6초 명상, 행동적 반응, 6초 호흡, 멘탈, 자극과 반응 사이 공간 6초, Just 6 Seconds of Mindfulness Can Make You More Effective
아주 간단한 호흡 명상법
6초간 코로 숨을 들이쉬고, 6초간 입으로 숨을 내쉰다
이렇게 5번의 호흡을 반복하는데 필요한 시간은 딱 1분
* (6초 ×2) ×5=60초(1분)
머리가 복잡할 때,
중요한 의사결정을 내려야 할 때,
화가 나거나 감정이 컨트롤되지 않을 때,
잠시 혼자 조용한 곳으로 가거나 이어폰으로 조용한 음악을 틀고,
1분간만 눈을 감고, 6초간의 들숨과 날숨에 집중해 보세요.
그렇게 1분이 지나면 나도 모르게 분주했던 마음이나 이유 없이 불편했던 감정들로부터 자유로워지는 자신을 발견할 수 있다.
쉬워 보이지만,
막상 해보면 6초 동안 고르게 숨을 쉬는 게 결코 쉽지 않다는 사실을 느낄 수 있다. 여러 가지 상황에 의해 우리는 호흡이 불규칙해져 있고, 그렇기에 삶의 패턴도 더 혼란스럽게 흘러갈 수 있겠지요. 반대로 호흡을 고르게 통제하면 마음이 차분해지고, 정신이 집중되면서 오히려 내면을 안정화시킬 수 있게 되며, 평온함 속에서 자신에게 더 중요한 것에 집중할 수 있는 여유
6초 명상법을 실천하면 여러 가지 긍정적인 효과
1) 잡념이 사라진다.
2) 스트레스가 사라진다.
3) 집중력이 높아진다.
4) 건강해진다.
5) 자신의 몸과 정신에 대한 통제력이 높아진다.
호흡은 우리 몸에서 유일하게 통계가능한 '자율신경계'. 자율신경계란 심장이나 위, 대장처럼 생명을 유지하기 위해 뇌가 자율적(무의식적)으로 통제하는 신경계.(팔, 다리처럼 우리가 생각해서 움직일 수 있는 신경은 '운동신경') 자율신경계는 무의식적으로 작동합니다. 그런데 유독 호흡만은 우리가 참거나 그 길이를 조절할 수 있다. 그런 의미에서 호흡을 의식하고 통제하는 과정을 통해 우리는 무의식적인 영역을 보다 광범위하게 통제하는 힘을 얻게 된다.
6) 시간의 밀도가 높아진다.
구체적인 실천방법
1) 6초간 천천히 코로 숨을 들이쉬고, 6초간 천천히 입으로 숨을 내쉰다.
2) 숨을 쉴 때는 복식호흡을 한다.
3) 내쉴 때에는 입으로 실을 뽑는다는 느낌으로 가볍게 '오'하는 입모양으로 숨을 내뱉는다.
4) 기본 1분을 시작으로, 5분, 10분 등 자신이 원하는 시간을 정해두고 매일 꾸준히 실천한다.(처음에는 짧게 하더라도 꾸준히 매일 습관을 들이는 것이 우선)
5) 이때 몸은 편안한 자세로 앉아 허리와 목을 바로 세우고, 손은 가볍게 무릎에 올리거나, 손바닥을 위로 향한 채 양손을 포갠다.
6) 시선은 살짝 아래쪽을 본다는 느낌으로 지그시 눈을 감고, 입은 가볍게 미소 짓는 느낌이면 좋다.
시간대별 활용법
* 기상명상 : 잠에서 깬 직후에 5분간 명상하고 최고의 하루를 시작해 보세요.(누운 상태로)
* 식후명상 : 식사 후에 다시 일과를 시작하기에 앞서 명상하는 시간을 가지면, 식곤증이 줄어들고, 집중력이 높아집니다.
* 독서명상 : 책을 읽기 전에 6초 명상을 하고 시작하면 독서효율이 상당히 높아집니다.
* 야근명상 : 늦은 시간 해야 할 일은 많은데, 피곤해서 집중이 안될 때 활용해 보세요.
