You Have 1440 Minutes Every Day – Take Ten for Yourself

Every day someone tells me how great they feel when they practice yoga. They feel whole and complete and relaxed and alert – all at the same time. Yet no sooner than they leave the yoga studio, does the old stress and worry start to seep back into their life. So quickly at times, that it makes them wonder just how long the healthy benefits of a great yoga workout stay with them.

When I mention extending those great feelings through meditation, I am inevitably told, “I love the idea, but I just don’t have enough time to meditate.” Or, “There’s just no way I can sit and think for twenty minutes. There’s just too much going on in my head.”

Well guess what, you actually do. You don’t have to sit for twenty minutes or half an hour to benefit from a meditation practice. You only need a few minutes here and there to reduce your stress, minimize the noise from the world around you, and gain control of your life, so you can start to live your life as if you carry your yoga mat with you.

Look at it this way. You have 1,440 minutes in every one of your days. If you take just ten of those at different times during your day, you can improve your health, wealth and wellbeing, and nobody will even know how.

Yes, sitting for twenty or thirty minutes a day is a great practice. It’s a wonderful goal to have, but it’s just not practical for everyone. Especially for today’s busy executive. Still, that’s no reason not to incorporate the value and benefits of deep breathing and meditation into your life.

Think of this practice as a way to bring balance throughout your day. It will also make you more productive and better able to make the kinds of choices you need to make in order to guide your life in the direction you want it to go.

So set the alarm on your iPhone4 or Blackberry Curve and cut out a few minutes in the morning to start your day right, in the middle of the day to reset your energy, and in the evening to enjoy some deep sleep. It takes just ten minutes throughout your entire day, and I know you have ten minutes to start living the life you’ve dreamed of.

Morning [5 minutes]

Before you get out of bed in the morning, take just two minutes to notice your breathing. Put one hand on your stomach and take a few deep belly breaths. Smile as you feel your stomach rise and fall with each breath. Don’t just jump into your day, give yourself the two minutes you deserve to balance your morning, steady your thoughts and guide your day in the right direction.

Commute [Not included in the 5 minutes, since you’re doing this anyway]

When you leave for work, maintain a slow and steady breath. Take the time to notice the world around you. Appreciate the sunlight, the clouds, and the rain. Notice the road, the cars, and the pavement of your commute. As your mind starts to fill with the tasks of your day, focus on the mode of your commute, the people walking next to you, the cars driving, the subway you ride on. Don’t start an inner dialogue by commenting on them. Just be present and aware of the community of people that you are a part of and enjoy that connection.

Afternoon [3 minutes]

When your wits are at their end take a moment to sit by yourself. Place your feet flat on the floor with your hands on your thighs. Take a deep belly breath in, and feel your skin expand against your clothing. Slowly count to eight on each inhale and each exhale. Feel the calm start beneath you scalp and move down to your shoulders. Identify each point of stress and take a moment to allow your inhale to wrap around it, relax it, and take that stress away as you exhale. Use your three minutes to breathe in positive, relaxing energy, and breathe out negative stress.

S-L-E-E-P Meditation [3 minutes]

If the thoughts running through your mind are preventing you from sleeping, take a slow, deep breath in and spell the word sleep as you meditate on each letter. Say “S” as you exhale slowly, say the letter “L” as you inhale. Focus on each letter as you spell the word sleep. When you get to the end of the word, start your spelling meditation over again. You may be surprised when you wake up in the morning at how deeply you slept.

Learn more about Jeff Cannon @ www.jeff-cannon.com
Learn more about the book the Simple Truth @ www.simple-truth.com

Author's Bio: 

Jeff Cannon has been called an innovator, a visionary, and a man who is helping to bring meditation and mindfulness into the modern world. He works with top executives to help them transform their lives and evolve their businesses. On the personal level, he works directly with individuals to reduce their stress, minimize the outside noise and influences that are currently running their lives, so that they can re-balance their life into the one they love.

On the professional level, and as the author of Leadership Lessons of the Navy SEALs, Mr. Cannon knows how to create strong teams that rely on each other, how to overcome obstacles, and understand what it takes to win. He knows how to create a corporate culture of cooperation instead of competition.

On the personal level, Jeff works directly with his clients to give them the tools they need to reduce stress, manage the daily interruptions that can sidetrack their lives, and provide the insight they need to transform their lives into the one they want to live. Through modern meditation and mindfulness, he brings a professional calm into their lives that will extend to their professional lives and help them evolve their business into a more efficient, effective organization. By changing the way they do business, his work not only drives the bottom line, but creates the kind of business his clients actually want to run.

Jeff is an experienced speaker, an executive coach and a business advisor. He often speaks on empowerment, achieving work/life balance, as well as his proprietary method of transformation called Living with CaRE. He also has a series targeting today’s busy executives called 10 Minute Meditation: Creating change in as little as ten minutes a day. In each, Jeff refits the time-honored practices of meditation and mindfulness for the modern world.