7 Simple Exercises To Boost Mindfulness

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Recently, "mindfulness" has become fashionable - even people who are very far from psychotherapy talk about the importance of being "here and now." Therefore, here are 7 very simple exercises for developing mindfulness. They will require a minimum of time, do not require physical effort or special equipment at all. You can do them even while sitting at work, even in a minibus - and no one around you will guess what you are doing there

Mindfulness, in clever words, is the continuous tracking of current experiences, without getting involved in thoughts about past or future events. To put it more simply, it means “to be here and now”. Why is this necessary at all? At the very least, to understand whose program you are running and whether it suits you. Are you doing what you are doing because you want to, or because someone else wants it? Does this meet your needs?

For example, a cashier in a supermarket will ask you, “Do you have a card? Do you need a bag? even if you are standing right in front of her, holding a package in one hand and a card in the other. The cashier performs her functions like a robot and is not very aware of what is happening in general - each of us will surely have a lot of examples of such mechanical behavior. I think you are familiar: thoughts are transported into the past, remembering the events of the past days and thinking how they could be replayed. Or into a future that has not yet arrived.

In general, there is nothing seditious about indulging in nostalgia or planning something 20 years in advance. Another question is how long it takes. 10 minutes? Hour? All free time? Simply, the past has already passed and cannot be changed, and the future has not yet arrived. And while you are here and there, you miss the present. That is, life that is happening right now and which ends with every second.

Awareness helps you understand what is happening, whether you are comfortable with what is happening, and how you can fix it. That is, the robot has freedom of choice.

Exercise # 1. Four questions

Ask yourself 4 simple questions periodically.

- Who am I?

- Where I am?

- What am I doing?

- What do I want?

It may seem to someone that this is absurd, and they already know the answers to these questions very well. Do not hurry. First, when you really take 1 minute to ask yourself and answer them, the answers can overwhelm you. Secondly, you will be surprised how the answers can change over the course of a week or even one day.

Exercise # 2: Listen to the Feelings

The therapists' favorite question is "What are you feeling right now?" The clients' favorite response is “I mean, I feel? Nothing…"

In fact, people do not feel anything in only one case - if they are dead. But we are often raised in childhood in such a way that it is inappropriate and bad to show emotions, so that in the end almost all of us are perfectly able to ignore ourselves.

Therefore, it is a good exercise to try to feel your feelings a couple of times a day: to notice what emotions are born and what you do with them. Maybe when you are angry, you endure it, gritting your teeth, or maybe you throw out more than you would like.

Exercise # 3: Feel the Body

Noticing your feelings is not an easy task. Therefore, you can start by monitoring the body: what you feel in it and where.

The body is almost always "here and now", and knows better than you what it needs. Maybe your back is numb? Try to walk and stretch. Are you tired? Try closing your eyes for a couple of minutes. Walk your mental scanner over each part of the body - and it will tell you what you really need.

Exercise # 4: Concentrate on your breathing

This exercise is good both as a load to the previous one, and in itself. Concentrate on your breathing. Notice the inhalation. Notice the exhalation. Notice how the air circulates inside. Nice returns in the here and now.

Exercise # 5: Do One Action Consciously

Try doing a short, familiar activity every day with awareness. For example, when you are brushing your teeth, drinking coffee, looking out the window - try to focus your attention on the process. You will be very surprised if you start, for example, consciously eating. It may turn out that the food tastes unexpected, and in order to be full, you need less of it.

Exercise # 6: Tear the template

In addition to the previous exercise, you can try differently to do what you usually do on autopilot, automatically or without hesitation. For example, brush your teeth with the brush in your other hand. Take a new route or slightly change your usual route from work or to work. Add two teaspoons of sugar to your tea? Try adding one. Or three.

When you do something new and unusual, your mind begins to concentrate on the present moment - that is, it brings you back to the here and now.

Exercise # 7: Ditch Gadgets for 24 Hours

An exercise for the most persistent and strong in spirit! Turn off your computer, tuck your phone away, and do it for 24 hours. Not looking through memes in Telegram, not flipping through the Facebook feed, not texting friends and family.

In the process, fantastic things begin to happen and long-ignored feelings rise up - when you find yourself 100% alone with yourself and are not distracted by notifications. Maybe that's why many people don't let go of their smartphone - so as not to notice themselves.

Hope you find these exercises helpful. Finally, one more thing about awareness. Exercise is a wonderful thing and it can really raise your level of awareness. But alas, they cannot help a person to become 100% aware of himself. This is how our psyche works. Whether we like it or not, we are social animals. That is, someone else is always needed to be aware of oneself.

For example, you can completely sincerely answer “I don’t know” to the question “How do you feel?”. And only from the outside can you see with what intonation, voice volume, facial expression and body position this “I don’t know” was said. Spoiler alert: This “Don't Know” could be anything.