3-Minute Breathing Space

The three minute breathing space.

The first step in the three minute breathing space is to take an intentional posture that embodies wakefulness and interest.

Closing your eyes if you wish to.

And then asking yourself this question,

What's going on in my experience right now?

What thoughts are here?

What emotions are around?

What's here in the realm of body sensations?

And just taking a moment to acknowledge whatever experiences are here,

Even if they're unwanted.

And in the second step of the breathing space,

Gathering your attention fully on the sensations of breathing.

So letting the inquiry just be in the background for now,

And bringing the fullness of your attention to noticing where you feel the breath most easily in your body.

Perhaps the nostrils or the chest or the abdomen.

And noticing what sensations are you aware of as you breathe in?

What sensations come as you breathe out?

Not needing to control the breath in any way,

Just simply noticing the moment to moment changing sensations as the breath comes into your body.

And as the breath leaves your body.

And whenever you notice that your mind is wander,

Just gently bringing it back to feeling the in breath and the out breath.

And then in the third step,

Beginning to expand your field of awareness to include your body as a whole sitting here,

Noticing any areas of tension,

Bracing or holding,

Noticing the facial expression.

And perhaps breathing into any areas of tension or holding.

And on the out breath,

Perhaps it's possible to release even some of that tension or holding anything that doesn't need to be there.

And noticing what it's like to hold your sense of awareness in this broader container of the whole body breathing.

And as this meditation comes to an end,

You may wish to set an intention to repeat this practice throughout the day at times of stress or just to check in and see what the weather's like inside.

A massage should also De second,