Today, I will be sharing 7 mindful activities for reclaiming calmness. One of the most well-known and commonplace mindfulness actions for doing so is meditation. While it might seem arcane and inaccessible, meditation is relatively simple. Here are eight exercises aimed at transforming everyday activities into mindful moments.
7 Mindful Activities for Reclaiming Calmness
1. Walking Meditation
The name says it all, walking meditation involves walking, often in a circle or straight line. The nice thing about it is that you can do it anywhere. You can walk through the forest, stroll around your neighborhood, or hang out in the park.
2. Single Tasking
Single-tasking is doing exactly the opposite of multitasking. Instead of focusing on doing a few things simultaneously, focus on doing just one thing. For instance, if you’re on your PC, close all the other tabs and only keep ones open that are relevant to the task at hand. This is effective for freeing up mental space and may also generate laser-focus.
To Create a Much Deeper Experience, Focus on the Following:
- Your breathing
- The sensation of air against your skin or clothes
- How your body feels when touching objects like your body against the chair or your feet touching the floor
- Body posture and structure
3. Mindful Techniques for Anxiety
Mindfulness meditation can have a positive effect on generalized anxiety disorder symptoms, according to research. You can try the following practices for calming and ground:
- Body Scanning – is very simple. It involves finding a relaxing way for calming your mind and body. It entails utilizing awareness to mindfully scan your body for different sensations like tension or pain. Lie down and focus on relaxing your body. Tune into what you are feeling.
- Tracking – is a bodily experiencing technique that can assist with feeling grounded and present in the space where you are in. Look around the room and observe objects, but with mindfulness.
- Box Breathing – involves taking deep, full breaths with the aim of calming your nervous system. It is also called four square breathing
Self-compassion and Tolerance
Anxiety often entails fear and resilience toward the anxiety itself. An efficient way to relax the effect that anxiety has on you, is to tolerate it. It can be as simple as reframing the anxiety as a forte instead of a shortcoming. Once you do this, you might also find it easier to let go of shame or self-blame around having anxiety.
4. Mindful Eating
Mindful eating is an excellent example of turning an everyday activity into a mindful exercise. Try to make your meal times more mindful by implementing these mindful eating exercises.
- Listen to sounds like the food sizzling in the pan
- Chew slowly and savor each bite
- Try eating your food with your non-dominant hand
- Put your phone away and switch off the TV while you eat
- Eat in silence for the first few minutes while focusing on the aroma, flavor, and texture of the food
5. Mindful Gardening
Gardening has many health-related benefits and it is an excellent way of practicing mindfulness while connecting with nature. Do something simple like watering flowers or planting new seeds. While you do this, feel the texture of the soil, and enjoy the experience as if you were a child again experiencing everything for the first time. What is the weather like? Is there a soft breeze in the air, or are you sweating from the warm sun? Tune into the surrounding sounds like leaves rustling from a soft breeze, or birds chirping.
6. Music Appreciation
Music is a fantastic entry point into the milieu of mindfulness. Listen to your favorite music in a serene space with no interruptions. Try listening to something that you haven’t heard a lot before. Headphones work well too.
- How does it feel in your body while you listen?
- Focus on the different sounds that you can hear that you might have missed before.
- How does your breath change with the rhythm?
7. Puzzles
One of the best ways to sharpen your mind is with puzzles, but they are also an excellent mindfulness exercise. They require attention to detail, presence of mind, and focus while being rewarding and fun at the same time.
This include:
- Word find puzzles
- Solving riddles
- Jigsaw puzzles
- Sudoku
- Crosswords
- Spot the difference exercises
Conclusion
I hope that you have enjoyed reading about these 7 mindful activities for reclaiming calmness. What techniques are you incorporating? Be sure to share them with me below.
Sending you lots of light, serenity, and mindful vibes.
Anthea