2 Ways to Meditate in Only One Minute: Just Sitting and Awakening Joy and Gratitude

Have you noticed how your mind wanders the minute you decide to keep it still on one subject or keep your focus on an object? It is like looking at yourself in a mirror and watching many different expressions flit across your face.

The purpose of meditation is to hold our attention and still the mind and this cannot be done in one minute. In fact to be able to concentrate and keep the mind focussed for a full minute actually requires months of daily practice of at least 10-15 minutes for each session. Try watching your breath and you will see that within 5-6 seconds your mind has wandered off. So to be able to meditate in only one minute you have to be able to hold your attention on your breath for 60 seconds, and that seems like a mammoth task. There is no need to feel discouraged, it is possible to meditate in only one minute.

There are two one minute meditation exercises that we all can do wherever we find ourself, in the bus, in a line waiting for something, in a traffic jam or in the office when you feel the need to be present in the here and now.

Meditation 1: Just Sitting

'Just sitting' is a Zen meditation technique where we learn to sit still with all aspects of ourselves, just as we are. When we sit still our mind automatically begins to display itself to us. This practice is to observe and experience what appears moment after moment without judging or trying to change what is. Steps to do Just Sitting meditation:

1. Sit still with your feet firmly on the floor and hands on your knees.
2. Close your eyes
3. Breathe
4. Breathe again
5. Watch your breath
6. Whenever your mind wanders bring it back to your breath.
7. Watch the mind do its work.
8. Just watch, just feel whatever comes up.
9. Are there any tensions in the body, just watch them and keep breathing.
10. Whatever thoughts come, let them come.
11. Whatever feelings arise, let them arise.
12. Do not accept or reject, just watch

As Barry Magid has said:

Just sitting means just that. That 'just' endlessly goes against the grain of our need to fix, transform, and improve ourselves. The paradox of our practice is that the most effective way of transformation is to leave ourselves alone.

There are moments in our day when we might feel low and unmotivated. This meditation will help us realize the grace and blessings we already have so that we feel a sense of gratitude and joy.

1. Sit still with your feet firmly on the floor and hands on your knees.
2. Close your eyes
3. Breathe
4. Smile
5. Focus on the heart centre.
6. As you inhale, visualize breathing in white light from the universe
7. As you exhale, visualize all negativity to be released into the white light where all energy is one.
8. Reflect on a person or a situation in your life for which you are grateful.
9. You can say, 'I am grateful for …....... and feel blessed.'
10. Visualize the person or situation and feel the gratitude and the blessing fill your whole body.
11. Visualize the white light filling your body and surrounding you in the form of a sphere.
12. Release the wonderful energy into the universe and give thanks.

This whole meditation can be done in a minute and you will notice a sense of well-being whenever you do it. Try it out and see for yourself.