On this day after the big American presidential election many of us feel unsettled. It strikes me as an example of a bigger challenge we are always facing: everything is actually uncertain. It's just we often manifest a false sense of certainty. And there are ways that we can be pretty certain about things, but never completely certain. Uncertainty is always here. 

I recorded this meditation during the Wednesday Midday Mindfulness Meditation to explore sitting with uncertainty. I hope you find it helpful.

-Tim Burnett, Mindfulness Northwest Executive Director

In this meditation you'll explore anchoring on the sensations of contact between the body and what you're sitting on; on the sounds in the environmental; and then explore (in a fresh way) the old standby of the breath.

The anchoring meditation is inspired by the work of David Treleven, author of Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness.  

David's work has demonstrated that we need a wider array of options for grounding and centering ourselves in mindful awareness.

Back story: often we focus on the breath which isn't the best choice for everyone, or might not be the best choice at a given time. Mindfulness requires discernment and flexibility along with the willingness to deeply explore and persist as we go along. 

An 8-minute practice to check in mindfully led by Executive Director Tim Burnett.

Join Senior Teacher Karen Schwisow in a meditation on driving.

The three minute breathing space is a brief practice and can be used when we find our thoughts or mood spiralling in a negative direction. The first thing we do with this practice because we want to come into the present moment quickly is to take a very definite posture, then begin to check in with sensations in the body and mind and gather your attention. The Breathing Space practice is a wonderful exploration of the process of how we're attending to the present moment.

Step 1: Becoming aware

Deliberately adopt an erect and dignified posture, whether sitting or standing. If possible, close your eyes. Then, bring your awareness to your inner experience and acknowledge it, asking: what is my experience right now?

• What thoughts are going through the mind? As best you can, acknowledge thoughts as mental events.
• What feelings are here? Turn towards any sense of discomfort or unpleasant feelings, acknowledging them without trying to make them different from how you find them.
• What body sensations are here right now? Perhaps quickly scan the body to pick up any sensations of tightness or bracing, acknowledging the sensations, but, once again, not trying to change them in any way.

Step 2: gathering and focusing attention

Now, redirecting the attention to a narrow ‘spotlight’ on the physical sensations of the breath, move in close to the physical sensations of the breath in the abdomen . . . expanding as the breath comes in . . . and falling back as the breath goes out. Follow the breath all the way in and all the way out. Use each breath as an opportunity to anchor yourself into the present. And if the mind wanders, gently escort the attention back to the breath.

Step 3: expanding attention

Now, expand the field of awareness around the breathing so that it includes a sense of the body as a whole, your posture and facial expression, as if the whole body was breathing. If you become aware of any sensations of discomfort, tension, feel free to bring your focus of attention right in to the intensity by imagining that the breath could move into and around the sensations.  In this, you are helping to explore the sensations, befriending them, rather than trying to change them in any way. If they stop pulling for your attention, return to sitting, aware of the whole body, moment by moment.

Feeling alarmed? Getting reactive? Try STOPing. This brief practice may help your drop below the story line into your lived experience and increase your chances of feeling the space between stimulus and response. At the least it may prevent you from doing of staying something you'll regret!

A wonderfully simple but very effective way to create that mindful pause. 

Before entering a room simply:

pause, feel your two feet on the floor, and take one mindful breath. 

Then continue into the room.

This is especially relevant before entering a room in which you will be called upon to be fully present and awake to what's going on. This practice was designed to support doctors in their interactions with patients. The doctors were encouraged to do the Two Feet and a Breath practice before entered exam rooms. Preliminary evidence suggests this can lead to a great improvement in the patient-doctor conversation.

Read a New York Times op-ed describing this work with doctors here.

Download a PDF describing this practice and also serving as an attractive reminder to do it.

Mindfulness training generally reduces rumination and worry by helping us see our thoughts and emotions with a little more space, and by providing us with tools such as breath and body awareness to work with our attention.

And yet we also do carry difficult internal issues. We do face serious life challenges. While resting more in the present moment helps, we also need tools to face our challenges.

It’s helpful to include practices that embrace the difficulty of life and turn towards the challenges we face (and too often worry, fret, and ruminate over).

