🔼: [[🧘 Mindfulness Meditation]] ##### Meditation Anchor Our home base is a neutral anchor of attention — whatever it is we're focusing on during [[🧘 Mindfulness Meditation]]. Most of the time it's our [[Breath]], but [[🔑 the breath is not a neutral place of focus for everyone]] — which is completely fine, we can choose another. The simplicity of a meditation anchor can cleanse our mental palette and lessen our [[💡 Cognitive Load|Cognitive Load]]. - [[🛠️ Lower Belly Center]] ###### Sound - A whirring fan - A refrigerator or furnace - White noise - [[🛠 Music]] - The sound of traffic ###### Sight - [[🛠️ Yantras|Yantras]] - A candle flame - Clouds - An object in the room - The words of a book ###### Physical touch - The feeling of our feet on the ground - The feeling of our hands in our lap - The feeling of our body against our chair, couch, floor, or other surface - The feel of a [[🛠 Anchors#Physical Anchors|⬆️ physical anchor]] - The breath - The pause between breaths ###### Movement - Moving your hands apart on the inhale, bringing them together on an exhale. - Squeezing a hand closed, slowly opening it. - Slow, mindful walking. ###### Thought - A safe and comfortable memory - A mantra - [[🛠 Safe Place Visualization]] ###### Task - Doing the dishes - Reading - Drawing ###### In Practice We can swap in the middle of a meditation. Starting with closed eyes, our focus could be a physical sensation. When our attention wavers, or if we feel subtle signs of [[💡 Emotional Dysregulation|dysregulation]], we can open our eyes and focus on an object. After a time, we can close our eyes again and focus on a sound. Then on a different sensation, a different object, a different sound, etc. [^1]: