Mindfulness Meditation Lesson 1

Home Practice for Week 1

1. Following Your Breath
   • Practice following your breath at least twice a day, once in the morning and once in the evening, or whenever you have a break at some point in your day if that's more practical or convenient
   • Try the different techniques and see which works best for you and allows you to keep your attention on your breathing for as much of the time as possible.
   • Use the guided audio tracks if you find them helpful, or if it's distracting to have someone talking while you're trying to concentrate on your breathing, you can use the bell track to give a gentle reminder every couple of minutes to return your attention to your breath, or you can just do the practices in silence.

   Remember that no matter which practice you choose, there will always be times when your mind wanders and you lose track of your breathing altogether for a while, especially when you first start trying to follow your breathing, but even if you've doing it for years.

   And whenever you notice your mind is no longer on your breath, it doesn't mean you've failed or done anything wrong. That's perfectly normal and perfectly fine, and simply acknowledge to yourself that your mind has wandered and gently return your attention to your breathing and resume counting or measuring or however you were following your breath.

2. Abdominal Breathing: If you're not already breathing from your abdomen, spend some time throughout the day training yourself to breath this way using the suggestions in the video from earlier in the lesson
 
3. Choose one routine activity to do mindfully throughout the week such as:
   • Brushing your teeth
   • Taking a shower
   • Getting dressed
   • Setting the table
   • Doing the dishes
   • Anything other activity you do for a few minutes each day
 
4. Mindful Eating at least once a day (a snack or cup of coffee is fine) plus at least one entire meal during the week

Home Practice Materials

If you've purchased the course, you can download the complete set of audio files organized by lesson here.