Zen : Your Way

Notes

Technique-only Breath Loop for library + podcast. Subset of start-here-before-you-sit. Podcast GUID kept stable from doing-a-loop.

Transcript

Technique. The Breath Loop.

Here is a small thing I use. I would barely call it meditation. It is closer to breathwork. Meditation-adjacent. I call it the Breath Loop.

[Pause 3s]

Let your thumb rest against your index finger. On the next breath in, touch them together, a small circle rather than a tap. On the next breath, move to your middle finger. Then your ring finger. Then your little finger. Then turn around and come back the same way.

[Pause 4s]

There is no counting. No words. The position of your thumb holds your place, so there is nothing left for you to say to yourself.

[Pause 3s]

Try it now. One touch for each breath. Back and forth.

[Silence 45s]

If you lose your place, you will feel it in your hand before you think it. That is the whole point. Simply begin again wherever you are.

[Silence 30s]

You do not need a cushion for this. You do not need posture, or a quiet room, or a free half hour. I use it standing in queues, on calls, walking. I live with PTSD, and in rooms that are hard for me to be in, this has made a real difference.

[Pause 3s]

I should be clear about what this is. It is two fingers and a breath. It is not therapy, and I am not your therapist, which is lucky for both of us. If you are carrying something heavy, please find someone qualified to carry it with you. This is only a small thing that helps me.

[Pause 3s]

Let your hand rest. Take one ordinary breath.

[Pause 4s]

That is all. When you are ready, open your eyes.