Practice: ‘STOP’
by meditative - June 11th, 2016.Filed under: Attending Meditation Exercises, Mindfulness for Parents & Children.
This simple informal practice can be done anytime throughout your day. With just 60-seconds of self-care, you can START to create more ease and less stress in your day. The acronym “STOP” refers to the following reminders…
“S”- Step Back
“T”- Take a Breath
“O”- Observe What Is
“P”- Proceed with Response
We must first step back and take pause from what we are doing…
A truly effective way to quickly bring our awareness into the present moment is through the breath. Here & now, we can simply connect with ourselves by taking a conscious breath- and focusing attention on our “breath space” either in the belly or at the tip of the nostrils.
Bringing awareness to the breath as it moves “in” and “out” of the belly allows us to anchor our attention as we quietly and gently observe whatever thoughts, feelings, impulses, or bodily sensations may be present.
After a minute or so of just ‘being’ with this practice of open & objective self-observation, we then proceed with some kind of response (action or non-action) that we “intuit” or think most appropriate for what is directly here & now.