 |
Just One Thing |
|
|
Simple Practices for Resilience and Happiness from
|
DR. RICK HANSON
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Are you breathing? |
THE PRACTICE: |
One Breath at a Time. |
|
|
— Why? — |
[If for you the breath is associated with trauma and discomfort, you probably shouldn't try this practice in its form below. But you might adapt it to something that is more nurturing for you, such as a saying or image.]
Breathing brings you home. Body and mind twine together in the breath. As soon as you become aware of breathing, you're in your body. Speed up the breath and there's new energy. Slow it down and you calm down. Inhale and oxygen surges into your brain while the arousing sympathetic nervous system activates and accelerates the heartbeat. Exhale and activate the soothing peaceful parasympathetic nervous system, so the heart beats more slowly. In the breath you are home in this moment, this Now.
The breath feels like life inside. No wonder it's been traditionally linked to spiritual matters. To "inspire" is to inhale - to "in spirit," to uplift.
The breath is always available as an object of attention, whether formally in meditation or informally as a way to recenter yourself. Track the breath in yourself and know yourself more deeply. Track the breath in others and know them more deeply.
If all else fails and your mind is screaming in pain or blown open in chaos, there is still the breath. Sometimes all you can do is breathe and know that you are still breathing. One breath at a time. Just getting through this breath. And then the next one. And the next.
Plus, in the knowledge of breathing, there is awareness of awareness, not metaphysically or cosmically but as a refuge - if need be, of last resort. Try it: breathing here and now, recognize that awareness is a field or space in which contents come and go, such as the sensations of breathing. You can see directly that no matter what arises and passes away, awareness remains, undamaged and unstained, like the sky that is never harmed by the storm clouds passing through it. When times are terrible, try to be the observing, the awareness, to get some space from the pain and sustain a sense of being intact in your core. You can do this as well when times are good, which will help you both to stay in the sweet spot of enjoying
without tipping into the suffering of wanting, and to strengthen your grounding in awareness for when things fall apart.
|
— How? — |
So far, I've always described these "Just One Thing" practices with an active verb, such as "take in the good," "give thanks," or "find strength." I could have done the same here, with "take one breath at a time." But this one felt different. It's not just that we take a breath. Sometimes the breath takes itself. Sometimes it takes us. When the mind and body are really quiet, there's hardly any talking at all.
Whenever you like, find the breath and stay with it through one inhalation and exhalation. You could notice its sensations in your stomach, chest, or around the upper lip. Or the internal sensations inside the throat or in the diaphragm. Or sense the breath in the chest altogether.
Next, see if you can rest your attention in the breath for three full cycles of inhaling and exhaling. Then how about ten full cycles, from beginning to end? Distracting thoughts may nibble at your attention but disengage from them while sinking more and more deeply into the breath. And if you like, let go of counting and simply give over to the breath, breath after breath.
Somewhere in here, as you become more present in the breath, more absorbed in it, you could experience breathing as the whole body, the whole body breathing.
Try this at night, as you're falling asleep, resting as a body breathing. Or if you wake and can't easily return to sleep, soften the edges of your mind out into only breathing. Breathing blurs out into the quiet of the night.
Be breathing as you do things or have them. One breath at a time while dressing, eating, driving, talking, washing, cuddling, writing.
Or simply be breathing. Nothing else to do, no one to be. The simplest job in the world. One breath at a time.
What a relief!
|
|
Read this Online
|
|
|
Know someone who could focus more on their breath? |
Share this Just One Thing practice with them!
|
Share on Facebook | Tweet on X | Forward this Email
|
|
|
|
|
|
NEW ON THE BEING WELL PODCAST
|
Understanding and Overcoming Social Anxiety: Attachment, Exposure, and Confidence |
|
In this episode, Dr. Rick and Forrest explore the all-too-common challenge of social anxiety. They break down what it really means to be socially anxious (hint: it’s not just being shy), where those feelings come from, and why they stick around. Rick explains the roots of social anxiety, highlighting the role of attachment styles and individual temperament, before Forrest shares how to locate yourself on a spectrum from everyday nervousness to Social Anxiety Disorder.
|
|
Check out the Episode
|
|
|
|
|
|
RESOURCES FOR
|
Navigating Political Turmoil |
 |
Not too surprisingly, I've been receiving a lot of questions lately about how to deal with everything going on in the political landscape in the United States and around the world. With that in mind, I've put together this page of free resources to offer some guidance during these challenging times and hope you find it useful.
|
|
Check It Out
|
|
|
|
|
|
NEW FROM THE WEDNESDAY MEDITATIONS + TALKS
|
Feeling Already Enough in Your Relationships |
 |
Last week I offered a live meditation on Trusting the Heart, followed by a talk on Feeling Already Enough in Your Relationships, and I hope you'll check it out.
If you haven't yet, sign up to join me every week for this free, live offering.
|
|
Check It Out
|
|
|
|
|
|
MORE GOOD STUFF
|
|
|
SCIENCE NEWS (VIEW ARCHIVE HERE)
Researchers have discovered hidden "playgrounds" in the Republic of Congo rainforest where elephants, gorillas, and other animals congregate, highlighting the importance of these areas for conservation efforts, as well as teaching us more about their social lives.
|
|
|
FOR PARENTS
A child’s – or grownup’s – wants usually follow a particular path through time that I call an ‘arc of desire.’ Figuring out what a child wants requires understanding that whole arc.
|
|
|
STARTING THIS WEEK: THE COURAGE TO CONNECT
Join Dr. Daniel Ellenberg and Dr. Rick Hanson for a powerful online course that will help you be more open and confident, so you can connect with others, express yourself more fully, and have deeper, more fulfilling relationships.
|
|
|
|
|
|
HAVE YOU READ IT YET?
|
Neurodharma |
|
New Science, Ancient WIsdom, and Seven Practices of the Highest Happiness. Available in Hardcover, Paperback eBook, and Audiobook, wherever books are sold.
|
|
Get Your Copy
|
|
|
|
|
|
WORDS OF WISDOM
|
"Be aware of breathing and let everything else go. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, no one to be. Just sitting, abiding as a body breathing." |
— RICK HANSON, PHD
|
|
|
|
JUST ONE THING (JOT) is the free newsletter that suggests a simple practice each week for more joy, more fulfilling relationships, and more peace of mind. A small thing repeated routinely adds up over time to produce big results.
Just one thing that could change your life.
(© Rick Hanson, 2024)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
