Putting Life On Pause: 3 Mini-Meditations For People Who Don't Have Time To Meditate

Life is certainly not simple now, but we humans have gotten in the habit of making it more complicated. "Do more" is the message from every quarter. The practice of meditation should not be a complication, but offer a means to simplification, a remedy instead of something more on your "to do" list. If at this time you cannot see how to practice 20 - 30 minutes each day, then you can begin with a few strategic mini-meditations. These moments of awareness, mindfulness and simply "showing up" for yourself are a great way to begin to learn to de-stress and to become more tuned in to the benefits of meditation. Remember that sometimes the greatest stress comes from the thought that we have no control or can't change something. These are things you can choose to do.

1. Putting yourself "On Pause"

Pick a time just before you are getting ready to change venues, a transition time between home and work for instance, or after lunch when you are going to a meeting or just after the children begin their homework.

Resist the urge to rush on to the next thing. If you are in your car, turn off the radio and the engine and take a few deep breathes. Close your eyes. Be aware of your body. Is it tense? Can you listen for a moment and feel the beating of your heart. Can you wait long enough for it to slow down? Feel the temperature around you and the air against your skin. Take a moment to be grateful for something in your life- if only for this one moment of quiet. Put all unnecessary thoughts "in your briefcase" so to speak before getting out of the car or moving on. Feel the ground under your feet as you walk with awareness toward your destination feeling whole instead of scattered, empowered instead of frantic.

2. Visualization

Reset that frazzled brain and body circuitry, like re-booting your computer by creating your own movie. Imagine yourself in a place that you feel peaceful, happy and supported. This can be a real location that you have visited or one that you imagine. Scan the screen that you create in your mind. Hear the sounds of the place, the details of the landscape or room, the way your body feels. Try to stay in this place as long as you can mentally. If you find your mind drifting off to thoughts of problem issues, just go back to your getaway place. Relax into how it feels to be alive and aware in a place that you've created that has everything you need to support you.

3. Shifting in Neutral: Standing Meditation

Don't be fooled by the implied passivity of the title, for the practice allows our whole selves to stand at ready. This is how you do it: Stand in a comfortable quiet place with your feet shoulder width apart. Try to experience all the parts of your feet on the floor: the outside, the ball of the foot, heels and the toes. This is your platform, your place of grounding. Then focus on your ankles, allowing them to remain loose and soft and connected to your feet as your attention moves upward. Relax your knees, flexing them slightly. Tilt your pelvis forward with your tailbone tucked underneath. This creates space between the lumbar vertebrae. You've now formed the platform for the rest of your body and your spine. Then focus on the idea of stacking each vertebra, one by one on top of the other. Move your attention to your arms, bending them slightly out from your body like a pair of parentheses. Lower your shoulders.

Next, imagine that there is a string attached to the very top of your head and that string is stretched upward. This makes space between the vertebrae of your neck and your back. Now you are completely integrated between the grounding of your feet and the attachment to the air above through your head. Now you simply continue to scan your body and notice any places that have tightened up again or have gotten out of balance. Pay attention to your feet, your knees, your pelvis -softening all the muscles around each of these bone structures and allowing yourself to be as relaxed as possible. Breathe. Relax your shoulders again. Try this for five minutes and extend the time if you can. Feel the energy within circulating freely in your body. Bring yourself to one more level of relaxation, letting go and then open your eyes.

If you would like some more information about the benefits of meditations in the workplace check out this article by John Edmonds or go to his website www.meditate-in-minutes.co.uk which is chock full of artfully produced short meditations.

Kay Goldstein, MA teaches meditation and writes poetry, fiction and articles addressing the challenges and joys of daily living and spiritual practice. www.kaygoldstein.com, http://members.authorsguild.net/kaygoldstein/ , [e-mail]

Comments

[Jonahson]

Mr. Kay Goldstein, I have just posted a short description on meditation under blog Meditation : A New Pyschotherapy. It might interest you.

[wm1066]

Go to a track so you don't have to worry about traffic and do "Walking" yoga.
Your mind slows its thinking down because it is focused on walking and you have time for deep mental meditation.

[Kay Goldstein - Huffpost Blogger]

Good idea for a future blog. Thank you. KG

[Jonahson]

It is a very good start, maybe when you have more time you can go into a deeper aspect of it like facing your own past and present inputs. In the earlier part you need to suppress those thoughts to find a small place in you to develop some sort of equillibrium, eventually you need to face your pass fears, worry and regrets lodge deep in your mind. It is call insight. You face your own ego.
Without find the root of your unhappiness how do you know what to let go? Then when you wake up from that state, you practice mindfulness not to create those unwhole actions and thoughts input again.

[Kay Goldstein - Huffpost Blogger]

Yes- it is just a "start'. Meditation is a lot more than stress reduction techniques. Each person starts where they are and takes and gives to the practice what they choose. I look forward to addressing some of the many other processes that are intrinsic to meditation practice. Thank you.

[lungfish]

A short, deep three count inhale and a long slow 12 count exhale (you can slow the exhale by putting your tongue against the roof of your mouth and hissing it out) can stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system and slow your heart beat. Do a few cycles and it will calm you down. It can be useful in stressful situations like traffic or after a difficult moment.... all good meditations focus on the breath. If you use this pattern in combination with some stretching or simply sitting, it can be very helpful to take the edge off and still you down... heck, you can do it right here while reading or typing...

[Kay Goldstein - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks for the reminder about breath - that focus will enhance each of the suggestions made in the article.

[forpeace]

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Like Mini Pizza?!

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[barriosbabe]

Good article! I do this stuff all the time and find it very helpful. I HIGHLY recommend the second half of robert a johnson's book inner work. I also borrow phrases from other disciplines: "my stomach is soft and warm, my forehead is dry and cool" (autogenics); "the world is a safe place" (bion). etc.

[Kay Goldstein - Huffpost Blogger]

Dear forpeace,

Actually, more like Mini Cooper...a nifty little vehicle good for the short run and perhaps better than being stuck in a rut.

The piece was prompted by a friend who felt that she wasn't ready to make the commitment to a "serious " practice of meditation, but was pretty stressed. Like many people who have health issues but feel overwhelmed by major lifestyle changes, small manageable steps can build into a beneficial shift.

There is a risk of that in simplifying a few techniques that a powerful spiritual practice becomes "meditation lite", nothing more than a convenient accessory. You comment allowed me to clarify my intention. Thank you. KG

[forpeace]

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Kay Goldstein
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Thank you for the information.

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