minutes and three different stages. Stage number one it is acknowledge so we are acknowledging that a we got triggered be we feel agitated or whatever feeling or emotion you might feel in that particular moment. Their face or step two is focus so we narrow our attention to the breath and that could be on the nostrils on the chest or the belly. And number three, The third minute or the third phase, It is widen. And that's when we expand our whole awareness into the bodies. Into the full body from the heads to the toes and feel your whole body breathing. So if you're with me and have some time. Save the video or practice right now. Might find a posture that embraces alertness. Could be sat on a chair or cushion. And for the first minute or so, We're just going to acknowledge. We can acknowledge Just how we feel. Start to notice how our body starts to feel. More than we've been. Moving on autopilot or perhaps we are in between meetings. Whatever it is, It's absolutely fine. And then we're going to focus on the breath just choose one area of the breath so that could be nostrils, Chest, Belly, Whatever feels most comfortable for you. And just narrow your attention to the breath. Continue breathing in this way. Mind wanders, Come back to the breath. We're slowly training our attention. To not get pulled by thoughts. And then step three, Widen. Now widen your attention. To the whole body. How does it feel? Imagine your whole body breathing. Perhaps notice the small subtleties from. . . Before this exercise and now. To simply rest. And when you're ready, You might choose to open your eyes. Three minutes. That is all it takes. To restart. Thank you. You can implement this exercise at any stage of your day, In between meetings, In between school pickups. In the car before you run the engine. Before you eat your foods. It's very versatile and it brings is able to bring us back to presence. So the more you practice it, The more opportunities you are to be fully, Fully aware of what you're doing. Thank you and see you soon.

Reviews

A beautiful pause - thanks Jose for that little break … good before starting the day or with anything challenging 😍

Thanks for this information! Deeply appreciate it 🙏.

I really needed this today in its simplicity it brought me into the present.Thank you

Great idea to get back to the moment and take care of myself!

This was very helpful to regulate after a meeting that included multiple triggers for me and helped me reset before my next appointment. In only 3 minutes; thank you!