Introduction to Mindfulness - Dean Amory

The three step breathing space (3MBS)
Key learning (feature ii):
The learning is encapsulated within the three steps to the practice.
Each step needs to be clearly conveyed. Preparing by stepping out of
automatic pilot, then three steps:
1. Awareness – Recognising and acknowledging all of one’s current
experience (thoughts, emotions, sensations).
2. Gathering – bringing the attention to the sensations of the breath
in a particular place in the body.
3. Expanding the awareness into the body as a whole using the
particular sensations of the breath as an anchor, while opening to the
range of experience being perceived.
The Three Step Breathing Space Mindfulness Exercise
Copyright © Donald Robertson, 2012. All rights reserved.
http://londoncognitive.com/2012/03/13/brief-mindfulnessmeditation-strategies/
(Excerpt from Teach Yourself Resilience by D. Robertson)
“Mini-meditation” techniques such as the “Three-Minute Breathing
Space” (3MBS) in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) are
employed to provide an opportunity for rapid-frequent practice
throughout the day and in a variety of settings. We can think of this
as injecting a short burst of more profound mindfulness in-between
ordinary daily activities. In MBCT the aim is to do this at least three
times per day, at prescribed times, or as an acceptance-based strategy
when unpleasant experiences arise. However, you might choose to do
it more often, perhaps even for a few minutes during every waking
hour, for a couple of weeks. It’s natural to think of the shift in focus
of attention involved as narrowing briefly on to some anchoring
point or “centring device” such as the breath and then widening to
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