This Three-Minute Morning Mindfulness practice is one of three Renegade Rituals for holistic well-being as described by Pilar Gerasimo in her book, The Healthy Deviant: A Rule-Breaker’s Guide to Being Healthy In an Unhealthy World (2020, North Atlantic Books).
I developed my Morning Minutes ritual by co-opting an idea from my younger sister, Andrea, a yoga teacher. Many years ago, having recently gotten her five-hundred-hour yoga-instructor certification from Kripalu, she had committed herself to doing thirty minutes of yoga each morning. It was an ambitious goal, so within a week or two, she found she was struggling (and often failing) to make that commitment work in the context of her daily life.
So instead of continuing to struggle or simply giving up, she radically redesigned the scope of her commitment. Her new plan was to simply unroll her mat, light some incense, kneel, and calmly taking three deep breaths. From there, she had the option of doing as much or as little yoga as she chose.
Of course, once she got to her mat, smelled the incense, settled in, and took her first breath, she often felt like stretching into a few asanas. From there, she might feel inspired…
