Lately, I’ve been practicing three-breath meditation.
It is as simple as it sounds to learn.
- Close your eyes.
- Center yourself.
- Take a slow measured breath and fill your lungs.
- Actively think about nothing.
- Release the air gently through your mouth.
- Repeat two more times.
You can do it anywhere as long as you can safely close your eyes for twenty seconds. I’ll do it at stop lights on the commute home. Or at my desk when I’m feeling overwhelmed.
It is as hard as it seems to practice.
Step 4 is the killer.
I’m not a good practitioner of meditation. My brain is like a cluttered basement filled with old and new things in stacks organized by happenstance. My thoughts are a puppy wandering around the basement, easily distracted–even delighted–by every different thing.
Three-breath meditation calms me down, if only for a moment.