Después de meditar cinco minutos, respiro profundamente y mis hombros se relajan ligeramente.

After meditating for five minutes, I breathe deeply and my shoulders relax slightly.

Breakdown of Después de meditar cinco minutos, respiro profundamente y mis hombros se relajan ligeramente.

• yo: I
• mi: my
• y: and
• después de: after

Questions & Answers about Después de meditar cinco minutos, respiro profundamente y mis hombros se relajan ligeramente.

Why is it después de meditar and not something like después que medito?

In Spanish, when you say after doing X (with a verb in general, not tied to any specific subject), the normal pattern is:

• después de + infinitive

So:

• Después de meditar = After meditating / After I meditate

You can say después de que medito or después de que medito, respiro…, but that sounds more like a specific, personal routine and is less compact. The version with the infinitive is:

• more neutral and general
• very common in written and spoken Spanish

Compare:

• Después de comer, me siento mejor. – After eating, I feel better.
• Después de estudiar, salgo con mis amigos. – After studying, I go out with my friends.

Why is there no article before cinco minutos? Why not después de meditar por los cinco minutos?

In Spanish, with lengths of time used as a duration, you normally don’t use an article:

• cinco minutos – five minutes
• tres horas – three hours
• dos semanas – two weeks

So:

• Después de meditar cinco minutos = After meditating (for) five minutes

Using los cinco minutos would usually mean something like “those particular five minutes / all five of those minutes”, which is not what we want here.

Also, por is usually omitted in this kind of duration expression:

• Medité cinco minutos. (more natural)
• Medité por cinco minutos. (possible, but less common / necessary)