Last class, we started to use the 3-minute breathing space practice in relation to something that’s a challenge for us in our lives. This class we’re going to dig into that a little more.
The responsive version of the practice requires that we purposely identify and turn toward a situation that has or carries with it a certain amount of difficulty for us. But what we’re doing is mobilizing our natural capacity to be grounded and present, no matter what shows up in our lives. As we all know from experience, encountering a difficulty in this manner is far different from feeling blindsided by it and relying on reactivity or reflexive behavior patterns to deal with the event. Or maybe we’ve noticed our tendency to avoid a certain event; maybe we see it, anticipate it, and find a way of sidestepping or suppressing it.
In a nutshell, this practice truly invites curiosity, and that’s a very useful approach when it comes to aversion.
As with all 3-minute breathing space practices, this responsive version operates with the same inner workings. We use contact with two different forms of attention: the open, receptive attention in Step 1, the narrower, focused, concentrated attention…
