A simple visualization technique to charge your mind in the breaks between Pomodoros

I assume you are into structuring your work in terms of Pomodoros, and the five minutes breaks. I also assume you have familiarity with the RYP tool.

During the breaks between Pomodoros, you can easily practice mediation for 5 minutes. For this, you just require a place to look at a wall or space, which does not distract you. Otherwise, you can fix a A4 sheet 3 or 4 feet away from where you are sitting. And focus on the centre of the page. Keep your eyes open. Then finally visualize your self as a little moon of 1 mm size.

Suggest yourself the following thought: I am that little moon.

You can play relaxation music, if you wish, while practising the visualization exercise.

There will be certainly distractions when you are a beginner. There will be failures. But, once you start experiencing yourself being that little moon, you are on the path of success in practising meditation. This also means, you have improved your ability to concentrate and focus on the little moon. This also means you have improved on withdrawing from your other thoughts.

You can add the suggested thought "I am a little moon" as a title in your inventory of activities in the RYP tool. Also indicate it to be an activity of ToDo today activities. When you are on the work, try practising the above method that I have desribed.

Problems with JRE

The download does not include JRE. It assumes that your computer is already installed.

You need JRE 5 or later. Most preferable is JRE 6.

You can download and install JRE from Sun/Oracle's download link. You also need to decide JRE suitable to your computer's processor.

How can you improve breaks in between Pomodoro?

The breaks between Pomodoros are meant for recharging the mind.

The refreshment of the mind is by complete withdawal from the tasks/work. So many people think, such withdrawal means answering to the emails, browsing the internet on favorite topics, chatting, twittering, etc.

There is also a concentrated way by which you can withdraw. This could be by listening to relaxation music, physical yoga/exercise, breathing exercises or meditation/Raja yoga.

Why is a Pomodoro important?

A Pomodoro is a means for introducing breaks during work. It is also a means for introducing a discipline to your work, and to your breaks.

A Pomodoro is a unit of time for managing/monitoring your efficiency and success for 25 minutes. During a Pomodoro, you are disciplinig yourself to have focus on a single goal. The goal may pertain to a task. To realize that focus, you are discipling yourself to minimize internal and external interrupts.

When you do all of that during a Pomodoro,its easy to judge your success. You can review your Pomodoros to improve your performance.

You can also review your breaks to check its quality to charge your mind for the next Pomodoro.

Benefits of focusing on Pomodoros

A good challenge is to get you fully focused with one single goal, and without any interrupts, either internal or external while working on a Pomodoro.

If you succeed in that, you can think about further impoving your focus for the next/future Pomodoros. As you attempt to improve your focus further, you will be more attentive, enthusiastic, and charged with enthusiasm. As you keep succeeding with your Pomodoros, your level of satisfaction grows. More success with your Pomodoros implies more productivity. The more successful you feel about your Pomodoros, the more successful you feel about your day.

The Pomodoros help you to keep away anxiety or pressure of work. If you have deadlines to meet, increase the no of Pomodoros for a day. Increasing the no, shall not be at the cost of losing your balance to get into the stress and fatigue.

Why I created Raja Yogi's Pomodoro?

I started practising Raja Yoga(RY) from 1990. One often theme in RY is to take small breaks of 1, 2 or 3 minutes to stay in silence, while on work.

Though RY recommended 3 minute breaks at some fixed times during the day, it did not suggest a specific plan of 5 minutes break after an atomic activity(Pomodoro) of 25 minutes as in the Pomodoro technique.

The Pomodoro technique's idea of 5 minutes break, helped me to improve my RY practice. To support that improved RY practice, I conceived the Raja Yogi's Pomodoro tool. I also intended the tool to support other practices of RY, along with the support for the Pomodoro technique.