Three Simple Mindfulness Exercises
Three simple mindfulness exercises
We can improve our mindfulness skills by practicing them. We learn to engage all of our senses through exercises and meditations in order to be completely present in our life, work, and relationships. To get started, try these three basic mindfulness exercises.
Jon Kabat-Zinn defines mindfulness as "deliberately paying attention without judgment.
For many of us, being genuinely present is a foreign concept. Our daily life and surroundings have made it simple to zone out. We can spend sections of the day on autopilot, arriving at a place with little recollection of the travel; browsing on our phones while dining; or planning our response rather than genuinely listening to someone.
Mindfulness is a life skill that teaches us to pay attention to what is going on in our lives right now, with ourselves, others, and our surroundings. We might feel more connected, clearer, and alive in this intuitive and approachable experience of presence.
Mindfulness is a skill that we can practise and nurture more fully in our lives. We learn to engage all of our senses through exercises and meditations in order to be completely present in our life, work, and relationships.
We can choose to break away from some of our regular, perhaps unconscious, emotional and psychological reactions and respond to events, thoughts, and feelings in a more positive way once we recognise them.
However, rather than becoming bogged down in reading about mindfulness, you should try it for yourself.
To get started, try one of these three exercises from our Mindfulness Training curriculum.
- The raisin exercise is a mindful eating practice.
The raisin exercise is one of the first exercises you'll encounter in any Mindfulness course. This activity teaches us how to eat with awareness and mindfulness. Simply take a raisin and pay careful attention to every phase of the eating process, from holding it in your palm to swallowing it. The "homework" is to repeat the process with a bite of food or an entire meal.
This is a basic exercise, but it can be challenging. If this is uncomfortable for you because of your relationship with food, try an alternative everyday action, such as getting dressed or brushing your teeth, while paying attention to your thoughts, feelings, and sensations.
How to Go About It
Choose one meal a day for a week that you will eat with focused awareness. Make sure you won't be distracted by your phone or television. Take a seat at a table with your food. You could want to light a candle or put some flowers on the table. Keep an eye on what you're about to eat. Take note of the food's colors, textures, and any odors, as well as any thoughts about consuming it. Try not to get engaged in or influence these thoughts; instead, simply observe them.
Pay attention to how you feel as you prepare to eat, as well as the process of lifting the food to your mouth and tasting it. What is the sensation of chewing and swallowing it? When does that mouthful vanish from your consciousness? Take note of how all of your senses react to the food. Keep your focus on the activity of eating, mouthful after mouthful. Any feelings of pleasure, hunger, dissatisfaction, or happiness should be noted. Change these when you finish your meal. Take note of when you realize you've finished. Take a deep breath, note how you're feeling, and then let go of the experience.
For a week, practise this for one meal per day. Keep track of how you're feeling.
- A complete body scan
The body scan is the next mindfulness activity. This activity helps us become more aware of our bodies, breath, sensations, and thoughts.
You may have done something similar in Savasana at the end of your yoga session previously. You'll be guided through a lengthier version of this body scan in our online Mindfulness training programme, but the premise is the same. You bring your consciousness and attention to each part of your body in turn, without attempting to make anything happen but simply feeling what you are feeling. Read the text a few times to familiarize yourself with the procedure, and then do it once a day for a week. Make a journal of your adventures.
How to Go About It
Lay down in a comfortable position, using any pillows or support you require. Make sure you'll be comfortable and not disturbed. The goal is to stay totally present throughout this activity rather than drifting off or sleeping.
Close your eyes and concentrate on the rising and falling of your body's breath for a few moments. Feel the breath moving throughout your entire body. Take a few moments to become aware of your entire body, from head to toe, as well as the contours of your skin. Take note of the points where your body makes touch with the surfaces on which it rests.
Bring your attention to both of your big toes and investigate the sensations you discover there. Allow your awareness to gradually expand to include the rest of your feet, allowing them to soften and relax. Imagine your breath travelling down to your feet, and your awareness as a warm light that allows your feet to rest and be held in awareness.
Allow the muscles to soften and become heavy as you spread this light of awareness up your legs. Imagine your joints having more room and your muscles releasing tension and falling away from your bones. Bring your awareness of your breath to your legs, as if you could breathe into them.
Allow awareness to travel to your tummy, lower and upper back, shoulders, rib cage, and chest in stages. Feel the travel of the breath through the body as you breathe awareness into each of these body areas.
Bring your awareness all the way down your arms and fingers. Take note of the warmth and energy held in your hands' palms. Consider how your hands feel at rest.
Pay attention to your head, neck, throat, and face, noting any tightness in the muscles around your eyes, jaw, roof of mouth, or forehead. Allow your face to soften as you become more aware.
Return your attention to your breathing next. Pay attention to how your breath feels in your body and attempt to keep this overall sense of your body – as if your entire body is breathing and being kept in awareness. Be conscious of the quality of your experience and take note of any emotional overtones without passing judgment.
To finish, move your body slowly, being careful not to jar yourself back into ordinary awareness.
- Take a three-minute break.
The connection between the intellect and the body is the breath. When you start breathing attentively in and out, your body will return to your mind, and your mind will return to your body.
The three-minute breathing space is a three-step practice in which we shift our concentration from broad to narrow to broad again. Each step takes around a minute to complete. Consider it like using a camera: first, you're staring through the lens at a landscape, observing what's going on in the frame without changing it. The camera lens is then zoomed into a specific place, such as a tree limb, which becomes your focus of attention, and you note how it moves in the wind, the shape of the leaves, and so on. Finally, you zoom the lens out to take in the entire scene once more.
Try to fit one or two three-minute Breathing Spaces into your day for a week. Make a mental note of the event, the setting, and how you felt before and after it. When we master this technique, it can be a powerful tool for coping with anxiety, anger, and challenging situations.
Step one is to become conscious.
Close your eyes if possible and sit or stand up straight. Then turn your attention within and to your body. Become aware of your thoughts, feelings, and any physical sensations. Avoid avoiding or blocking out unpleasant thoughts or sensations; instead, accept them without attempting to change them.
Step 2: organize your thoughts and concentrate on your breathing.
Zoom in on the bodily feelings of breathing next. You could concentrate on the sensations in your nostrils, the abdomen expanding and contracting, or the breath as it comes in and goes out. Use each breath to bring you back to the present moment. If your mind wanders, gently bring it back to your breath.
Step 3: broadening your focus
Zoom out and broaden the field of awareness from the breath focal point to embrace the entire body as though it were breathing. Imagine that the breath might move into and around any discomfort or tension you are experiencing. Rather of trying to change these feelings, acknowledge and befriend them.