{"id":1388,"date":"2011-06-11T08:20:40","date_gmt":"2011-06-11T12:20:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/?p=1388"},"modified":"2011-06-11T08:21:12","modified_gmt":"2011-06-11T12:21:12","slug":"meditation-made-simple-seven-considerations-to-get-you-going-part-three-you-do-have-the-time-if-you-are-breathing-you-can-be-meditating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/06\/meditation-made-simple-seven-considerations-to-get-you-going-part-three-you-do-have-the-time-if-you-are-breathing-you-can-be-meditating.html","title":{"rendered":"Meditation Made Simple: Seven Considerations to Get You Going :: Part Three: You Do Have The Time: If You Are Breathing You Can Be Meditating"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Meditation can happen in any moment of your day. It can happen while you are taking your shower, walking to work, and eating your lunch. There are many opportunities to meditate including doing a formal practice where you are doing nothing other than meditation.<\/p>\n

Something that is always<\/em> happening now is that you are breathing. If you are not breathing then meditation is the least of your concerns. Our lives are overburdened by commitments and stressed from information overload and the demands of living in the Information Age. \u201cI don\u2019t have the time to meditate\u201d is a familiar refrain.<\/p>\n

Well, you do have the time; if you are breathing you have the opportunity to meditate. In any moment, you can bring your attention to what it feels like to breathe right now, even if this is just for one cycle of the breath \u2013 in and out. Do this for a few seconds, or even a few minutes. Your day could be punctuated with moments where the simple, natural, and physical process of your breathing becomes the focus of your attention. Of course if you can devote some dedicated time to it, even better. There is no magic number when it comes to the time to spend meditating. Even a few minutes are better than none at all. Twenty minutes is a popular target, and if you are ambitious, forty-five; as few as eight minutes may be enough to change your life (even three minutes can make a difference).<\/p>\n

Paying attention to breathing has certain advantages. You could, of course, pay attention to anything, but if you choose your breathing, three benefits follow. First, the breath is ubiquitous and portable. You don\u2019t need any props or special conditions (other than being alive). And you can\u2019t forget to bring it with you. You don\u2019t need a special mantra or object to carry with you. \u00a0Second, breathing brings us into our bodies and our bodies live in the now. Our bodies don\u2019t generate stories about the future and past. There is a vast wisdom in our bodies and our breathing helps us to get acquainted with it. Finally, every breath we take is colored by our emotional state of the moment. So, if you are paying attention to your breath throughout your day, you\u2019ll have your finger on your emotional pulse, so to speak, and be at the ready to step in if things are moving in a direction you don\u2019t want things to move. So, if you are breathing, you can be meditating!<\/p>\n

In fact, anything thing you do throughout your day can be an opportunity for meditation. Getting into the shower, brushing your teeth, driving to work, walking from your car to work \u2026 whatever you are doing in your day is source material for meditation.<\/p>\n

Meditation can be piggybacked onto to whatever you are doing right now. Of course, it might not be a bad idea to devote some time to meditation in the same way that most Americans devote some time to American Idol and about twenty more hours of television programming each week.<\/p>\n

A study from Harvard revealed that we are often not giving our full attention to the activity at hand (hey, no big surprise really). Some activities, like sex, got about 70% of our attention; other activities like personal grooming got about 30%. Where was attention? Anticipating the future, reviewing the past, passing judgment on the present. The more time study participants spent away from the present moment the worse their mood. In fact, starting your day off in this way anticipating the future while taking your shower and getting dressed on automatic pilot might cast a negative shadow over your day.<\/p>\n

So why not give your full attention to these activities. If you do, you\u2019ll be starting your day with meditation instead of rumination and you\u2019ll feel better as a result. Besides, you\u2019ll be getting your brain into shape too and you don\u2019t have to spend any extra time to do so (OK, perhaps a little time because you won\u2019t be rushing around like a decapitated chicken).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meditation can happen in any moment of your day. It can happen while you are taking your shower, walking to work, and eating your lunch. There are many opportunities to meditate including doing a formal practice where you are doing nothing other than meditation. Something that is always happening now is that you are breathing.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,8,9,1],"tags":[177,173,174,122,21,178,175,176],"class_list":["post-1388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddha-101","category-mindful-living","category-mindfulnesss","category-the-laboratory","tag-american-idol","tag-breathing","tag-harvard","tag-meditation","tag-mindfulness","tag-personal-hygiene","tag-research","tag-television"],"yoast_head":"\nMeditation Made Simple: Seven Considerations to Get You Going :: Part Three: You Do Have The Time: If You Are Breathing You Can Be Meditating - Mindfulness Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/06\/meditation-made-simple-seven-considerations-to-get-you-going-part-three-you-do-have-the-time-if-you-are-breathing-you-can-be-meditating.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meditation Made Simple: Seven Considerations to Get You Going :: Part Three: You Do Have The Time: If You Are Breathing You Can Be Meditating - Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Meditation can happen in any moment of your day. 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Something that is always happening now is that you are breathing.…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/06\/meditation-made-simple-seven-considerations-to-get-you-going-part-three-you-do-have-the-time-if-you-are-breathing-you-can-be-meditating.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-06-11T12:20:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-06-11T12:21:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/files\/2011\/06\/BS15077-219x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dr. Arnie Kozak\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Meditation Made Simple: Seven Considerations to Get You Going :: Part Three: You Do Have The Time: If You Are Breathing You Can Be Meditating - Mindfulness Matters","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2011\/06\/meditation-made-simple-seven-considerations-to-get-you-going-part-three-you-do-have-the-time-if-you-are-breathing-you-can-be-meditating.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Meditation Made Simple: Seven Considerations to Get You Going :: Part Three: You Do Have The Time: If You Are Breathing You Can Be Meditating - Mindfulness Matters","og_description":"Meditation can happen in any moment of your day. 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Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1388"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1388\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1392,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1388\/revisions\/1392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}