Now that you have learned how to meditate in just a minute, the next step is to make that period of meditation shorter. You'll take this one step at a time, until you can do it in just a moment—because One-Moment Meditation is really about the moment, not the minute. Here's how to get there.
Today, simply reduce—by one—the breath count you have been using for the Portable Minute. So if you normally count to 20 for a Portable Minute, today just go up to 19. We'll call this a Portable Less-Than-A-Minute.

Continue doing a warm-up and a cool-down if you find them helpful, and make sure you are still experiencing about the same sense of alert relaxation in a Less-Than-A-Minute that you had been experiencing in the Portable Minute. Also, make sure to go all the way to the end of your count, whatever it is.

Remember: There's no need to experience radical enlightenment or even profound peace in this space of time—though it's certainly okay if you do. It's more important just to realize you can actually shift your mental state in a peaceful direction...and that you can do it fairly quickly.

That's all you have to do for today; but tomorrow, I want you to reduce your breath count again by one. Then keep reducing your breath count—one per day, one day at a time.

As you reduce your breath count, you may wonder how far this can go. Well, you are going to reduce the length of your Less-Than-A-Minute until you get the same sense of alert peacefulness that used to take a whole minute—in just one in and out breath. Then, somewhere around one breath, you will be very close to a moment and its extraordinary potential.

If you find you are not experiencing the same level of relaxed alertness you used to experience in your Portable Minute, just add back a few breaths. Or go back to the Portable Minute, or even the Basic Minute. It's perfectly fine to complete this course at your own pace. There's no point in getting stressed about it.

The biggest challenge you will face, as you get closer to the moment, is to believe you can achieve something so significant—a change of mind—so quickly. For the next six days, I will be explaining what a moment really is, why it is inherently miraculous and why it really is possible to meditate in one. This next section of the course is fairly philosophical, but my goal is practical—to help you understand just how much is possible.

For today, reduce your Portable Minute by one. Then keep reducing that count in your own time, one breath at a time.


Martin Boroson is a playful, practical new voice in the next wave of meditation teachers. Author of One-Moment Meditation: Stillness for People on the Go, he lectures on the benefits of a meditative mind for decision-making and leadership. Marty studied philosophy at Yale, earned an MBA from the Yale School of Management and is a formal student of Zen. Visit his website for One-Moment Meditation® help and resources, tweet him at @takeamoment or find him on Facebook.

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Did you reduce your Portable Minute today? How did it go? Let us know—leave your comments and questions below!

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