Practices

Every practice in the library, in one list. Narrow it by how long you have, who it is written for, and where you are right now.

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2485 practices

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The reading happens without you, but you can catch up to it. Naming what your body has already concluded, out loud or in your head, is most of the work.

Something like: my shoulders came up when he walked in. That is all it needs to be. You are not deciding yet whether it was fair, you are bringing a…

Five minutesFeeling from the insideBody basedQur’an 91:8One line of research

An alarm system can be wrong in two directions. It can scream in a safe room, and it can stay silent somewhere it should not.

Most talk about trauma assumes the first: too much alarm, too often. But some people come out of hard years with the volume turned right down,…

Five minutesFeeling from the insideBody basedQur’an 17:36One line of research

One question does a lot of work: is what my body is doing right now a fair match for what is actually in front of me? Ask it plainly, and let the answer be either yes or no.

The point is not to talk yourself out of the feeling. The signal is information and it deserves a hearing. But you can hold it up against the room…

Five minutesFeeling from the insideBody basedQur’an 12:53One line of research

When someone is distressed, moving too fast to settle them can land as a message that their distress is not welcome here. Let them set the speed.

Offering a breath, a blanket, a change of subject: all of it can help, and all of it can arrive as a shutting down if it comes before the person has…

Five minutesFeeling from the insideBody basedQur’an 15:97One line of research

Looking for a whole subject rather than a single practice? Start from the nine areas.

Reading, numbers and learning differences

Structure and routine

What worry does

Making it stick

Treatment and medication

Emotions as signals

Being seen and judged

Feeling from the inside

When you use something to cope

Tolerate distress

Facing it a step at a time

Breaking the worry loop

Remembering to do it

What you are actually defending

Shame

Obsessions and compulsions

Righteous anger and perfectionism

When anger turns to harm

Posture and how you carry yourself

Self-compassion

Anger, alcohol and the body

Living with uncertainty

Letting it out safely

You do not have to close your eyes. If keeping them open, soft and lowered, is what lets you stay in the room, that is the better version for you.

Closing your eyes takes away your ability to check the room, and for anyone whose body is used to watching, that costs more than it gives. Make it an…

Five minutesFeeling from the insideMindfulnessQur’an 22:46One line of research

Try going into the next few minutes without deciding in advance what will happen in them. Curiosity in place of prediction.

A mind used to danger plans constantly, because planning once kept you safe. Sitting somewhere ordinary and letting the next moment be unknown is…

Five minutesFeeling from the insideMindfulnessQur’an 16:78One line of research

The body answers in sensations, in pictures, in a mood that turns up without explanation. If no words come when you check in, nothing has gone wrong.

People often decide they are bad at this because they went looking for a sentence and found a tight jaw instead. The tight jaw is the answer. Take…

Five minutesFeeling from the insideMindfulnessQur’an 12:84One line of research

Picture what you feel as weather. A clear morning, a wind picking up, a storm sitting on the far hills. Weather is real, and weather moves.

The useful part is the distance. You are the field, not the storm. And every kind of weather in the picture is on its way somewhere, which quietly…

Five minutesFeeling from the insideMindfulnessQur’an 39:23One line of research

If something will not shift, pair it with the breath: 'I am' as you breathe in, 'letting go' as you breathe out. Let the out breath be the longer one.

Giving the mind two short phrases to hold occupies it just enough that it stops arguing with the feeling. Meanwhile the long exhale does its own…

Five minutesFeeling from the insideMindfulnessQur’an 13:28One line of research

Let the uncomfortable thing be uncomfortable, without arguing with it. People are often surprised by the relief that follows.

Much of what makes a bad feeling unbearable is the second layer: the objecting, the wishing it gone, the fear that it means something about you. Drop…

Five minutesFeeling from the insideMindfulnessQur’an 12:86One line of research

You are allowed to move. Wiggle your toes, rub one arm from shoulder to hand, put a palm on your chest. A body that is doing something is much easier to feel than one held still.

Sitting perfectly still and waiting for sensation is hard work if you are numb, and it often ends with the conclusion that you are broken at this.…

Five minutesFeeling from the insideMindfulnessQur’an 89:27One line of research

If a few quiet minutes with your body turn up an ache or a tightness you had not noticed before, the practice has not made things worse. It has shown you something that was already there.

This catches a lot of people out. They sit down hoping to feel calmer, meet a knot in the stomach instead, and decide the whole thing is not for…

Five minutesFeeling from the insideMindfulnessQur’an 3:29One line of research

If you keep falling asleep whenever you sit quietly, take it as news rather than as a failed attempt. Your body is telling you how tired it is.

Welcome the first few times. Being tired enough to drop off the moment nobody needs anything from you is worth knowing about, and the honest response…

Five minutesFeeling from the insideMindfulnessQur’an 75:14One line of research

If you are moving attention through the body, start at the feet and work up. Leave the throat, the chest and the face until last.

The far edges of the body carry less charge, so they are a gentle place to find your bearings. Include the back, which people tend to skip: attention…

Twenty minutesFeeling from the insideMindfulnessQur’an 40:19One line of research

There is a difference between watching your hand and being in your hand. See whether you can move from looking at a part of your body to living inside it.

Observing keeps a small distance, which is useful early on and can quietly become the whole practice. Inhabiting is the further step: filling the…

Twenty minutesFeeling from the insideMindfulnessQur’an 91:7One line of research

Sleeping until the middle of the afternoon, day after day, is usually not rest. It is closer to the body shutting down, and it tends to leave you flatter rather than restored.

The tell is how you feel on waking: real rest gives something back, while shutdown leaves the day already gone and you no better for it. Nudging the…

LongerFeeling from the insideMindfulnessQur’an 9:118One line of research

The unkind thoughts tend to arrive in a handful of familiar shapes. One friend is busy so nobody wants you. One bad mark so you are going to fail everything. Someone did not say hello so they must dislike you.

Rather than fighting the content, try naming the shape: that is the all or nothing one, that is the mind reading one. Most people find they only have…

A minuteFeelings and focusCBTQur’an 91:8One line of research

When you genuinely cannot know what someone thought of you, the harsh guess is no more accurate than the kind one. Since you are inventing either way, invent the version that lets you carry on with your day.

This is not positive thinking. It is noticing the moment you moved from evidence to invention, because at that point you get a say. A short reply…

A minuteFeelings and focusCBTQur’an 41:34One line of research

Try turning 'I will not mess this up today' into 'today I am going to do this well'. You do not have to believe it yet. Said the other way round, it keeps the disaster in front of you all morning.

Notice how many of your goals are stated as things that must not happen. Do not be late, do not lose your temper, do not forget the form. Each one…

A minuteFeelings and focusCBTQur’an 13:28One line of research

Picture spilling coffee down your shirt on the way in. One version: the day is ruined and everyone will see. Another: this is going to be a good story by eleven. Same coffee, two different days.

The part that decides is the sentence you say about the event, and it usually arrives so fast that it feels like part of the event itself. Slowing…

A minuteFeelings and focusCBTQur’an 17:83One line of research