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How to Use Mini-Meditations to Relax and Find Focus


Photo by elle_rigby

This is a guest post from Brian Tanaka of DevYou. Every Friday is Health Tip Day at Zen Habits.

It’s often hard to be as focused as we’d like to be. Many things in our hectic lives interrupt our concentration and erode focus. Think: cell phones, instant messaging, email, and co-workers vying for our time and energy.

Fortunately, there are ways to counteract these forces and bring better, more relaxed focus to our activities. One way is to use “mini-meditations.”

Mini-meditations boost focus and calm your mind throughout the day. They require no fancy preparation or techniques, and you can do them anywhere in less than a minute — so they’re ideal mindfulness exercises whether you’re at home in a quiet room or in the midst of a busy day at work.

Here’s the process:

1. Stop what you’re doing. Grab a minute for yourself, and mentally set aside what you’re doing. Remember: the whole exercise takes less than a minute, so you needn’t make a big deal about finding the perfect stopping point. It’s really more a pause than a stop, and you’ll be refreshed and able to start what you’re doing again in just a little bit.

2. Close your eyes. Let your eyelids close and relax.

3. Pay attention to your breath. The core of this exercise is awareness of your breath. You needn’t do anything special with it — just breathe normally, but do pay attention to the sensation of your breath entering and leaving your body. If you’d like, you may breathe a bit slower and more deeply than you ordinarily do.

4. Count three full inhale-exhale cycles. Inhale and exhale. As you exhale, think to yourself: one. Inhale and exhale again, and think: two. Finally, inhale and exhale, and think: three.

5. Slowly open your eyes and resume what you were doing.

That’s it! Nice and simple. Try mini-meditations periodically throughout your day, and see for yourself if it’s helpful to you.

Brian Tanaka writes about self-improvement at the DevYou blog.

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Brilliant comments (21)

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Julia Says:

September 28th, 2007, 5:53 am

That sounds really good! I am doing this from time to time already, since I tend to stress over trivial things every day.. to slow my heart rate down and relax this is basically what I do ^o^ I guess you can call it meditation, I haven’t even thought about it that way! Yay! ;-)

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William Mize Says:

September 28th, 2007, 6:01 am

This is a great intro to non ‘woo-woo’ meditation. If anyone out there in Zen Habits land is looking for a great book to learn meditation without all the bells, whistles and gurus, I highly recommend Clark Strand’s “The Wooden Bowl”; link below:

http://tinyurl.com/342yrs

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Barry Says:

September 28th, 2007, 7:19 am

I think another step (or one in the middle of these) is to internally try to feel a “wave of sensation” that you relate to how you want to feel. In this case, calm should come from deep in your stomach, and you should consciously cause this feeling. This will complete the physiological link that we should form, and make this “instant mediatation” more effective. Although description of the process is beyond me, I know, as well as everyone else does, there is a feeling of calm, and once you master causing this feeling inside, calling it at will should be easy.

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Kristi Wachter Says:

September 28th, 2007, 10:50 am

I like to think “in” as I breathe in and “out” as I breathe out. (Three is a small enough number of breaths that I’ll know when I’ve done three whether I count or not, and thinking “in” … “out” helps me focus more on my breathing and less on whatever other chatter is going on in my mind.)

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Brian Tanaka Says:

September 28th, 2007, 12:08 pm

@Kristi: Yes! thinking “in” while breathing in and “out” while breathing out is a wonderful way to do it!

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gerryc Says:

September 28th, 2007, 12:58 pm

excellent, printed and posted

i have the book, “Office Yoga” that i found in my garbage room and have recycled to my desk drawer.

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nuShack Says:

September 28th, 2007, 14:01 pm

Maybe this is what I need in my day. I just have to sell my boss on the idea. :-) “But I’m not *sleeping*, I’m *meditating*.”

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Krystian J Says:

September 28th, 2007, 14:20 pm

I will have to try this at work.

Thanks :)

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James Clark Says:

September 28th, 2007, 14:22 pm

Not to pimp any products, but I use this sweet program called Healing Rhythms. It’s a biofeedback program with guided meditations from Deepak Chopra, Dr. Weil, etc. This thing is totally amazing, like being another deminsion.

I do mini-meditation sessions throughout the day. It really helps.

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RebeccaS Says:

September 28th, 2007, 17:43 pm

I always love a mini meditation break in the middle of my day, so thanks so much for this. If your readers would like a free guided meditation to download onto their iPod or mp3 player for helpful stress relief, they can get one right now at: http://www.hypno-freedom.com.

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mjc Says:

September 28th, 2007, 20:12 pm

For an interesting experience, first do 3 breaths, thinking “in” when inhaling and “out” when exhaling.

Then, do 3 breaths, thinking “out” when inhaling and “in” when exhaling.

Help to disassociate the word from the action.

I think that is good, ymmv.

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Ben Clapton Says:

September 28th, 2007, 20:24 pm

I’ve just gotten into meditation as an energy boosting device, as well as something to help me clear my mind. Last week, when I was busy with performances and feeling low on energy, I could just take a few minutes out and just do a short meditation like the above. I prefer to use a little mantra to help clear my mind: “Just Breathe” - Just on the in breath, and breathe on the out breath.

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jennifer Says:

September 28th, 2007, 21:09 pm

aha, let me try it immediately , thanks leo for intruducing this simple but fancy “game” to us :-)

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Adobe Photoshop circa 1995 Says:

September 29th, 2007, 5:35 am

Lens flare!

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Warren Greeley Says:

September 29th, 2007, 5:47 am

This was very enlightening and after reading this I tried it and it really does help.

It helped so much I had to come back and drop a comment speaking of my success. Anything to relieve stress on a hectic day that doesn’t take much time is great for me.

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Anand Says:

September 29th, 2007, 20:42 pm

I was introduced to this concept a while back and was told that doing so actually places your mind/brain (I am not sure) in an alpha state. I have heard that one has better focus and is able to achieve much more when the mind is in this state. I understand this state is achieved when this exercise is performed for at least 3 minutes and needs to make ensure that the body is completely relaxed.

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Ryan Says:

October 3rd, 2007, 1:30 am

Cultivate the pause, great advice. When I find myself stuck in my head or distracted, I ask myself: “Where am I, what time is it?” The answer, of course, is always “here and now.” I got this from the movie, the peaceful warrior; great movie on experiencing the present moment.

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Jason Says:

October 3rd, 2007, 13:16 pm

Great advice, and something I’ll add to my “routine”… although I’m not sure if I do the same thing regularly enough for it to be properly called a routine.

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Jim Says:

December 6th, 2007, 14:51 pm

I am doing mini meditation every day and it really clears my mind. Nice article!

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Dannie Says:

January 21st, 2008, 18:10 pm

Cool idea!

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Moon Says:

February 21st, 2009, 10:39 am

Thanks for the enlightning information

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