The time to start taking care of myself is past due. Now that I have some time to focus on myself (not selfishly), I want to start with the simplest option and one of the most rewarding- meditation.
A basic method is to focus your attention on your own breathing—a practice simply called “mindful breathing.” After setting aside time to practice mindful breathing, you’ll find it easier to focus attention on your breath in your daily life—an important skill to deal with stress, high blood pressure, and negative emotions. This also helps with concentration.
Time required:
Let’s start out with at least 5 minutes daily for a week, keeping in mind that meditation mindfulness increases with practice
How to do it
Preferably sitting in a quiet space either in a comfortable chair, the bed or even a car seat (great for those long traffic light waits.) Your eyes may be open or closed, but you may find it easier to maintain your focus if you close your eyes.
Mentally focus on your head, will yourself to relax the tension there, then go lower to your neck and shoulders. Keep going until your toes are relaxed.
Then just simply do what you’ve done since birth. Breathe. Relax and inhale the delicious oxygen.
Sure, your body may be calm, but your mind is all over the place because it isn’t use to peace, quiet and a lack of distraction. Just redirect your thoughts to the feelings of your lungs expanding and deflating rhythmically.
Keep it simple, don’t overthink it. Repeat this practice as needed, but definitely do it daily.
If you have an Apple Watch, there is an app dedicated to Mindfulness and specifically breathing. Set a reminder in the app to schedule this practice. I have mine set to 6am & 6pm.
Woosah,
Chris
I was listening to this while I was editing the article: