Meditating in less than one minute ? 30 Day Challenge!

[redshift]

I've noticed there have been a bunch of mindfulness/meditation related threads here recently so I thought I'd share this one technique/book I've been using for a few months now and found extremely valuable, especially if you are on the busy or want a quick recharge during the day or just want to get in the zone quickly.

It's called 'One Moment Meditation' by Martin Boroson. The idea is simple - getting the benefits of a longer meditation in less than one minute. It may sound like a shortcut scam or hard to believe at first but it actually works (and also requires practice). I've been doing longer meditation for a while as well and have noticed achieving similar levels of stillness with this technique in a fraction of a time. Don't want to spoil the book for you, but it involves the idea of "slowing down time" so that you can experience something deeper in a relatively short period (the book has a detailed chapter on 'the nature of time' which I found very interesting). You can think of it as applying the 80/20 principle to meditation practice. Just be aware, it does require practice and you might not get results right out of the box. I would recommend getting his book of the same title. It's super short and easy to read but also makes you do bunch of multi-day exercises so it will take a while to finish if you do it properly (I still haven't reached the end). It walks you through the "basic minute" and then over time shows you how to reduce that down to a single "moment".

Here is a video from the author which walks you through the basic "one minute meditation" exercise:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6eFFCi12v8


If you've wanted to get into meditation but found it hard to sit for a while or harder to understand the more esoteric books, then consider giving this a try. Even if you already meditate I think this has value and can complement your existing technique. I do this technique several times throughout the day now and especially when I'm getting ready to do some focus work or need a time out. It takes less than a minute so why not I've also noticed that after practicing this technique I understood "The Power of Now" much better as well (first time I read the book it just went over my head, but practicing the omm technique let me grasp the deeper meaning behind those teachings as well).

If you try out the initial 30 day challenge in the book (one minute per day for 30 days), feel free to post your thoughts, comments or results below. I was definitely surprised by the results so it would be interesting to hear how others got along with this. In case you need a meditation timer for the initial 30 days, you can find a bell/gong timer on the free "insight timer" app. You'll only need it for 30 days after which the book will teach you how to do this without any timers.

 

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[Matua]

This is great that you brought this up!

For anyone who wants to practice 1-Minute Meditation daily and decreasing the time limit to get into that present-focus mind, or being mindful of the present, then this is a nice idea.

I never knew there was such a thing as One Moment Meditation. With the 1-Hour Meditation for 60 Days from the other thread, it makes a lot more sense the moment I watched this video.

From personal experience, I could flip an internal switch that gets me immediately focused on the present and into a moment of meditation just like the video describes. The longer you practice meditation, it becomes easier to flip this internal switch at will.

 

[sfarieri]

I've noticed there have been a bunch of mindfulness/meditation related threads here recently so I thought I'd share this one technique/book I've been using for a few months now and found extremely valuable, especially if you are on the busy or want a quick recharge during the day or just want to get in the zone quickly.

It's called 'One Moment Meditation' by Martin Boroson. The idea is simple - getting the benefits of an hour's worth of meditation in less than one minute. It may sound like a shortcut scam or hard to believe at first but it actually works (and also requires practice). I've been doing longer meditation for a while as well and have noticed achieving similar levels of stillness with this technique in a fraction of a time. Don't want to spoil the book for you, but it involves the idea of "slowing down time" so that you can experience something deeper in a relatively short period (the book has a detailed chapter on 'the nature of time' which I found very interesting). You can think of it as applying the 80/20 principle to meditation practice. Just be aware, it does require practice and you might not get results right out of the box. I would recommend getting his book of the same title. It's super short and easy to read but also makes you do bunch of multi-day exercises so it will take a while to finish if you do it properly (I still haven't reached the end). It walks you through the "basic minute" and then over time shows you how to reduce that down to a single "moment".

Here is a video from the author which walks you through the basic "one minute meditation" exercise:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6eFFCi12v8


If you've wanted to get into meditation but found it hard to sit for a while or harder to understand the more esoteric books, then consider giving this a try. Even if you already meditate I think this has value and can complement your existing technique. I do this technique several times throughout the day now and especially when I'm getting ready to do some focus work or need a time out. It takes less than a minute so why not I've also noticed that after practicing this technique I understood "The Power of Now" much better as well (first time I read the book it just went over my head, but practicing the omm technique let me grasp the deeper meaning behind those teachings as well).

If you try out the initial 30 day challenge in the book (one minute per day for 30 days), feel free to post your thoughts, comments or results below. I was definitely surprised by the results so it would be interesting to hear how others got along with this. In case you need a meditation timer for the initial 30 days, you can find a bell/gong timer on the free "insight timer" app. You'll only need it for 30 days after which the book will teach you how to do this without any timers.

View attachment 36016

Thanks for this. I'm going to look into this. Been meditating for a few months now and never heard of this before, but it seems very interesting. What benefits have you seen exactly?

 

[redshift]

Thanks for this. I'm going to look into this. Been meditating for a few months now and never heard of this before, but it seems very interesting. What benefits have you seen exactly?

As far as this specific technique - I found it super useful when you need to get some work done but can't get yourself to do it. Just start the one minute timer and after its over you are good to go. The more you do the more you'll be able to get in to the "zone" faster (eventually just one moment). Also works if you are feeling unpleasant emotions sometime during the day and want to get back into the present moment.

I do longer meditations as well every day but I found this to be an invaluable tool to have "in the moment" when you need it the most, without getting pushed off track by something longer.

 

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[DONTRAY]

Great for decision making.

 

[sfarieri]

As far as this specific technique - I found it super useful when you need to get some work done but can't get yourself to do it. Just start the one minute timer and after its over you are good to go. The more you do the more you'll be able to get in to the "zone" faster (eventually just one moment). Also works if you are feeling unpleasant emotions sometime during the day and want to get back into the present moment.

I do longer meditations as well every day but I found this to be an invaluable tool to have "in the moment" when you need it the most, without getting pushed off track by something longer.

I will be giving it a go. Ill read into it and watch the video and start doing it and report back here with results.

 

[Deleted68316]

Never heard about this. But I get tremendous benefits from the Three Minutes Breathing Space from Mark Williams.

As @DONTRAY says, it is amazing for decision making. Has it ever happened to you that at a certain point of the day you have 1000s of things to do and don't know how to proceed, what to do? Well, with these short meditations, you are going to get an answer, 99% of the time. It doesn't work only when our internal state is too messed up. But still, it helps to lower the stress.

His book covers about 12 different types of meditations. But this 3 minutes meditation is the most powerful.

Mark Williams is a professor at Oxford University (UK), and he merged Cognitive Behavior Therapy with Mindfulness (I don't like this word but it makes sense in this case).

 

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[CGgillioen]

Never heard about this. But I get tremendous benefits from the Three Minutes Breathing Space from Mark Williams.

As @DONTRAY says, it is amazing for decision making. Has it ever happened to you that at a certain point of the day you have 1000s of things to do and don't know how to proceed, what to do? Well, with these short meditations, you are going to get an answer, 99% of the time. It doesn't work only when our internal state is too messed up. But still, it helps to lower the stress.

His book covers about 12 different types of meditations. But this 3 minutes meditation is the most powerful.

Mark Williams is a professor at Oxford University (UK), and he merged Cognitive Behavior Therapy with Mindfulness (I don't like this word but it makes sense in this case).