3 Mindful Minutes: The 3-minute breathing space

0:01 Hey, it's Cass. While I take a little planning break to prepare for the next season of Crappy to Happy, I want to share with you something I created back in twenty twenty called three Mindful Minutes. These shortcasts were incredibly popular and got many people through some tough times, so I hope you enjoy this brief episode. Hi there, I'm cast done. Clinical Psychologists, mindfulness meditation teacher, host of the Crappy to Happy podcast, and author of the Crappy to Happy books. Welcome to today's three Mindful Minutes. Today, I want us to literally be mindful for three minutes.

0:46 This is a brief mindfulness practice that can help you to come back to the present moment and regain your emotional footing and a sense of calm and spaciousness, particularly if you're feeling a little rattled, stressed, or agitated. The three minute breathing space exercise is useful because you can do it anywhere, anytime you have a few quiet moments. So first find somewhere comfortable where you can be undisturbed for a few minutes. If it's comfortable, you might choose to direct your attention inward by closing your eyes and For the first minute, we simply bring awareness to what's happening right now. So start by bringing awareness to your breath as it moves in and out of your body, and ask yourself, how am I doing right now? What thoughts are present right now? Where is my mind? Where is my attention? See if you can notice thoughts as passing mental events, not getting too hooked up in thinking, just noticing the story that you're telling yourself right now, and then asking how am I feeling? What's my emotional state right now? Am I relaxed, happy, maybe a bit wound up, my nervous about something worrying. Just checking in

2:19 what am I feeling? And then how's my body? Do a quick scan is there any discomfort, any tightness, tension, Check your jaw, shoulders, forehead again, no judgment, just to quick check in where is my body at right now? And then in step two, we gather and focus our attention by redirecting it to the narrow spotlight of the breath. So bringing your attention, bringing your awareness in to focus on the physical sensation of the breath as it moves in and out of your body. Notice your belly rising with the in breath and falling with the outbreath, spending just one minute following the breath all the way in and all the way out, using the breath as an anchor here in the present moment. And if your mind wanders back to the stories or wanders back to the feelings, gently bring it back to just focus on the breath, just for a minute. And then in the third minute, we expand our awareness around the breath so that it includes a sense of the body as a whole, expanding

3:53 your awareness so that you become more aware of your posture, your facial expression, your whole body. If you become aware of sensations of discomfort or tension, feel free to focus your attention in on that intensity by imagining the breath moving in and softening and relaxing those tight parts of your body. Explore the sensations, be gentle with them rather than trying to fix or change anything. And then from this place of expanded awareness, having checked in with yourself and having centered yourself with the breath, you can now choose to open your eyes and move on with whatever is next in your day from a place that is more calm, more mindful, more present, more aware. Thanks for listening to Today's three Mindful minutes to hear more of the just search crappy to happy three mindful minutes wherever you listen to podcasts, of course. To find out more about me, cast Done, head to my website castdone dot com