The practice of RAIN one of these practices. The acronym R.A.I.N. can remind us of a wise way to meet difficult situations with mindfulness and kindness towards ourselves and others.

R   Recognize what is happening. See it more deeply. Feel it for what it is. What is the challenge your facing? Recognize.

A   Allow and Accept. What is, is. We can shed some of our resistance and aversion and allow and accept the challenge to be a part of our lives? Allow and Accept.

I     Investigate your inner experience. Deeping more deeply still. What are the feelings behind the feelings? How does this challenge manifest in the body? Drop into the spaciousness of mindfulness practice and Investigate.

N   Non-identification. Don’t let this difficulty define you. All humans have challenges. All humans make mistakes. Bad things happen. Consider that this challenge might not be your fault, while it is still your responsibility to find a way to meet it wisely. It’s just a challenge, it isn’t the all of you. And consider that, just like you, many other people face a similar challenge to yours. Everything is workable. Non-identification.

RAIN directly de-conditions the habitual ways in which we resist our moment-to-moment experience and turn away from our challenges. It doesn’t matter whether you resist “what is” by lashing out in anger, by having a drink, or by getting immersed in obsessive thinking. Our attempts to control the life within and around us actually cuts us off from ours hearts and from this living world.

RAIN begins to undo these unconscious patterns as soon as we take the first step.

by Tim Burnett

• Question subjective experience in meditation
  Recognize that the mind desires pleasant experience and don't assume that difficult or unpleasant conditions during meditation mean it “isn't working.” Meet what is with equanimity and evaluate in the broader scale of your overall life experience. Be curious about whether you can really know about your “progress” on the path. This is not to say we can't make choices that lead to pleasant experience during meditation – we are more likely to continue if we enjoy positive experiences in meditation – but remember that it really doesn't tell us if our meditation is helping us.
• Our resistance to practice is telling us something - listen but don't listen too much
  Be curious about that voice that's telling you you don't have time, aren't good enough, etc. Is there a part of you that would rather wallow in familiar patterns of suffering than see change? Meet that confused child with kindness and wonder what he or she needs to let go. Be firm but nurturing in your aspiration to practice. And at times, “Shut up! I'm sitting down to practice” may indeed be skillful.
• Make practice routine – it's special and it isn't
  Having a regular routine helps us with other good habits. Flossing before bed, for example. Apply the power of habit and consistency to meditation practice. Creating a regular time is helpful. But then notice if we become dependent on that regular time. Can we circle back later if we oversleep or miss our regular practice window - at least practice a little that day?
• Daily is easier
  This is counterintuitive, but practicing every day (or perhaps every day but a clearly established day off) is easier than every other day or a few times a week as it helps to shift us out of the evaluative frame of deciding if this is the right day.
• Have a fall-back plan, and a fall-back-fall-back plan
  Doing something near-daily that's just about mindfulness, awareness and unconditional self-care is very powerful. Rather than skipping a day because you're running late, do less. Even a lot less. Consider ritual action (lighting a candle, offering incense, daily recitation, bowing, etc.) as a part of your daily practice routine as ritual comes to deeply symbolize your intention when done consistently over time. A daily routine of a ritual action, a few yoga stretches, and 30 minutes of sitting takes about 40-45 minutes. On a tight morning, just doing the ritual action and one slow stretch with a spirit of kindness and forgiveness can keep you very much on track. Or just the ritual action. Or simply going to your practice spot and taking three mindful slow breaths. Drop down to something that takes so little time it's almost impossible to talk yourself out of it!
• A nice space helps, but can be very modest
  A pleasant, clean quiet place to practice is supportive. But just like our regular routine or our desire for a positive subjective experience during meditation, be careful not to give this too much priority. We can practice anywhere and anytime. Don't feel like it's a barrier that you don't have an entire room or you aren't able to maintain nice flowers on an altar. Also, remember that caring for your space is caring for yourself, so give it some energy if you can.

