Mindful Awareness Break
Practice this brief meditation, and in no time at all you will reap the rewards of practicing presence. Use it to take a break from distressing thoughts, reset midway through your day, or to squeeze in a little extra practice time!
Make it informal: Once you are familiar with this practice, randomly check in with your senses for a minute or two a few times throughout your day without the recording. Learn more about informal practice in this video.
Press the play button to stream this audio recording. To download for keeps, click on the three dots to the right of the volume button to download.
Research shows that humans are "present" less than 50% of every day. Americans now check their phones 96 times a day - that is once every 10 minutes! Most of us do this without even realizing it.
This chronic distraction is not helping us escape from our problems - it is compounding them by stirring up an extra helping of anxiety and stress.
Taking mindful awareness breaks throughout the day can help you lead a more purposeful life with less stress and anxiety.
- Mindful presence empowers you to choose how you want to be with yourself in the moment.
- Mindful presence teaches you that you can exert control over where you place your attention.
- Mindful presence widens your field of awareness so you are not controlled by your brain’s negativity bias.
- Mindful presence turns your body's stress switch off so you can reduce anxiety and activate the relaxation response.
- Mindful presence enhances your sense of well-being and connection to yourself and others.