Mindful Breathing Practice (10-min)

Breathing, the most essential action to sustain life, can so easily go unnoticed in the fast pace of the day. The breath, aside from filtration and oxygenation, can be a gauge for our current emotional state and an aid for self-regulation when faced with difficult or challenging experiences. In addition, the breathing process provides a vivid present moment anchor for attention. By practicing holding the breath in awareness, we can develop the ability to observe sensory experience and observe when it is pulled away from this sensory experience. This enhances our ability to monitor attention on a daily basis, shifting from our default mode of a focus on self-narrative and opening to experience as it happens moment by moment. This allows us to clearly observe our perceptions, assumptions and interpretations of events, to access decision-making at work that is more responsive and less reactive. It can also help develop and sustain focus at work.

This is the core practice of mindfulness. It builds control of attention, and awareness of how easily attention can be distracted. The process of noticing when attention has shifted, so-called meta-awareness, is key to the idea of de-centering, that is, separating the observer from the thoughts being observed, an idea captured in the phrase “you are not your thoughts.” From there it’s a simple extension to recognize that thoughts are not facts, they are just thoughts.

Guided Audio Practices Facilitated by Michael Apollo MHSc RP

Michael Apollo MHSc RP, Founder of Mindful Society Global Institute. He is the former Director of Mindfulness Programs at the University of Toronto, a registered psychotherapist and is a certified teacher and teacher mentor in mindfulness-based programs (MBSR and MBCT) by the University of California San Diego.