Regular mindful exercises reduce anxiety, may prevent and treat depression, reduce age and race biases, increase self-compassion and body appreciation, improve cognition, and rewire your brain to reduce distractions, according to Forbes magazine. Honestly, I’d be willing to work on mindfulness for just one of those benefits.
Recently, I committed to mindfulness and meditation every day. I started by meditating while lying in bed before I drifted off. Soon, I started seeing opportunities to practice the techniques each day. I could practice by washing dishes without distractions. Focusing on the one task, I focused on feeling the sensation of water and soap running over my hands. When I hit a block in a daily task, I found myself doing breathing exercises to clear my mind.
Mindfulness is observing thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment without judgment. Those last two words, without judgment, are what I always struggled with. I had tried mindfulness techniques before, but I always ended up giving up in frustration as my thoughts wandered. I’ve learned since that mindfulness is doing those things I had done but without judgment.
When my mind wanders now, I try to accept the shift and gently lead the thought back to the present moment. With practice, this becomes easier. If you are new to this, come to these exercises with no expectations to be “perfect.” No one can keep their mind from wandering completely. There’s a reason it is called “monkey mind.”
For this exercise, I’ve written two sets of directions. They are the same, except in that I’ve written the first with a bit more detail and the second, to glance at during the exercise as the more concise version will allow you to glance without getting lost in the muddle of words. Use both in your exercise.
Detailed exercise
- Start by turning off all distractions. Turn your phone on silent. Close out your browser tabs. Walk to a quiet place if possible. Close your eyes and glance at the simpler version below as you need guidance.
- Breathe normally, and listen to the sounds of your breath. Notice it’s characteristics without judgment. Are you breathing through your nose or mouth? Is your breath shallow or deep? Is there a catch in your breath? Notice all of these characteristics without judgment as there is no way to breathe incorrectly (though, maybe more efficient ways).
- Deepen your breathing. Fill and empty your lungs completely with each inhalation and exhalation. Notice how your body reacts. Does the skin of your back stretch as you inhale? Do your abs tighten as you empty your breath completely? Feel your belly rise and fall. If your mind wanders, bring it back with no judgment. Mind wandering is normal. Your brain processes so much information each day, it takes time to wind down, and never quiets completely.
- Now lengthen your breathing. Start by inhaling for two slow counts, and exhaling for four. Fill and empty your lungs completely as before. Do this cycle three or more times.
- Experiment with adding more counts to each breath. Take your time in this step as you explore. When you find your mind wandering, lovingly focus back on counting or the sensations.
- Slowly, bring your breathing back to three counts and then to normal.
- Open your eyes. Come back to this meditation as you need.
A simpler version
- Turn off all distractions you can and close your eyes.
- Listen to the sounds of your breath as you breathe normally.
- Deepen your breathing to fill and empty your lungs.
- Lengthen your breathing, inhaling for 2 counts and exhaling for 4 counts.
- Lengthen your breathing with more counts.
- Slowly, bring your breathing back to normal.
- Open your eyes.
You can use exercises like this throughout your day as you see fit. When you need to step away from a project, calm your mind, or appreciate the gift of your body, come back to this meditation. Feel free to make it your own. Add a few stretches or focus simply on the sounds of your breath.
I invite you to try this exercise today. I’ll be releasing more mindfulness exercises as we continue in this series. I hope you find joy as you take time for your mind each day.
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