Mindfulness

Mindfulness

Mindfulness is an amazing tool for stress management and overall wellness because it can be used at virtually any time and can quickly bring lasting results.

Mindfulness is a mind-body medicine practice, based on ancient Zen Buddhist meditation techniques, that was popularized by Jon Kabat-Zinn, a researcher at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. According to Kabat-Zinn, mindfulness is an internal resource that all of us already have within us. The idea is to channel or direct this resource to transform our relationships with stress, emotions, pain, and illness. Indeed, controlled research studies suggest that mindfulness-based interventions can effectively reduce symptoms in people with chronic pain, recurrent depression, anxiety disorders, substance abuse, binge-eating, and many other health conditions. Mindfulness interventions have also been shown to change the brain’s grey matter and reactivity to emotional stimuli in ways that promote greater conscious control over emotion.

Many people are confused about what exactly mindfulness is. Does it involve emptying the brain of thoughts, inducing relaxation, or going into a trance? It is essential for our well-being to take a few minutes each day to cultivate mental spaciousness and a positive mind-body balance. That is taking time for mindfulness.

Try using these simple, practical mindfulness exercises to empty your mind and find some much-needed stress relief and calm, present awareness amidst the madness of your hectic day.

1. One Minute Breathing

This exercise can be done anywhere at any time, standing up or sitting down. All you have to do is focus on your breath for just one minute. Start by breathing in and out slowly, holding your breath for a count of six once you’ve inhaled. Then breathe out slowly, letting the breath flow effortlessly out back into the atmosphere.

Naturally your mind will try and wander amidst the valleys of its thoughts, but simply notice these thoughts, let them be for what they are and return to watching your breath.

Literally watch your breath with your senses as it enters your body and fills you with life, and then watch it work its way up and out of your body as the energy dissipates into the universe.

2. Mindful Observation

Pick a natural organism within your immediate environment and focus on watching it for a minute or two. This could be a flower or an insect, the clouds or the moon.

Don’t do anything except notice the thing you are looking at. But really notice it. Look at it as if you are seeing it for the first time.

Visually explore veery aspect of this glorious organism of the natural world. Allow yourself to be consumed by its presence and possibilities.

3. Touch Points

This exercise is designed to make us appreciate our lives by slowing the pace down and resting in the moment for a while.

Think of something that happens every day more than once, something you take for granted, like opening a door for example. At the very moment you touch the door knob to open the door, allow yourself to be completely mindful of where you are, how you feel and what you are doing. Similarly, the moment you open your computer to start work, take a moment to appreciate the hands that let you do this, and the brain that will help you use the computer.

The cues don’t have to be physical ones. It could be that every time you think something negative you take a mindful moment to release the negative thought, or it could be that every time you smell food you take a mindful moment to rest in the appreciation of having food to eat.

Choose a touch point that resonates with you today. Instead of going through the motions on auto-pilot, stop and stay in the moment for a while and rest in the awareness of this daily activity.

4. Mindful Listening

This exercise is designed to open your ears to sound in a non-judgmental way. Select a new piece of music from your music collection, something you’ve never heard before but makes you wonder what it might sound like.

Close your eyes and use headphones if you can. Allow yourself to get lost in the journey of sound for the duration of the song. Allow yourself to explore the intricacies of the music. Let your awareness climb inside the track and play among the sound waves.

The idea is to just listen and allow yourself to become fully entwined with what is being played/sung, without preconception or judgment of the genre, artist, lyrics, instrumentation or its origin.

5. Fully Experiencing a Regular Routine

The intention of this exercise is to cultivate contentedness in the moment, rather than finding yourself caught up in that familiar feeling of wanting something to end so that you can get on to doing something else. It might even make you enjoy some of those boring daily chores too!

Take a regular routine that you find yourself “just doing” without really noticing your actions. For example, when cleaning your house, pay attention to every detail of the activity.  Rather than a routine job or chore, create an entirely new experience by noticing every aspect of your actions.  Feel and become the motion of sweeping the floor, notice the muscles you use when scrubbing the dishes, observe the formation of dirt on the windows and see if you can create a more efficient way of removing it.

Mindfulness Exercises That Each Take Less Than 1 Minute

1. Two mindful bites.

Instead of attempting to do mindful eating all the time, try mindful eating for the first two bites of any meal or snack.

For the first two bites of any meal or snack you eat, pay attention to the sensory experiences - the texture, taste, smell, and appearance of the food, and the sounds when you bite into your food.

You don't need to savor per se, you're just paying attention to your sensory experience in an experiential rather than evaluative way. 

2. What one breath feels like.

Instead of formal meditation, try paying attention to what one breath feels like.

Feel the sensations of one breath flowing into and out from your body. Notice the sensations in your nostrils, your shoulders, your rib cage, your belly etc.

3. Take a mindful moment to give your brain a break instead of checking your email.

Instead of checking your email, spend a few seconds watching out the window. Use mindfulness to give your brain a break rather than filling up every tiny space in your day by automatically reaching to check your email.

4. Air on exposed skin.

Pay attention to the feeling of air on your skin for 10-60 seconds. This is best done when wearing short sleeves or with some skin exposed. Maybe just the feel of the air on your bare hand.

5. Scan your body.

Scan your body from top to toe for any sensations of discomfort or tension. Attempt to soften to the sensations of discomfort. Next, scan your body for any sensations of comfort or ease.

6. Do one action mindfully.

Pick an action you do at the same time everyday and plan to do that action mindfully. For example, getting into the car or drinking your coffee.

7. Using mindfulness cues

In this exercise you focus your attention on your breathing whenever a specific environmental cue occurs. For example, whenever you hear the phone ring, you bring your attention into the present moment and stay focused on your breath.

Simply choose a cue that works for you. Perhaps you will choose to become mindful every time you look in the mirror. Perhaps it will be every time your hands touch each other. Perhaps it will be every time you hear a bird.

Mindfulness cues are an excellent mindfulness technique that are designed to snap you out of the unconscious “autopilot” state of mind and bring you back into the present moment.

Mindfulness in Everyday Life

• Bring yourself into the present by deliberately adopting an erect and dignified posture.
• Then ask yourself: "What is going on with me at the moment?"
• You simply allow yourself to observe whatever happens. Label any thoughts that you have and then leave them alone....just be prepared to let them float away. Attend to your breathing or simply take in your surroundings instead.
• Besides thoughts, there may be sounds you hear, bodily sensations that you are aware of. If you find yourself constantly elaborating on thoughts, rather than labelling them and returning to the neutral, remember to observe your breathing.
• When emotions or memories of painful events occur, don’t allow yourself to become caught up by them.  Give them short labels such as “that’s a sad feeling”, “that’s an angry feeling” and then just allow them to drift or float away. These memories and feelings will gradually decrease in intensity and frequency.
• More importantly, you will begin to identify yourself as an objective observer or witness rather than a person who is disturbed by these thoughts and feelings.