• Seek Support!
  Recognize our deep patterning about “I should be able to do this myself.” We are deeply individualized and oriented around self-power. We need the help of others to keep up our practice. Seek support. Possibilities include: joining a weekly sitting group, scheduling annual retreats (one or two weekend retreats/year is a great goal), taking classes, telling your partner or close friends of your current practice plan and inviting their support in keeping to it, establishing a relationship with a meditation teacher, reading inspirational texts.
• Celebrate growth
  Notice if patterns of reactivity change. Notice if you are sensing and appreciating more that passes into the senses. Celebrate when friends and loved ones notice that you're changing for the better. Smile more. Breathe. Recognize that the patterning of life is incredibly complex and we don't know what changes us but that doing the practice helps. When we see the fruits of practice, have a (quiet) party to celebrate. A small change is big.
• Formal and informal practice support each other
  Find ways that work for you (most critically: that you can remember) to touch into the feeling of practice in body, breath, emotion and mind regularly during the day. The formal practice done regularly allows you to explore this territory, touching into it regularly in informal practice – it just takes a few minutes – can powerfully shift patterns, especially patterns around chronic stress or “revving up” through the day. This motivational one-two is powerful: being able to taste the feeling of practice during the day, even a little, supports the aspiration to do formal practice.
• Cultivate your sense of humor
  The mind's incredible ability to understand and mis-understand our experience is a serious business for sure. And yet it's also pretty funny. How easily we get mixed up, how quickly we fall into dumb patterns that cause us stress and grief. Feel when the “second dart” goes in and allow yourself a foolish grin. We won't be able to bull our way out of this. It's going to take humor and patience as well as taking mind-care a lot more seriously.
• Use different practices but don't jump around too much
  When you sit down to practice (or lie down, or stand up), consider what would be helpful. Learn a “tool box” of practices – and learning a practice means you have to do it many times, ideally with some teacher feedback. Pick something helpful from your toolbox and respond to your current state. But it's also helpful at times to stick to one consistent practice through thick and thin. This is an area of discernment where teacher feedback is helpful.
• Remember the body
  Mindfulness isn't just in the head. Include the body and care for the body as part of the practice.
• Notice other choices that support - or undermine - daily practice
  Back up from the point of sitting down to practice and see what seems to support or hinder. Do you go to bed on time? What is your relationship with alcohol/drugs? Are you taking on more than is reasonable at work or in family or friend obligations? Where is there tension and holding during your daily routine? Are you exercising? Eating well? The decision point for early morning practice, for example, is not in the early morning - it's in the choices we make the day before that set us up for following through or making it harder.

by Richard Johnson

Types of Practice

As you contemplate putting together your own ongoing mindfulness practice, you might consider these three building blocks: (1) formal practice on your own, (2) group formal practice, and (3) informal practice.

Group Practice: You can experience group meditation in our mindfulness classes and there are meditation groups meeting regularly in the Northwest - see our Community page for some suggestions. You may find that your formal and informal practice are aided by joining one of these groups. You might also be able to join together with friends and form a simple practice group of your own also.

Levels of Practice

Check out this list of levels of practice to see what’s best for you:

Platinum: daily formal practice 20 or more minutes, and informal practice, and weekly group practice.

Gold: daily formal practice of 5-15 minutes, and informal practice.

Silver: daily formal practice for a few minutes, and some informal practice.

A real step forward: informal practice as often as possible.

Putting together your own practice

We who teach mindfulness value formal and informal practice. We see how the one supports the other. But we know that many of us don’t feel we have the time for formal practice. It is true that the combination of a demanding work schedule and family life can leave very little time to devote to yourself. But you may have a habitual way of thinking is preventing you from practicing, a mindset that “there’s no time for me.” We invite you to explore this mindfully. Even a few minutes of formal practice daily can be very helpful. You might especially look at transitions between major activities (work and home, say) and whether your downtime activities are truly nourishing.

The beauty of informal practice is that it takes no extra time. Only remembering to pay attention to whatever’s happening in and around you. Many former participants in our courses report that informal practice, even without formal practice, gives them a helpful opportunity to pause and come back to the present moment again and again. Informal practice alone is A Real Step Forward. 

For some suggestions on keeping up the formal practice at home see the essay “Maintaining a Daily Practice” on the website.

Wishing you well as you come up with what works for you, and reminding you that we change over time. Just be open, and who knows what the future will offer you?