A Tiny 5-Minute Meditation for ADHD Brains and Distracted Days

Here’s a “tiny” five-minute meditation I developed for myself and keep coming back to on days when I struggle to focus on a typical guided meditation or a longer, unstructured session. It could be useful for anyone, but if your brain fits the ADHD pattern like mine seems to, it may be especially helpful.

What You’ll Need: An Interval Timer

The first step is to find a timer or an app with an intermittent bell that sounds at regular intervals, known as an “interval timer”. I use The Waking Up App, which is full of tons of great guided meditations and thoughtful commentary, but also includes a perfect timer for this. There are other options on the app store—just search for “interval timer”.

The Practice: One Minute Per Sensation

1. Set the ending alarm for 5 minutes and the interval for 1 minute.
    
2. Start the timer. Close your eyes and pick something to focus on. I like to start with whatever I can see behind my closed eyes. Try to sustain this focus for just one minute.
    
3. Each time the bell tolls, switch to another sense to focus on. You can rotate through each of the 5 senses (touch, taste, sight, smell, hearing), or you can dive deeper into the sensation of breathing, your internal heartbeat, or checking in on the emotions in your chest.

Why This Helps When Focus Is Hard

If you’re like me, even just one minute can be a lot to sustain on a single sensation without your mind wandering. Often when trying to meditate, I struggle with choosing what to focus on and second guessing my choice. And with guided meditations, I often struggle to pay attention to the voice. But with this approach, I feel better knowing that I am not neglecting some part of my experience. The fact that I will be visiting each sense allows me to let go of the others while I focus my attention on one.

Small Wins You Can Build On

It’s still a challenge to focus without my mind wandering for one minute straight, but it’s not unattainable by any means, so I get a little win that I can feel good about and build on each time I make it to the next bell.

And if your mind does wander, that’s okay too. Just use it as another opportunity for mindfulness and return to your subject of focus without judgement or self-criticism.

If this technique helped you, please drop a comment below or share it with someone else you think might benefit!