3 minute mindfulness

3 minute mindfulness is a short meditative practice that can be done anytime you have a free 180 seconds. Mindfulness refers to a quality of non-judgmental present-moment awareness. In this practice, we’re invited to bring our awareness to 3 different things, each for one minute at a time.

You could use a timer on your phone to mark off each minute. There is also a free meditation app for phones that I often use called Insight Timer. With Insight Timer, it’s possible to create a 3 minute practice for yourself and set it up so that a bell goes off every minute.

The way I was first taught “3 minute mindfulness” was that minute 1 was for awareness of breath, minute 2 was for awareness of physical sensations in the body, and minute 3 was for “open ended mindfulness,” (open-ended meaning you simply notice whatever you notice). However, there are so many different ways to practice mindfulness, so there’s no need to be limited to any one formula. It’s easy to customize a 3 minute mindfulness practice using all of our different senses. Here is a partial list of ideas you could try:

A Vision-Based Practice
Min 1: Awareness of colors in the room
Min 2: Awareness of shadows/light
Min 3 Awareness of textures

A Breath-Based Practice
Min 1: Awareness of breath at tip of nose
Min 2: Awareness of breath moving ribs
Min 3: Awareness of breath moving abdomen

Sensations while Moving
Min 1: Awareness of sensations in neck while turning head or creating half circles
Min 2: Awareness of sensations in shoulders while creating circular or up-and-down movements
Min 3: Awareness of sensations in backs of legs or sitting bones while rocking while seated