3-Minute Breathing Space: Basic Instructions

Awareness

Bring yourself into the present moment by deliberately adopting an erect and dignified posture. If possible, close your eyes. Then aske:

“What is my experience right now …in thoughts…in feelings…and in bodily sensations?

Acknowledge and register your experience, even if it is unwanted.

Gathering

Then, gently redirect full attention to breathing, to each inbreath, and to each outbreath as they follow, one after the other.

Your breath can function as an anchor to bring you into the present and help you tune into a state of awareness and stillness.

Expanding

Expand the field of your awareness around your breathing, so that it includes a sense of the body as a whole, your posture, and facial expression.

The breathing space provides a way to step out of automatic pilot mode and reconnect with the present moment

The key skill in using MBCT is to maintain awareness in the moment. Nothing else.

from Segal, Williams, and Teasdale Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression (2002)

See more progress on: complete the Kabat-Zinn eight week mindfulness training program