Don’t have 20 minutes to meditate? Been there. Don’t have your favorite meditation cushion handy? Been there. Don’t have … been there.
But for all of the reasons to not, there is always at least one good reason to do.
So within the 1440 minutes in a day, I can always find one of those precious minutes to do my favorite one-minute meditation. The method is simple: we can release the mental chatter by feeling what’s going on, right now, in the body.
Have a minute? Try it out! You can even do this standing, with your eyes open, on a public bus.
THE ONE MINUTE MEDITATION
Take a deep breath.
Breathing in through the nose,
Breathing out through the mouth.
Breathing in feeling the lungs expanding,
Breathing out feeling a sense of letting go.
Breathing in to feel the body getting fuller,
Breathing out to feel the release of any tension.
Breathing in feeling alive and awake,
Breathing out feeling muscles relaxing.
Breathing in that sense of fullness,
Breathing out that unnecessary tension in the body and mind.
As you put this bite-size one-minute mindfulness into practice amidst your busy life, try starting to decrease (yes decrease) the time. From one minute to 30 seconds, to 15 seconds, all the way down to a single breath. What you will find is within a single breath, and a whole lot of intention, you can bring yourself back to your center anytime, anywhere.
Meditation nourishes the mind like food nourishes the body.
Here’s a video of a health scare that showed me the importance of staying mindful, present and aware of my breathing.
If you are looking to add a little more Mindfulness into your life or just want to understand the benefits of meditation to cope with anxiety, fear, depression and a myriad of other ailments, consider taking our 30 Days of Mindfulness Challenge. It has changed the lives of thousands already. It has completely changed mine. We know it will change yours.
But in a pinch… nothing works like this:
I’m new to mindfully meditating – Taking time for me and time to (re)discover me. This was so helpful. Thank you!
This is great! I printed it and put it in my office desk… that’s where I need it the most. Thank you!!
I personally struggle a lot with anxiety and I know it is NOT good for my heart. I’m sorry if this will affend you but at first I thought meditation was some weird practice where you do spiritually wrong things. I didn’t know better. Now I realize that I might need this but the problem is I don’t know how it works or where to start
Hello,
I have the One -Minute Meditation as my screen saver on my phone and it reminds me to practice. Thank you Matt for doing so much more than you know ??
I will look forward to mindful meditation. I am worth a minute of my day, just for me. As I did my meditation, I could feel my lungs expand. I could feel the tension release from my mind and body. I am alive.
Thank you, I’m definitely going to try it. Got a very stressful job this will help me alot
That part where you said that we have to decrease the time of meditation gradually is very true and new for me. We don’t need to sit for hours trying to meditate only to find out that we are feeling boring and sleepy, we just need a minute to get back on track.
Thank you for all your efforts Matt.
Awesome I love this thank you 🙂 x
Im new to meditation as well. usually I don’t do well trying to meditate for long so this is awesome!
This was so helpful! Thanks