Meditation · Focus
Beginning Again
Aya Fujimoto · 5 min
5:00
remaining
What to do, minute by minute
1. Settle in
0:00–1:00Sit or lie down somewhere you won't be disturbed. Let your shoulders drop, close your eyes or soften your gaze, and take three slow breaths.
2. Follow the breath
1:00–2:00Breathe in for a count of four, out for a count of six. Let the out-breath be longer than the in-breath — that's what calms the nervous system.
3. Scan and release
2:00–3:00Move your attention slowly from your jaw to your shoulders, hands, belly and legs. Wherever you find tension, breathe into it and let it go.
4. Rest in stillness
3:00–4:00Stop steering. Let thoughts come and go like passing traffic — when you notice you've wandered off, that noticing is the practice. Return to the breath.
5. Come back gently
4:00–5:00Deepen your breath, wiggle your fingers and toes, and open your eyes slowly. Carry a little of this quiet into whatever comes next.
A short practice built entirely out of restarting.
Follow the breath. When you notice you have wandered, that noticing is the practice. Begin again without a story about how badly it is going. Wander, notice, begin again. That is the whole of it, and it is enough.