* 취침명상 : 자기 전에 내일 일어날 가장 기분 좋고 멋진 일들을 떠올리며 명상해 보세요.(누운 상태로)
Just 6 Seconds of Mindfulness Can Make You More Effective
Some days it’s really draining to be a senior executive. You sit in meetings for hours on end, and every decision you need to make is difficult — all of the easy decisions have already been made at levels below you. On those days, you know you could be a much more effective leader if you could approach each meeting with a fresh perspective. But in order to do that, you first need to put down the baggage you carried in from all your previous meetings. You can do it. And you can do it in just six seconds.
I led the creation of a Google training program called ”Search Inside Yourself,” which was designed to help people put down that mental baggage and approach each new situation with a present, focused mind. It quickly became the most highly rated course in all of Google, with huge waiting lists. Search Inside Yourself works in three steps. It begins with attention training to create a quality of mind that is calm and clear. We then focus on developing a depth of self-knowledge that leads to self-mastery, because when you can clearly and objectively see when and how you are triggered, you can begin to effectively deploy mental and emotional strategies to skillfully navigate those situations. Finally, we cultivate mental skills such as empathy and compassion, which are conducive to better social skills.
Many participants have told us that they became better leaders and gained subsequent promotions thanks to the skills they learned from Search Inside Yourself. For example, one engineering executive learned to manage his temper and gain increased clarity by, in his words, “learning to discern stories from reality.” He became so effective that he was promoted, even after transitioning to a part-time role. Another participant learned to handle stress so much better that her physical health visibly improved. A sales executive, already a good communicator due to the nature of his job, learned that when he listened with empathy, spoke with moral courage, and held a caring attitude for the person he was interacting with, he became an even more effective communicator and executive. Over and over again, our participants tell us the training changed their lives.
How to bring calm and focus to your work routine.
These skills did not take long to learn. In every example above, the benefits were realized with fewer than 50 hours of training. But getting the training’s earliest benefits doesn’t even require 50 hours.
My colleague Karen May, vice president at Google, developed the ability to mentally recharge by taking one “mindful breath” before walking into every meeting. It takes her roughly six seconds, and in that time she brings her full attention to one breath, resetting her body and mind.
There are two reasons why taking just one mindful breath is so effective at calming the body and the mind. The physiological reason is that breaths taken mindfully tend to be slow and deep, which stimulates the vagus nerve, activating the parasympathetic nervous system. It lowers stress, reduces heart rate and blood pressure, and calms you down. The psychological reason is that when you put your attention intensely on the breath, you are fully in the present for the duration of the breath. To feel regretful, you need to be in the past; to worry, you need to be in the future. Hence, when you are fully in the present, you are temporarily free from regret and worry. That’s like releasing a heavy burden for the duration of one breath, allowing the body and mind a precious opportunity for rest and recovery.
This skill is used by some of the world’s best athletes. For example, I once asked tennis superstar Novak Djokovic about it, and he confirmed that the mental technique has game-changing consequences (literally, for him). The ability to reset and calm the body and mind in mere seconds is how athletes like Djokovic sustain high performance for extended periods.
The ability to calm the body and mind on demand has profound implications for leadership. Imagine that you’re responding to a severe crisis with your peers and everybody but you is frazzled, because you alone can calm down and think clearly. The ability to think calmly under fire is a hallmark of great leadership. The training and deployment of this skill involves paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally. The more you bring this quality of attention to your breath, the more you strengthen the parts of your brain involved with attention and executive control, principally the prefrontal cortex.
This ability is one in a collection of mental and emotional skills that form the foundation of highly effective leadership. Another such skill is the ability to assess yourself accurately, beginning with your moment-to-moment experience of emotions, and culminating in you clearly knowing your strengths, weaknesses, and purpose in life. Studies show that accurate self-assessment is a necessary condition for outstanding leadership because it enables people to build effective teams around them that add to their strengths, complement their weaknesses, and contribute to a clear, common purpose.
Learning to calm the mind starts with being more mindful of the body. By bringing mindful attention to the body, you strengthen the part of your brain called the insula, which is highly correlated with strong emotional awareness and empathy. When combined with practices such as journaling, this improves self-assessment, and when combined with practices such as mindful listening, it strengthens empathy, all of which lead to higher emotional intelligence.
Even if your company doesn’t have a mindfulness training course like Search Inside Yourself, you can begin to benefit with your first mindful breath, in the first six seconds. Try it today, and see how much more present, effective, and productive you can be.