practice · all tools
Sitting Meditation (Breath-Anchored)
The core formal mindfulness practice: sitting upright, resting attention on a chosen anchor — usually the breath — and each time the mind wanders, gently returning it, without judgement, allowing whatever is observed or felt to be as it is. Over time the practice widens from one anchor toward being with the totality of experience, including difficult thoughts and emotions, without being swept away.
- For trauma histories, sustained inner attention can activate; offer anchors in outer senses, eyes-open options, and permission to stop
- Restlessness and mind-wandering are the practice working, not failing — framing this prevents early dropout
Practical
- Time
- 10-40 min
- Group
- 1–∞ · individual, small-group, large-group
- Settings
- self-guided, in-person, online
- Materials
- Chair or cushion; optionally guided audio
- Mechanisms
- attention-training, open-awareness, stillness-silence
- Change scope
- state → skill · recurring-practice (daily or near-daily; MBIs assign 6 days/week)
Origin & where it lives
Contemplative traditions; secular codification via mindfulness-based interventions (Kabat-Zinn and successors) — Buddhist meditation → secular MBIs (MBSR, MBCT and derivatives)
Millennia-old practice carried by living traditions; the secular form should name that debt.
Instructions: open online
In this directory via Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) · IDG Phase 2 Research Report & Toolkit (2022)
In the IDG Phase 2 Toolkit this sits inside the "Mindfulness Practices" family (formal practices: sitting meditation, body scan, mindful movement; plus informal everyday practice). Marked DIY-friendly there; group courses add teacher-led inquiry, which is where holding rises to 2.
status: checked · added 2026-08-25