I always like to suggest a ‘sandwich’ of practice – setting aside meditation time morning and evening, plus pausing to take many ‘mindful moments’ and during the day. Your current routine is a habit that you may need to change, and that process will require discipline at first, but then becomes a new habit. You're probably going to have to prioritise getting well over other things, like your work pattern.

Here is a suggested routine:

First thing in the morning:

• Get up 10+ minutes earlier than usual. This creates a space for yourself.
• Find or create a calm, tidy, quiet place to practice.
• Start with say 5 minutes of stretching or yoga and some deep breaths (extend this to 20-30 minutes when you feel you can).
• Now do at least a 5-minute practice such as mindful breathing or the body scan (extend this to 20-30 minutes when you feel you can). l've shown you how in Section 2, and you can use the guided practice mp3s.
• Make an intention, and say it out loud, 3 times - for example “I will be calm and kind today”.

During the day:

• Find many moments to pause, taking a few mindful breaths, to re-centre and recharge (see more later).
• When stresses hit or you’re feeling low or anxious, this is exactly the time to use your mindfulness practice!
• Integrate being mindfully present into mundane tasks – like mindful washing up, mindful walking down the supermarket aisle, or mindfully being stuck in traffic. Any activity is a chance to practice.
• Eat and drink mindfully (see more on this in the diet notes in section 6).
• You can do this anywhere. As long as you’re alive, you can tune in to your breathing and calm down quickly.
• At some point, fit in a minimum of 30 minutes exercise (see notes in section 6).
• Find time for things that feed you, like being in nature, artwork, music, socialising.

In the evening:

• Structure in at least 5 minutes calm, quiet, undisturbed time (extend this to 20-30 minutes when you feel you can).
• Choose a practice that suits you, but in particular try the body scan.
• Consciously let go of the stresses of the day.
• Look back and recall the positives.
• Set yourself up for a good sleep (see Section 6 on this too).

Every moment is an opportunity to practice. Wherever we are, and whatever we’re doing, we’re breathing, and our innate capacity for awareness is always switched on.

This means that at any time that we choose, we can tune in to our mindfulness practice.

All we need, to practice, is to know that we are alive, that we have a body, and that we’re breathing. We don’t need a special cushion, incense, music, or dimmed lights, nor do we need to be in a special place. We don’t need to be in the right mood. Right here and right now will always do. The only tool you need is curiosity.

In your daily schedule, start to introduce pauses. This may only require 30 seconds, although 3 minutes is fantastic if you can do it. You might start with just one pause in the morning and one in the afternoon. As you observe the benefit this has, you might do it more often. If it helps, use one of the quick audio downloads and plug in the headphones.

Most of us need some kind of reminder to pause and do the practices. So try out a number of triggers and see what feels comfortable and sustainable.

For example, pause, even for one mindful breath:

• every time you make a drink or raise it to your lips
• before you turn the key to the front door or car
• before you move to another room
• before you answer back
• before you make a phone call
• before you hit ‘send’ with emails (you might find yourself re-drafting in a more empathetic way)
• every time you stand up
• every time you go to the bathroom

I also find it useful to have visual reminders, for example a post-it note with a smiley face on my laptop, a buddha statue by my desk, a vase of flowers. Make a list of ideas, and see what works best for you.

Here's a quick guided practice you could use if you like:

Habits are simply strong neural pathways; nothing more. What we do and think today is most likely just what we did yesterday! That goes for how we brush our teeth, the mug we like to drink from, and how we behave with our family.

What’s exciting is that habits can change, depending on the complexity of the action, in 60-90 days (averaging the length of a typical mindfulness course) as long as the new habit is followed every day.

Establishing new behaviours, (such as bringing down your stress when things go wrong) is actually possible (and will happen if you practice!). So to start with, and to gain confidence in the process, start with one, simple thing that will have a positive effect.

Choose your first habit breaker. For example, in the way you get to work – maybe you could cycle instead of driving, park in a different car park so you get two minutes mindful walking time, go through or beside a park and notice the seasons changing – anything which challenges the habitual, and maybe makes space for some mindful grounding ‘you time’. Here are some ground rules:

• have a clear vision of the positive effect the change will make
• write down the thing you’re going to do, which describes what you’ll do differently and why the change is a good idea
• note any obstacles and what you can do about them
• note down what positive effects the change will have
• tell someone else, and ask them to check how it’s going

• plan a reward for yourself after every 10 days
• stay mindful of the urge to go back to the old habit, accepting the discomfort and being aware of its presence (but don’t give it importance)
• do this for at least 30 days – with clear start and finish dates
• now review – what effect has this change made?
• do you feel that the new habit is established?
• decide if you will continue and for how long

‘Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones.’ Benjamin Franklin

Good book:

Kabat-Zinn  ‘Meditation is Not What You Think’

It is common to release a huge burst of stress hormones within minutes after waking. This can affect us for the whole day. The stress hormone cortisol, for example, is very persistent in the bloodstream. So, it's really useful to get the day off on the right track from the first moment.

I've had some personal challenges to cope with in my life, and what I'm about to share has helped me through these difficult times.

The first moments of consciousness on waking follow a particular pattern. First of all, there’s a kind of innocent, open quality – similar to when you’re staying away from home, and for a second or two you can’t think where you are. This is actually a great moment to tune in to our naturally ‘unformatted’ consciousness.

The second thing that happens is that we remember who we are and all our problems can come flooding back in. We may replay internal conversations and worries from the night before, or recall a stressful situation we've been through or anticipate.

The third thing that arises, within a second or less, is the emotional response to all that mental confusion. It can be overwhelming. So we need a powerful practice to counteract the negativity and the stress that can result – and we need to deploy it really quickly.

So here is my formula, that you start doing as soon as you are conscious:

1) Gratitude. Think of one thing you are thankful for. It can be as simple as waking up safe and warm, or having food in the fridge, or having the loving support of someone close. Recognise how much we take for granted. For example, your body’s systems have kept you breathing without any conscious effort all night, and your blood’s pH level has been maintained perfectly, all by itself. Our bodies truly are miraculous.

2) Get perspective. Ask yourself this question: ‘Am I happy to be alive?’ Even if you have challenges, or are suffering anxiety or depression, are you nevertheless grateful to experience this life as a conscious human being? This question helps me realise that whatever difficulties are present, they are temporary and in a state of constant change, that it’s all just ‘noise’. The bigger picture is that I’m actually okay, I just have stuff to deal with.

Your answer to the question, 'Am I happy to be alive?' will probably be ‘yes’. If your answer is ‘no’, however, get help – you’re probably suffering acute anxiety or depression and you may not have the resources to get out of it by yourself, so get expert help.

3) Get up and move. If you feel stuck mentally, the body feels it too. You can, however, reverse the whole thing by moving your body. Yoga, exercise, a brisk walk or a run, can be hugely effective, partly due to the well-documented dopamine release. If you are indoors, opening the window will help, but ideally get outside, into nature if possible or just the local park. While you are there, use all your senses take in your environment and make this sensory experience the focus of your attention.