Become a Certified Mindfulness Teacher · partial scholarships available Learn More →

    New episode

    Permission To Wiggle Counts As Meditation, with Jennifer Moffitt (Mindful Birthing)

    October 6, 20264 minHosted by Sean Fargo

    Listen to this episode

    Mindfulness Exercises Podcast

    Enjoying the episode?

    Follow the show in your podcast app. If this conversation supports your practice, a rating or review helps more listeners find it.

    Apple Podcasts (opens in a new tab)Spotify (opens in a new tab)
    Share

    About this episode

    The practice opens not with stillness but with movement — a wiggle, a stretch, whatever the body happens to ask for. Jennifer Moffitt borrows a phrase from Resmaa Menakem, author of My Grandmother's Hands: you don't need permission. To be unpermissioned is to let the body speak before the mind arranges it into order, to treat a small adjustment as part of the work rather than an interruption of it. From there the attention settles onto contact points — feet on the floor, body on the chair, hands in the lap — and then onto the breath, which Moffitt describes as always in the present moment, with us from the first moments of life until the last. The instruction is to change nothing. The breath may be smooth or choppy, slow or fast. Sustaining attention for one full in-breath, noticing the pause, following one full out-breath. When the mind wanders into planning or judging, the response is not correction but congratulation for noticing, then a quiet escort back. The closing observation is the plainest one: a whole day can pass in shallow, rushed breathing without being noticed at all, until a single deeper breath reveals how long the pattern has gone unmet.

    Key takeaways

    • Movement can precede stillness; the body is consulted before it is quieted.
    • Needing no permission is a somatic cue, not only a thought.
    • The breath is always in the present moment, and asks for no changing.
    • Noticing a wandering mind is itself the moment of waking up.
    • An entire day of shallow breathing can pass unnoticed until one deep breath.

    Reflection questions

    • What does your body ask for when you let it move before settling?
    • Where do you notice yourself waiting for permission that was never required?
    • What changes when you observe the breath without trying to alter it?
    • How often does rushing become a pattern you only recognise afterward?
    • What might it mean to greet a wandering mind with congratulation rather than correction?

    Show notes

    Jennifer Moffitt guides a short mindfulness practice that begins with movement and ends with a calmer, clearer connection to breath and body.

     We focus on permission, presence, and a gentle way to return when the mind wanders.
     
    • settling into breath and body awareness as a quick reset 
    • letting the body wiggle or stretch before stillness 
    • taking “no permission needed” seriously as a somatic cue 
    • feeling contact points to ground attention 
    • using the breath as an anchor in the present moment 
    • noticing pauses and cycles without changing the breath 
    • responding to distraction with kindness and returning again 
    • recognising daily patterns of shallow breathing and rushing 

    Transcript

    Show transcript· 2 min read

    <a class="no-underline" href="#arriving-with-breath-awareness">Arriving With Breath Awareness</a>

    And so we just experience a little breath and body awareness together right now. I'll lead us in this brief mindfulness practice.

    <a class="no-underline" href="#wiggle-stretch-no-permission-needed">Wiggle, Stretch, No Permission Needed</a>

    Maybe letting yourself have a little wiggle or a little stretch. Whatever your body is asking for on its way to some relative stillness. One of the things that Resma Menekim, who wrote my grandmother's hands, one of the things he says is you don't need permission. So letting ourselves be unpermissioned right now and just responding to whatever the body is asking for.

    <a class="no-underline" href="#settle-into-posture-and-contact">Settle Into Posture And Contact</a>

    And then when you're ready, maybe coming to a sitting or standing or laying down posture, feeling the body connect with the surface beneath, perhaps feet on the floor, body on the chair, hands in the lap. What is here to be sensed right now in terms of contact points? Choosing an anchor in this moment.

    <a class="no-underline" href="#breath-as-the-present-moment-anchor">Breath As The Present-Moment Anchor</a>

    Maybe the anchor is the breath, the breath which is always in the present moment. Seeing if it's possible to sustain the attention for one complete in-breath. Noticing the pause between the in-breath and the outbreath. Non-sustaining the attention for one complete out breath. The breath is with us and within us from the first moments of life until the last. And the breath is always in the present moment. Not trying to change the breath in any way. It might be slow or fast, smooth or choppy. Just letting go of trying completely. Just being here with this breath, with this body, however it is.

    <a class="no-underline" href="#wandering-minds-and-gentle-return">Wandering Minds And Gentle Return</a>

    And anytime you notice that the mind has wandered away into thinking or planning story making or judging, not a problem. Just congratulating yourself for waking up to where the mind is. Escorting the mind back to this breath, this body.

    <a class="no-underline" href="#closing-reflection-and-a-deeper-breath">Closing Reflection And A Deeper Breath</a>

    And as this brief period of practice comes to a close, perhaps just appreciating yourself for showing up in this way today, bringing curiosity to the felt sense of being alive in this moment. And acknowledging that you're cultivating deep inner resources that can serve you as your life continues to unfold. So when you're ready, opening the eyes if they've been closed, it's amazing how we can go through the whole day and not realize that that has been a pattern throughout the day. And then, wow, maybe I just took my first deep breath of the day.

    Professional training

    Accredited mindfulness teacher certification

    Trusted by teachers in 100+ countries

    Structured training, CE credits for eligible pay-in-full registrants, and support for teaching without self-doubt — after you have explored this episode.

    Explore certification

    More episodes

    Browse all