This timer runs for three minutes and rings at zero. Three minutes is the length of a well-known mindfulness exercise, the three-minute breathing space, and a handy unit for everyday things: steeping a cup of tea, a round of stretches, or a pause before you answer a difficult message.
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy includes a short practice called the three-minute breathing space. Roughly, it moves in three steps: notice what is going on in your mind and body, narrow your attention to the breath, then widen it again to the whole body. It is designed to fit into an ordinary day, which makes it a good use of a short break.
Messages that annoy us tend to get answered fast and regretted later. Starting a three-minute countdown before replying gives the first reaction time to settle. Read the message once, start the timer, do something else with your hands, and write your answer after the alarm. It is usually shorter and calmer than the first draft would have been.
Plenty of daily tasks run on a few minutes: tea, a face mask, a rest between sets at the gym. Keep this tab in front while you wait: the remaining time is always right when you come back to it, but in a background tab some browsers can delay the alarm by up to a minute unless a background sound is playing, and a minute late is a lot on a three-minute tea.
It depends on the tea and the packaging advice, but black tea is often steeped for about 3 to 5 minutes. Three minutes gives a lighter cup.
It is not a cure for anything, but a short, structured pause is an easy way to step out of autopilot between two demanding tasks.
Yes. The 10 minute timer suits a beginner meditation, and Pomodorian's article on meditation during breaks describes a simple protocol.
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