One Minute Meditation Practice
- Jamelle at Bare Roots Energy
- Mar 7, 2021
- 8 min read
A Meditation Routine For On The Go
Jamelle Zablow-Moloney
3/7/2021
The goal of this meditation practice is to add purposeful intention into everything you do, 1 thing at a time.
Consider the following routine scenarios that provide a plethora of opportunity for one minute meditations:
The bus ride to work
Brushing your teeth
Showering/Soaking
Washing the dishes
Folding the laundry
Working out
Walking the dog
Waiting for your toddler to poo...
What are we typically thinking about when we are forced into mundane activities like waiting for the stall at the voting booth or doing a deep conditioning treatment? For some, the mind is silent, and will not direct itself without direct intention or interaction. For others, when left to wander, the mind can take them speeding down a train of thought that leaves them with assumptions and paranoia. A perfect example of this is the mommy-brain phenomena; the mother is ALWAYS thinking of ways the baby is going to get hurt. It’s a perfectly naturally occurring thought pattern, and easily becomes an automatic one when the mind is left to wander, especially for new mothers. However, it is quite unpleasant, and leaves the body with the lasting effects of stress. Let’s replace it!
The idea of meditation isn’t exactly inviting to the full-time worker. There can be a lot of planning, effort and action that goes into it, but there doesn’t have to be. The convenient thing about meditation is that it does its best work when it’s tailored to what you need, and then embedded into your routines. Like most, I feel like I neither have the schedule space or the attention span to sit and meditate for any length of time, however, opening my definition of meditation up has solved that problem for me, and hopefully you too.
One minute meditations prepare the mind to focus by strengthening your metacognition with positive thought patterns; metacognition being the act of directing the mind’s focus, continuously monitoring it to keep the focus, and reflecting on its productivity. These thought habits lead to true paths of traditional meditation practices by training the mind and making it stronger, more pliable, and ready to handle environmental stressors more effectively.
There happens to be an enormous amount of time available to us during our days for meditation when you think of time in tiny increments. Optimizing snippets of time with activities will, in the long run, have positive impacts on the subtle and physical bodies, helping to restructure life and make room for your goals. There are traditional ways to go about meditation practice, very specific programs that have been handed down over generations, and some that have grown out of old practices. However, a lengthy study in the practice will do you no good if you cannot first make time for training the mind. The magic of meditation is that when you start small, you end big no matter how far down the meditative path you choose to go. The addition of one small meditation routine not only clears a path towards your own version of peace, it also leads you straight to the old traditions of meditative practice if that’s how far you want to take it.
Everyone has to start somewhere, unless they truly do not seek growth.
Meditation on the go helps to ground and mitigate one’s energy field while in public spaces or when hosting guests in their home, by optimizing the empty moments we spend on unnecessary thoughts. This technique provides not only an automatic response for your brain during down time (which uses less energy than constant unique thought production), but it also creates a predictive response that leads to a positive habit and life altering impacts as it calms the nervous system, and retrains the brain and body.
The Grounding Step
Apart from our wandering thoughts taking us on emotional rides, energetic blockages and stress can also stem from the energy in our environment. Everyone’s energy field impacts the fields of those around them. For some individuals, their energy field stretches 15 feet beyond their physical body. We are always intermingling our energetic resources! The way to make the most of this particular phenomena is to recognize when your vibrations have changed to a state that makes you feel uncomfortable, and then know how to rebalance them quickly and easily.
The idea is to first learn how to effectively and easily ground yourself in situations that are outside of your comfort zones. For some this may take a lot of practice and time, and for others it may come easily. A grounding technique entails mentally and emotionally getting in touch with your inner calm, reminding yourself of your connections to the world around you, reconnecting your energy cords to the planet, and seeing your surroundings from a neutral place, even if for a moment. A moment is really all it takes. The benefit to this is a calm body that is easier to focus and meditate with.
There are many ways to accomplish this calming effect. My personal routine includes visualizing a white beam of light going through the center of my body, up, and out of the crown of my head as I inhale and then visualizing roots from my feet running down into the Earth’s core on my exhale. If you do not already have a grounding technique, the table at the bottom has examples for you to choose from, or to get your imagination going to create your own. Once you have mastered your grounding technique to the point that you are proficient with it in a stressful situation, you are then ready to take the practice a step further and add your meditative affirmation to the routine.
