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Back to Yoga & Meditation Archives
Time-out
Courtesy of Jon Kabat-Zinn
www.mindfulnesstapes.comNot sure how to start a meditation practice? Try this simple technique from Jon Kabat-Zinn. It works in as little as 30 seconds (the time you spend stuck at the back of a packed elevator) or as long as an hour or more in the quiet of your home, as part of a daily devotion to stress-reduction. Practiced over time, it will help you "cultivate a capacity to see what is here to be seen, hear what is here to be heard, and feel what is here to be felt," says Kabat-Zinn.
Stop for a few moments and connect up with the feeling sense of your body. Let the flowing of the breath become predominant in the field of your awareness. Settle this awareness on the breath and ride on the waves of the full in-breath and full out-breath. You can choose to follow the breath in one of a number of different places in the body -- the belly movements, the passage of air at the nostrils -- to get a sense of the whole body breathing, including the skin. But wherever your focus alights, see if you can be in touch with the feeling of this breath that's happening now. Your mind will wander when you do this; that is its nature. Just notice the wanderings without judging, see what's on your mind in terms of thoughts and feelings, and then reconnect back with the breath. Over time, you can gradually extend the time you spend connected with the breath until you can watch it for a half-hour or more. Reconnect with it from time to time throughout the day, staying in touch with it like a close friend and ally -- an anchor.
For information on guided mindfulness meditation practice tapes from Jon Kabat-Zinn, see www.mindfulnesstapes.com.