One of my favorite mini-breaks during the day is to take a moment to inhale and then to follow the out-breath down into my body, to the bottom of the breath.  Over the years, I have trained myself to shift gears and relax immediately when I experience the beginning of the out-breath.  The feeling of dropping down into myself, into the quiet of the bottom of the breath, is a great relief.  I don’t need to spend much time there – just enough to shift gears and feel the quiet for a moment or two.

Having ways to shift gears on a moment’s notice is a valuable gift in a busy life.  For some people, dropping down into their bodies the way I do into mine is extremely uncomfortable and becomes a source of stress rather than relaxation.  For others, finding a source of internal quiet – the still point between the out-breath and the next in-breath becomes a haven, as it does for me.

Over the years, I’ve taught people many different ways to find quiet moments in a busy day.  One of the ways I particularly like, along with the bottom of the breath, is to imagine that I’m leaning into an ever-present stillness that’s right “behind” every moment of awareness in my life – each thought, each feeling, each physical sensation, each movement.  With just a brief time of sensing into this awareness, I can shift from the foreground of busy-ness to the background of stillness and ease.

Another way to shift gears that some people like is to become aware of their feet on the floor.  Focusing on an awareness of the solid support of the floor, or the earth itself if you’re outside, can offer an immediate sense of grounding and arriving in the present moment.  Still other people have a favorite image they call to mind, or a memory of being someplace beautiful.  Then, in their imagination, they take some time to hang out in whatever image or place offers them a sense of relaxation or ease.  Some people prefer to imagine listening to music they love, giving themselves time to savor the way the music makes them feel.

The possibilities are endless.  It depends on a given person’s particular taste and preferences.  For this week’s experiment, I invite you to pay attention to the “breath” that works for you – to notice what kind of mini-break offers you a moment of respite in a busy day.  When you take the time to give yourself mini-breaks, you discover that your stress level is much less by the end of the day than it would be if you didn’t pay attention to shifting gears into some quiet time when you need to.

The interesting thing about these mini-breaks is that they really are “mini”.  Most of the time, I take no longer than a minute hanging out in the quiet at the bottom of my breath.  If I have the luxury of two minutes, I’ll take them, but most of the time I’m able to take a minute to shift gears.  By doing this a number of times a day, my stress level doesn’t keep building.  My body has a chance to take a breath and my psyche has a chance to breathe, as well.

As with all these experiments, I hope you’ll engage this one with curiosity.  The goal is to discover what gifts of ease you can give yourself throughout the day.  There’s never a right answer.  There’s only the discovery of what works for you in your moments of conscious living.