Everyday Practices
Mindful in Three Minutes
For Small Moments That Change the Day
US$4 5 practices · 6 tracks · listen or download
Get the pack · US$4Most days don’t have room for a twenty-minute practice. But there’s nearly always room for three minutes. Waiting for the kettle, or sitting in the car before we go inside.
These small moments add up. Each time we stop and notice what’s here, we step back from the busy mind for a little while and come back to ourselves. The mind will carry on with its chatter, and that’s fine. Coming back is the practice.
Each one here is short and simple. You might listen to the sound of three bells, or turn on what I call your noticing switch. A few of them finish with some words to say to yourself, like ‘Here is my anchor, and here I am.’
There are five short practices here, from just under three minutes to around four and a half. And So It Is also comes in a micro version, Seventy-Seven Seconds, for when a minute is all you have.
What’s inside
Here Is My Anchor
3 min
For a short reset, with your eyes closed if you like. You start by asking yourself, ‘What am I noticing right here and now?’ and opening up to everything around you. Then you zoom in on the movement of your breathing, wherever you notice it, and the small details, like the way your clothes move against your skin. Everything else carries on around you. It ends with a simple line: ‘Here is my anchor, and here I am.’
Inner and Outer World
3 min
For a moment of noticing. With your eyes closed if you like, you become aware of what’s already here around you, and watch how your attention hops from place to place. Then you notice that there’s a you here, watching where your attention goes. For the last moments, you let everything in, the world outside and the world inside, just as it is. It’s one to come back to when you need ‘a little micro moment.’
And So It Is
2 versions
Full version · 4 minMicro version · 1 min
For finding your anchor. With your eyes closed, you notice the patterns, shapes and colours you can see behind your eyelids. Then whatever your breathing is doing. Then you try both at once, as an experiment, and choose whichever gives you the least distraction. It ends with a few words to say to yourself: ‘I am here for me in this moment… and so it is.’ The micro version, Seventy-Seven Seconds, takes you through the same three steps in just over a minute, without the choosing or the closing words.
The Noticing Switch
3 min
For coming out of your head in under three minutes. After a moment to settle, and to let whatever’s been going on be there, you turn on your noticing switch. Click. With it on, you’re the one who notices, the observing self. When you get distracted, the switch goes off and you’re back in your mind again. So you turn it back on, as many times as you need: ‘Noticing switch on, click. I am noticing.’
Three Bells
3 min
For a short break that’s just for you. It opens with ‘Today is a special day, if I choose it so.’ Then you listen to the sound of three bells, and let the sound relax your body and mind. A few more words follow, spoken as your own: ‘I am breathing. I am alive.’ It ends with taking in everything at once, and the line ‘I am a miracle within this miracle.’