This is the eleventh (of twelve) episodes of The Practically Mindful Moment podcast series. PMM’s are brief bits of featured information on concepts and tactics from Dr. Greg Sazima’s new book,Practical Mindfulness: A Physician’s No-Nonsense Guide to Meditation for Beginners (Mango Media, release date 1/19/2021).
Each PMM clocks in at a user-friendly ten minutes or so; just a brief tuning in, an opportunity to learn to meditate as a valuable coping skill, and brief guided exercise in mindfulness. (And a quick, shameless plug for the book – it’s a great gift idea for friends.)
In this episode, Dr. S offers a useful “rescue” exercise, the “Mindful Breather,” for those moments of intense experience that usually occur off the cushion. These can include panic attacks, road rage, getting or giving bad news, suicidal thoughts, and craving. We combine elements of relaxation breathing and a mindful survey of our “landscape” – elements covered from past podcasts – to practice the “Breather” in the guided meditation that finishes this podcast. It’s an effective coping skill to have in those tough moments.