Doing this for 20 seconds a day can relieve stress and anxiety

(CNN) – A devoted meditator, Eli Susman wanted to deepen his practice, and his meditation journey took him across the world. He spent a month at Plum Village, a mindfulness practice center in southern France run by Buddhist monks focused on honing the art of mindful living.Susman expected to spend most of the retreat in hours-long meditation sessions, but to his surprise, he found the schedule only allotted 30 minutes of formal meditation practice.Related Stories Used to much longer meditation sessions, Susman began to shift his mindset after later speaking with one of the monks. Instead of three hours of meditating, the monk advised him that three breaths were all it took to tune in to the present moment.“This struck me,” Susman told CNN. “What if three breaths or about 20 seconds is really enough to make a difference in people’s lives?”Susman, now a doctoral candidate in psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, tested his theory in a study published in April in the journal Behaviour Research and Therapy. He sought to find out whether a quick moment of self-compassionate touch – soothing yourself through physical contact – could induce similar mental health benefits as meditation, which usually requires...