Written by Jen Liu

“When you cultivate this spirit of constant renewal, a gentle resilience manifests within your practice. You spend less time tripped up on judging how your last few breaths went; instead, you simply remember there's another one coming — a new chance to try again — and use it to take a fresh start.”

For time spent both on and off the cushion, just about anyone can benefit from practicing the art of what we call "taking a fresh start." Doing this during mindfulness meditation means treating each new breath as if it were a reset button, a new opportunity to direct your awareness with intention and precision, even if you just spent several minutes lost in a daydream.

When you cultivate this spirit of constant renewal, a gentle resilience manifests within your practice. You spend less time tripped up on judging how your last few breaths went; instead, you simply remember there's another one coming — a new chance to try again — and use it to take a fresh start.

Another way to take a fresh start during meditation is by adjusting your physical posture. Meditation can sometimes be uncomfortable for the body, but it shouldn't be painful, and it's up to you to assess whether any discomfort you experience is within a healthy growth zone or if it's an absentminded accumulation of slackening or gripping.

If you notice you've started slouching in your seat or rigidly holding your posture to the point of pain, it can be good to apply the wisdom of a fresh start to get yourself back into a skillful, intentional position before continuing on with your mindfulness meditation instructions.

The art of taking a fresh start can look like applying gentleness moment to moment during a meditation session, but we can also practice it day to day, week to week, month to month. When our commitment to studying or practicing meditation rubs up against the stuff of life and wavers a bit, we can apply the kindness of taking a fresh start by not fixating on the ways in which we think we've failed. Instead, we can renew our intentions as though it were day one of being a meditation student and get back into it. Each fresh new breath is freed from the one that came before it, and it is within this orientation towards the present moment that our practice truly manifests.