While the health benefits of mindfulness are well known, sometimes it’s difficult to incorporate its practise into daily routine. Luckily there are simple exercises to help you create your own mindfulness moments.
What do you picture when you think of mindfulness? A yoga class, someone meditating on the beach, maybe an inspirational phrase on a scenic image? Well, mindfulness is far from a fad or an Instagram hashtag and it isn’t going to a yoga class once a week. It’s about paying attention; being aware of your experience in the present moment and understanding your ability to stay focused without mentally drifting away from that experience.
There are all sorts of reasons to start practising mindfulness in your life. Studies show that the benefits include reduced anxiety through lowered levels of the stress hormone cortisol, lower blood pressure, and minimised pain sensitity. It can also boost your working memory, help you sleep better, make you more self-aware about your behaviour, increase cognitive function, and help your brain process emotions more effectively.
Create a healthy balanced routine that suits you and reap the mental and physical benefits. Remember that practising mindfulness doesn’t have to be hard work. You just need to work out how mindfulness fits best with your lifestyle and personal philosophy. While for many the intention to live more mindfully is there, you still need to find the right exercise to manage your unique personality and attention span. We have some simple exercises designed to help you find focus in the moment.
YOUR MINDFULNESS EXERCISES
1. Choose your cure
Are you easily distracted or inclined to daydreaming? Choose a reoccurring noise or activity in your environment that will remind you to re-focus your attention. It could be the sound of a phone ringing, a door opening, or a co-worker who regularly walks past you. When you hear it, that’s your cue to bring your awareness back to the present moment.
2. Appreciate scents
Whether it’s your morning cup of tea, a vase of flowers, or your favourite essential oil, use scents you enjoy to bask in the moment. Your senses are a tool to stay present and scent is an easy way to focus your attention. Keep something with a smell you enjoy nearby and take a moment every now and then to savour it.
3. Engage with puzzles
Not only beneficial for maintaining mental acuity, doing puzzles requires you to take the time to focus your attention and stay in the moment. Struggling to think of an answer or find a solution? Here’s your chance to practise patience, remain fully engaged, and experience the satisfaction of completing a challenge. Practise the meditative activity of colouring-in and enjoy giving yourself the time to simply be.
4. Check in with your mind
How are you feeling right now? Have you thought about that at all today? Take some time once in a while to recognise the way you feel. Are you sad or happy, tired or energetic? Don’t dwell on your feelings or try to fix them. Acknowledge your emotions and then let them go.
5. Check in with your body
Take a moment to be consciously aware of your body. Where are you holding tension? Have you remained sitting in one position for too long? Has your posture slumped? Once you’re aware of these areas of unease, take a few minutes to stretch them out. Stand up and go for a walk or make a cup of tea. Bring your mind to how your body feels within the present moment.
