Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness.

Today, I'm going to talk about a

secret hack to unwind a busy mind.

And this is kind of important because, you

know, there are some days when we sit down

to meditate and the mind is really calm.

And then there are other days, sometimes

the mind is just really active,

unruly, or full of thoughts that

are really pulling at our attention.

Now on days like this, we can

use a practice called anapana.

Anapana is a Pali word meaning

mindfulness of breathing.

I really love this practice.

I really appreciate it on these busy days.

So what you do is you find one place

in the body to rest your attention

on the feeling of the breath.

And that might be the tip

of the nose, belly, chest.

And as we breathe in, we mentally

note to ourselves, breathing in.

And as we breathe out, we

mentally note, breathing out.

And as we keep doing that with each

breath, it's really a way to anchor

the mind in present moment experience.

So the breathing here is totally normal.

There's no special way to breathe,

but we're just using this mental

noting as a really helpful technique

to steady and settle the mind.

The wonderful thing about this practice

is that we can use it, not just in

the meditation, but in daily life too.

And whenever you feel stressed or

anxious, or the mind is just racing

at a million miles an hour, you can

return to this more centered and

present space of mind by using anapana.

Breathing in.

Breathing out.

As Danna Faulds says in her poem,

Birthright, you know, "there is

a place inside where stillness

and abiding peace reside.

And you can ride the breath to go there."

So we'll give this a try

in today's meditation.

So inviting you to now settle in

for that, but also just remembering

that as you go about your day today,

anapana is always accessible to you.

It's just one mindful breath away.

As always, thank you for your practice.