For Busy Women: The 30-second Meditation

WELLNESS | by POSY GERING

DO YOU HAVE A MEDITATION PRACTICE? Do you envision sitting still on a cushion with a ramrod straight back for an hour every day?

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In reality, that is only one model of meditation. Try stepping away from the orthodoxy of how it’s supposed to be done. Instead, focus on the intended outcomes of meditation — many more possibilities emerge.

What I want from meditation is to quiet my mind, get in touch with my deeper self and open my awareness to something beyond the list of things I must do or ways I must be. I believe we can at least taste those qualities in far less time than an hour.

Try a 30-second meditation. I’ll share a number of techniques with you over the coming months. Here is one:

1. Sigh deeply four times.
2. Close your eyes. Take a very deep breath. Now, sigh the air out. Really empty your lungs, which takes a second exhalation. Feel empty.
3. As you allow the air to come back into your lungs, notice how it feels, all along the way.
4. Then, when, you’re completely full, sigh the air out again, noticing how it feels to let all the air out of your lungs.
5. Four deep breaths usually takes about thirty seconds. Notice the effect on your mind and body.

I’ve done this when on “hold,” while waiting in line and when I don’t know how to solve a problem. I’ve even locked myself in the bathroom during a dinner party. It’s as long as a commercial — and think how much of your life you’ve given up to watch them. Try spending an equivalent amount on your Self.