The Meditation Affirmation Step
The practice of One Minute Meditations is simple and effective. Once you have mastered your grounding technique, it’s time for you to consider what type of harmony you want to bring into your life, and incorporate that goal in an affirmation. A meditative affirmation is simply a statement, a thought, or a series of statements that focus on an improvement you would like to make, be it small, large, specific, or generic. It is best to start with an easy one to remember, and repeat it every chance you get in order to generalize the phrase in your memory. There are examples below to get you started. Keep in mind that effective affirmations are worded in present tense, and attempt to get around language without any negatives, such as the words no, don’t, can’t won’t, never, without, etc. A good affirmation focuses on what you want to bring in, rather than what you want to chase out or avoid.
Standing in that line could be perfectly productive for your mental health and physical well being with the slightest effort.
The Timing
Another piece to consider when preparing your One Minute Meditation Practice, is when you will fit this tiny meditation into your life. The kids are screaming, the dog stinks, and everyone wants Taco Bell for dinner, but you still need time to rest your mind and regain your senses. When you’re in line at the shop and start thinking about your neighbor's $250 pair of shoes, this is the exact time to practice that habit of grounding yourself and repeating your meditative affirmation to yourself in any way you choose. Depending on your situation, you could get a lot of repetitions in before you’re out of wait time. Furthermore, the more you say it or think it, the more the thought attracts to you what you are affirming. How many times can you get through your affirmation without interrupting yourself with an unproductive thought or getting distracted?
The goal is to focus the mind. Once we have done that, we have full control.
The following tables provide examples of where to use the One Minute Meditation Practice technique, examples of meditative affirmations, and grounding techniques. I suggest starting with a grounding technique, and adding in the meditative affirmation once you begin to get bored with the grounding. The mind will tell you when it’s ready to learn more by making you tired and bored, so don’t forget to metacognate and listen to those subtle thoughts of life!
One Minute Meditation Practice Guide Table
Where to use
The elevator ride to the office floor
The bus ride to work
Brushing your teeth
Showering/Soaking
Washing the dishes
Folding the laundry
Working out
Walking the dog
Vacuuming
Waiting in line at the shop
Waiting for your appointment time
Going through the car wash
Waiting for your nails/hair/makeup to dry
Trail Walking
Making the bed
Sitting in the drive,-through
Meditative Affirmations
I am at absolute peace with the challenges in my life, as they help me grow and evolve.
Once grounded, the only emotions that can penetrate my mind are those of love, peace, joy, calm, and neutrality.
Regardless of the situation, I respond rather than react. Regardless of the situation, I can calm myself before I respond.
Taking a breath helps me to calm, to see the whole picture, and make the next best decision.
My days are full of abundance, productivity, and meaningful connection.
I am either at peace or creating the peace that I need.
I am grateful for _, _, and _. I am grateful that I am _, _, and _. I am grateful to have _, _, and _ in my life.
I am aware of my temper and regulate with ease.
I have all of the money I need each and every day
Clarity comes to me each time I need to make a decision.
As I fill my mind with peace, I fill my time with peace. I am grateful for my time and my peace.
_ and I have consistent clear and loving communication.
As long as I am honest with myself, I am all that I need to be in this moment
I am a part of this all, and yet it is all inside of me. I mirror my inner world, as I express myself ,into my outer world.
I stay organized so that I stay productive. I stay vigilant so that I stay effective.
My occupation supports my life in every way. I always have enough, and I enjoy what I accomplish at work each day.
Grounding Techniques/ Breathing Visualization
Visualize a forest ahead, lighting up with yellow light on the inhale. Visualize the forest floor lighting up with green light as you stand upon it and exhale.
Visualize a doorway lighting up with white on the inhale. Visualize an entire, empty room lighting up with white as you step through the threshold on the exhale.
Visualize a yellow ball in your lungs expanding on the inhale. Visualize the yellow light expanding beyond your physical body, surrounding you in protection on the exhale.
Visualize a blue light outlining your body, and contracting to your heart center on the inhale. Visualize the light expanding to the space around you on the exhale.
Visualize the ocean tide creeping in on the shore on the inhale. Visualize the tide moving out on the exhale.
Visualize standing barefoot in a field full of bright green, new, soft grass on the inhale. Visualize and feel the grass on the bottom of your feet on the exhale.
Visualize rain trickling down a window on the inhale. Visualize the rainbow reflection of the rain droplets coming into focus on the exhale.
Visualize water pouring from a faucet smoothly and quietly on the inhale. Visualize the water pouring into an overflowing cup of water, slightly bubbly, smooth, and cool.
Visualize the sun rising slowly on the inhale. Visualize the sun climbing overhead on the exhale.
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