When to Use?

While practice can be done anywhere or for any length of time, when you first start, find three periods of three minutes in your day: so once in the morning, midday and during the evening. As you progress, you can begin to increase the length of your practice up to ten minutes or more per session, but only if you want to. Your practice can also be performed lying awake at night in bed.

Helpful Tips:

Keeping on track. To help you remember to practise, put a note to yourself and stick it somewhere where you will see it or set an alarm on your watch or phone. You can now also download smartphone apps that remind you and log your practice. No need to compare. Mindful breathing allows you to observe what is present at that moment in time, so comparison between sessions is not necessary and nor does it matter. If your mind starts to judge your sessions, such as 'I was so much better this morning' or 'I am doing really well today because I have no thoughts', then acknowledge these thoughts by thanking your mind for them and then return to your breath. Self-blame. On first attempts, it is easy to find your 'judging mind' telling you that you are 'doing it all wrong' or that you 'should be feeling more'. If this happens, it is likely that you are actually doing it right because all you are doing is noticing your breath. You are not trying to do special breathing that will enable you to become super relaxed or enter into deep sleep! Blank canvas. To begin with, you may notice yourself trying to create some form of blank canvas or empty mind because if you could just shut up your mind, then you would be able to sleep. While this may sound like a good idea, it is obviously just falling into the controlling trap again and often just promotes further thoughts. What you are aiming to do is the opposite, meaning that you want to open up your mind, allow a thought to come in, greet it and then gently let go of it and return to your breath. Letting go. The words 'letting go' can often be misinterpreted as getting rid of your thoughts. It means the same as 'letting be' which is when you choose to allow them to occupy the same space as you and yet you are no longer struggling with them or focused on them. This is why I say that you should 'let go' and then gently return your focus to your breath. Best intentions. Before starting each practice, take a few moments to notice any intentions that may be lurking in your mind, such as 'I am doing this to relax so that I will fall asleep' or 'I am doing this to get my life back on track.' If such intentions exist in your mind, gently acknowledge them and let them go by focusing on your breath. It is very easy for the judging mind to perceive mindfulness as a tool to help you get to sleep, but it is not. There is no agenda. Panic feelings. For some of you, even just the thought of focusing on your breath can make you feel breathless. Countless nights of doing deep breathing to get you to sleep or to rid yourself of anxious feelings has left the act of focusing on your breath anchored to feelings of alertness and anxiety! If this is the case for you, then for the time being I would suggest focusing your attention on some other area of your body, such as your heartbeat.