One of the sayings on my computer’s screen saver is from Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese Buddhist monk who has contributed so much to Western understanding of mindfulness practice: “Breathing in, I arrive; breathing out, I am home.” I have found myself drawing on this statement during meditation lately, and have noticed how powerfully it settles me during the day when I only have a moment to recenter. What I’ve noticed is that I have paired this meditation and breathing exercise with a practice I’ve used for many years, which is to follow the out-breath down into my body, to the “bottom of the breath”. Recently, I’ve added another piece, taught to me by the person with whom I do Hellerwork body work. She has taught me to remember that there is a bowl in my belly and that I can settle and center myself in that bowl, as if it were a bowl of water and I were keeping it balanced.

The other day, I presented a workshop and someone pointed out that I was talking too quickly. Immediately, I dropped into the bowl in my belly, as I described to the audience what I was doing. (Since this was a workshop on “the self of the therapist,” and since self-of-the-therapist issues have everything to do with therapist awareness and capacity to self-regulate, this momentary shift in the focus of what I was doing was right in line with what we were exploring.) As I shifting my attention to my belly, I reconnected with how much I use this particular strategy with myself and with clients, and I wanted to share it with you.

And so, for this week’s experiment, I invite you to explore what it’s like for you to do a couple of things. First, as you begin the day, during whatever time you take to connect with yourself and get settled into your body before engaging the world, let yourself notice what happens if you take a few moments to meditate on “Breathing in, I arrive; breathing out, I am home.” Then, as you do that, explore your experience if you travel with the out-breath down to the bottom, wherever in your body that may be for you. Notice whatever sensations may arise as you settle into your body. If you’re someone who gets anxious when you focus on your breathing, notice that and, if possible, make lots of room for the anxiety to arise, move through, and move on, even if it comes back again. If you can, play with alternating between awareness of whatever anxiety may arise and another place in your body where you feel the *opposite* of anxious. By going back and forth between these two areas of sensation, you may discover that the anxiety spontaneously lessens.

The third thing to play with is to notice what it’s like for you to imagine you have a bowl in your belly into which you can settle yourself. Pay particular attention to whatever sensations you discover in your body as you settle into the bowl, and also notice your state of mind and internal experience. And, most of all, allow yourself to be creative, and to change this experiment in whatever ways work best for you.